ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A Turkish court on Friday annulled a 1934 government decree that had turned Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a museum, opening the way for the sixth-century building to be converted back into a mosque. President Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling AK... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Genetic sampling of the Dead Sea Scrolls has tested understandings that the 2,000-year-old artefacts were the work of a fringe Jewish sect, and shed light on the drafting of scripture around the time of Christianity’s birth. The research ... More »
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – If you’ve ever dreamed of being in the Sistine Chapel without feeling like you are craning your neck in a packed open-top tourist bus, now is your chance. The Vatican Museums re-opened to the public on Monday after being closed for nea... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan Cardinal Baltazar Porras led Easter Mass on Sunday from an empty church, offering a sermon that was broadcast over Instagram to hundreds of people quarantined in their homes because of the coronavirus pandemic. Standing before 51... More »
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Akos Vanek, a former triathlon World Cup winner, works as a paramedic these days in Budapest taking patients ill with COVID-19 to hospital as Hungary fights the coronavirus crisis. Vanek, who won the 2014 Triathlon World Cup, hung up his r... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Bavaria’s Passion Play, staged every decade since the 1630s when villagers thanked God for the end of the plague, has been postponed for two years due to the coronavirus, organizers in the German village of Oberammergau said on Thursday. Abo... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Muslims gathered in smaller-than-usual numbers at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Friday after religious authorities decided to keep Islam’s third holiest site open for prayers but enact health measures to prevent the spread of the coronav... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday took up an appeal by President Donald Trump’s administration seeking to enforce new federal rules allowing employers to obtain religious exemptions from an Obamacare requirement that health insurance that... More »
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday overturned an injunction against Netflix Inc that had prevented the video streaming service from showing a domestically-made controversial Christmas special that depicts Jesus as gay. The Suprem... More »
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – They could be called the Vatican’s vampire prints – works by masters such as Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch and Salvador Dali so delicate that they usually lie dormant for years in dark storage in its museums. Now, 150 etchings, woodcuts,... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Pope Francis expressed concern about future energy sources as he comforted victims of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster on Monday, noting a call by Japan’s Catholic bishops to abolish nuclear power outright. Around 18,000 people die... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Few aspects of life escape the touch of high tech in cutting-edge Japan, including an official song written to welcome Pope Francis when he visits Japan from Saturday. Written by Jun Inoue, the song, “Protect all Life – The Signs of the Times... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Franco Zeffirelli, who directed the world’s greatest opera singers and brought Shakespeare to the cinema-going masses, has died. He was 96. In a statement, his foundation said he died in Rome on Saturday. “Ciao Maestro,” said the announcement.... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Jailed former Vatican treasurer George Pell will appeal on Wednesday against his convictions for sexually abusing two choir boys in the 1990s and if an Australian court rules in his favor could be released or face a retrial. Pell, 77, the... More »
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka on Monday temporarily blocked some social media networks and messaging apps, including Facebook and WhatsApp, after attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses in the worst unrest since Easter bombings by Islamist militants. Th... More »
BATTICALOA/COLOMBO (Reuters) – State schools in Sri Lanka resumed classes on Monday amid tight security after the Easter Sunday bombings, but many anxious parents kept their children at home over fears of more attacks by Islamic militants. Two weeks after suic... More »
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis has often warned against gossiping among friends and neighbors, but now he says it should also be avoided in those modern temples of cheap talk: beauty parlors and hair salons. The pope exhorted some 230 Italian Catholic h... More »
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Authorities lifted a curfew in Sri Lanka on Monday, a day after a string of bombings at churches and luxury hotels across the Indian Ocean island killed 290 people and wounded about 500, but there were warnings more attacks could come. Ther... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said in a revised travel advisory ‘terrorist groups’ were continuing to plot possible attacks in Sri Lanka after 290 people were killed and about 500 wounded in blasts in churches and luxury hotels on Sunday. “Terrorists m... More »
(Reuters) – Easter Sunday bomb blasts at three churches and four hotels in Sri Lanka killed more than 200 people and wounded at least 450, police officials said, the first major attack on the Indian Ocean island since the end of a civil war 10 years ago. Polit... More »
(Reuters) – Bomb blasts ripped through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 207 and injuring 450 people, in the first major attack on the Indian Ocean island since the end of a civil war 10 years ago. Here is a timeline of the expl... More »
COLOMBO (Reuters) – The death toll from attacks on churches and luxury hotels across Sri Lanka rose significantly to 290, and about 500 people were also wounded, police said on Monday. The death toll overnight had stood at 207. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunaseker... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Philippines security forces investigating a deadly twin bombing at a church on a predominantly Muslim southern island are zeroing in on what they say is an affiliate of the militant Abu Sayyaf Group. Twenty people were killed and more than 1... More »
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican’s Swiss Guard, the colorfully dressed mini-army that helps protect the pope, will have cooler heads now they have swapped their ancient metal helmets for ones made by 3-D printers. The new helmets, made of a thermoplastic, ... More »
HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) – An Israeli museum plans to withdraw a sculpture depicting the McDonald’s mascot as the crucified Jesus following protests which briefly united the country’s Christian minority, its populist culture minister and the pro-Palestinian art... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos joined an annual procession in the Philippine capital to kiss or touch a centuries-old black wooden statue of Jesus Christ, believed to have miraculous healing powers, in a grand display of Catholic devotio... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Sister Wendy Beckett, a nun and art historian who became an unlikely television star in Britain in the 1990s, died at the age of 88 on Wednesday, the Carmelite monastery at Quidenham in Norfolk said on Wednesday. “I can confirm that Sr Wendy... More »
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis has given the homeless a Christmas gift of a new clinic in St. Peter’s Square where they can get free medical help, the Vatican said on Saturday, announcing his latest move to help Rome’s destitute. The Rome Catholic chari... More »
ROME (Reuters) – A new high-tech forensic study of the blood flows on the Shroud of Turin, the mysterious linen some Christians believe is Jesus’ burial cloth, is the latest analysis to suggest that it is most likely a mediaeval fake. The results of the invest... More »
BELFAST (Reuters) – Hundreds of women’s rights activist rallied in Belfast on Monday to put pressure on British Prime Minister Theresa May to reform Northern Ireland’s highly restrictive abortion rules after neighboring Ireland’s vote to liberalize its laws. V... More »
WINDSOR, England (Reuters) – African-American bishop Michael Curry electrified the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with a barnstorming sermon on the power of love that won smiles in the ancient British chapel and praise across the internet. Curry, th... More »
CANNES, France (Reuters) – Viewers hoping Wim Wenders’ documentary about Pope Francis will be a critical portrait of the head of the Catholic Church will be disappointed. The German director makes no excuses for the fact this is a work of love for a man he res... More »
YINGTAN, China (Reuters) – Like many Chinese Catholics, Lin Jinqing was shocked when news trickled through to him of an impending deal between Beijing and the Vatican that would end a long dispute over control of the Church in China. As a member of a so-called... More »
CUTUD, Philippines (Reuters) – A Philippine man who has been nailed to a cross every Easter for the past 32 years in a Good Friday re-enactment of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion says he no longer feels any pain from his wounds. Ruben Enaje, 58, again portrayed Chr... More »
FILE PHOTO: 2017 MTV Video Music Awards – Arrivals – Inglewood, California, U.S., 27/08/2017 – Katy Perry. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo (Reuters) – An 89-year-old Roman Catholic nun who has battled pop star Katy Perry for years over the sale of a Los Ange... More »
Zambia on Saturday deported a controversial female South African dancer, Zodwa Wabantu, who is popularly known for performing without underwear, on the grounds that her performance would "undermine national values". More »
Women gather in Parliament Square for a protest in support of legal abortion in Northern Ireland, and against a Tory coalition with the DUP, in central London, Britain, June 24, 2017. REUTERS/Marko Djurica GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Kingdom violates women’s... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – A majority of Irish voters would support a proposal to allow abortion up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy in a referendum due in the coming months, the first major national poll on the question showed on Friday. The government has pledged to hol... More »
Pope Francis celebrates the marriage of crew members Paula Podest (C) and Carlos Ciufffardi (L) during the flight between Santiago and the northern city of Iquique, Chile January 18, 2018. Osservatore Romano/Handout via REUTERS ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters)... More »
LIMA (Reuters) – Pope Francis may have divine inspiration but not divine inflation: on Friday he suffered what millions of ordinary people have to deal with — a flat tire. While the pope was being driven into Lima from the airport, one of the wheels of the Fia... More »
IQUIQUE, Chile (Reuters) – Pope Francis ordered his popemobile to stop on Thursday after a mounted Chilean policewoman was thrown off her frightened horse, which had reared up as the pontiff passed by. Francis stepped from his vehicle and waited several minute... More »
Peruvian shamans perform a ritual prior to the arrival of Pope Francis to Peru, at Pescadores beach in Chorrillos, Lima, Peru, January 17, 2018. REUTERS/Guadalupe Pardo LIMA (Reuters) – Peruvian shamans said on Wednesday they expect good news from the visit of... More »
BELFAST (Reuters) – A British MP for the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein resigned on Monday in an outcry over a tweet he posted on the anniversary of a day in 1976 when 10 Protestant textile workers were shot dead, an act which police blamed on the IRA. Barr... More »
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Vandals in Santiago attacked three churches before dawn on Friday, throwing homemade bombs that caused minor damage and leaving notes threatening Pope Francis just three days ahead of the pontiff’s visit to Chile next week, police said. Th... More »
Tourists visit the ancient Pantheon in downtown Rome, Italy December 11, 2017. REUTERTS/Tony Gentile ROME (Reuters) – Visitors to Rome’s Pantheon, one of the ancient world’s best preserved monuments, will have to pay an entry fee from next May unless they are ... More »
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 27, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump is considering recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move th... More »
Pope Francis landed in Yangon on Monday, the start of a delicate visit for the leader of the Roman Catholic church to majority-Buddhist Myanmar, which the United States has accused of conducting "ethnic cleansing" against its Muslim Rohingya people. More »
People wait outside the residence of Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, where Pope Francis will be staying during his visit in Yangon, Myanmar November 27, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva YANGON (Reuters) – Pope Francis landed in Yangon on Monday, the ... More »
The Vatican and China will exchange paintings, vases and sculptures in a bid to mend often strained ties through "the diplomacy of art", officials said on Tuesday. More »
Pope Francis on Wednesday chastised priests and bishops who take pictures with their cell phones during Masses, saying they should focus on God instead. More »
The earth is a fragile thing that could even destroy itself, Pope Francis told astronauts on the International Space Station on Thursday, saying they had an opportunity to see the planet "from the eyes of God". More »
The earth is a fragile thing that could even destroy itself, Pope Francis told astronauts on the International Space Station on Thursday, saying they had an opportunity to see the planet "from the eyes of God". More »
The earth is a fragile thing that could even destroy itself, Pope Francis told astronauts on the International Space Station on Thursday, saying they had an opportunity to see the planet "from the eyes of God". More »
The earth is a fragile thing that could even destroy itself, Pope Francis told astronauts on the International Space Station on Thursday, saying they had an opportunity to see the planet "from the eyes of God". More »
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared the southern city of Marawi liberated from pro-Islamic State militants on Tuesday, although the military said 20-30 rebels were holding about 20 hostages and still fighting it out. More »
The new governor of Indonesia's capital faced a barrage of criticism on Tuesday for remarks in his inauguration speech that some residents and politicians warned could stoke ethnic and religious tension in the Southeast Asian country. More »
The U.S. Senate on Monday voted to confirm President Donald Trump's nomination of Callista Gingrich to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. More »
The last privately owned Leonardo da Vinci painting and one of fewer than 20 by the Renaissance artist known to still exist is hitting the auction block, Christie's announced on Tuesday. More »
Pope Francis will get closer to the heavens this month when he puts in a call to the International Space Station. More »
President Donald Trump's administration on Friday undermined requirements under the Obamacare law that employers provide insurance to cover women's birth control, keeping a campaign pledge that pleased his conservative Christian supporters. More »
The Philippines' top police commander on Tuesday said he would not prevent officers involved in the country's bloody war on drugs from seeking church protection and testifying to their alleged abuses, providing they told the truth. More »
A Russian court ordered the detention of a man on Saturday on suspicion of trying to intimidate cinemas into not showing a new film about the country's last tsar, Russia's news agencies said. More »
President Donald Trump said on Friday that churches in Texas should be able to receive money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for helping victims of Hurricane Harvey. More »
For more than a century, locals in the small Maltese town of St Julian's have celebrated their patron saint by running up a steeply angled log, smeared with lard, protruding over the sea. More »
A 1,500-year-old mosaic floor with a Greek inscription has been uncovered during works to install communications cables in Jerusalem's Old City - a rare discovery of an ancient relic and an historic document in one. More »
The anti-religion Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster can be banned from advertising its services on the outskirts of town, a German state court ruled on Wednesday. More »
In 1517, Michelangelo climbed Mount Altissimo in Tuscany and found the marble of his dreams. More »
Seven Roman Catholic priests were refused service in a Welsh pub after staff mistook them for a stag party in fancy dress. More »
Cardinal George Pell attends news conference at the Vatican, June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Remo Casilli A top Vatican official charged in his native Australia with historical sex crimes arrived in Sydney on Monday ahead of his first court appearance later this month. More »
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) is greeted by Pastor Jeffress at the Celebrate Freedom Rally in Washington, U.S. July 1, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas U.S. President Donald Trump honored military veterans in Washington on Saturday at a Kennedy Center event that re... More »
A demonstrator clashes with riot security forces while rallying against Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, June 10, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday he would ask Pope Francis to per... More »
Personnel assigned to the U.S. Mission in Egypt are prohibited from visiting religious sites outside greater Cairo until further notice, the U.S. embassy said on Monday in a security message posted on its website. More »
Warplanes carried out three air strikes on the Libyan city of Derna on Monday, a witness said, days after Egypt launched strikes on militant camps there against those it said were responsible for killing Egyptian Christians. More »
A Philippine Air Force attack helicopter fires a rocket as they continue to assault the Maute group in Marawi City in southern Philippines May 29, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro The Philippine city of Iligan was overflowing with evacuees and on lockdown on Monda... More »
An armoured personnel carrier belonging to government troops drives along a main highway of Pantar town, Lanao Del Norte, as it travels to reinforce Marawi city, southern Philippines May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco The Philippines deployed attack helicopter... More »
Pope Francis leads the Wednesday General Audience in Saint Peter’s square at the Vatican, May 17, 2017. REUTERS/Max Rossi Pope Francis praised scientists working on treatments for genetic diseases on Thursday but condemned any use of human embryos in medical r... More »
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives aboard Air Force One at JFK International Airport in New York, U.S. May 4, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst President Donald Trump will express support for Palestinian “self-determination” during a Middle East trip this month, a... More »
A mural signed by ‘TV Boy’ and depicting Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump kissing, is seen on a wall in downtown Rome, Italy May 11, 2017. REUTERS/Tony Gentile A life-size mural depicting Pope Francis with a saintly halo kissing U.S. President Dona... More »
Briell Decker, the 65th wife of jailed Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) polygamist prophet leader Warren Jeffs, walks past an outdoor chimney marked with ‘Pray and Obey’ at the compound where he lived for several years, ... More »
Jakarta Governor Basuki ”Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama arrives for his court hearing in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2017. REUTERS/Tatan Syuflana/Pool Indonesian prosecutors called on Thursday for Jakarta’s Christian governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, to be ... More »
Singer Cher (R) poses with television personalities Kim Kardashian (C) and Kourtney Kardashian at the premiere of ‘The Promise’ in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 12, 2017. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Celebrities of Armenian descent including Cher and the Karda... More »
Visitors stand near the newly restored Edicule, the ancient structure housing the tomb, which according to Christian belief is where Jesus’s body was anointed and buried, seen at the completion of months of restoration works, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchr... More »
FILE PHOTO: A Beauty and the Beast poster in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Angie Teo Malaysia stood by its decision to bar “Beauty and the Beast” from cinemas without a “gay moment” being cut as the worldwide rollout of the Walt Disne... More »
FILE PHOTO: Director of the movie Bill Condon poses at the premiere of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in Los Angeles, California, U.S. March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo Major cinema chains in Muslim-majority Malaysia have postponed the release of Walt Di... More »
FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis waves after delivering his ”Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message from the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican December 25, 2016. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo Pope Francis has said he is willing t... More »
Cast member Emma Watson poses at the premiere of ”Beauty and the Beast” in Los Angeles, California, U.S. March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni An evangelist preacher is calling for a boycott of the upcoming Walt Disney film “Beauty and the Beast” because it fea... More »
FILE PHOTO: British Prime Minister Theresa May smiles as she greets her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve at Number 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, February 17, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is not know... More »
Two 1:1 scale photographic books depicting Sistine Chapel are seen during a news conference in the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican February 24, 2017. REUTERS/Philip Pullella The last time the entire Sistine Chapel was photographed for posterity, digital photograph... More »
Anies Baswedan (C), a candidate in the running to lead the Indonesian capital Jakarta, is seen with his wife Fery Farhati Ganis (L) and his daughter Mutiara Annisa Baswedan as he casts his ballot during an election for Jakarta’s governor in Jakarta, Indonesia,... More »
Governor of Indonesia’s capital Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (L) shows his ballot as he stands beside his wife Veronica Tan during an election for Jakarta’s governor in Jakarta, Indonesia, February 15, 2017. REUTERS/Beawiharta The race to become governor of Indonesi... More »
FILE PHOTO: Supreme Court Nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch arrives for a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 1, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo Donald Tru... More »
Shanez Tabarsi (L) is greeted by her daughter Negin after traveling to the U.S. from Iran following a federal court’s temporary stay of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order travel ban at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. February 6, 2017. R... More »
Pope Francis leads his Wednesday general audience at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican City February 8, 2017. REUTERS/Tony Gentile Pope Francis issued a stinging criticism of atrocities against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority on Wednesday, saying they had been ... More »
Iranian citizen and U.S green card holder Cyrus Khosravi (C) greets his brother, Hamidreza Khosravi (L), and niece, Dena Khosravi (R), 2, after they were detained for additional screening following their arrival to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to visit... More »
12-year old Eman Ali of Yemen, is reunited with her sister Salma (R) at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California, February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Kate Munsch President Donald Trump’s temporary immigration ban faced on Monday the first of seve... More »
Officials involved with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse stand as the public hearing into the Catholic Church authorities, begins another session in Sydney, Australia, February 6, 2017. Jeremy Piper/Handout via REUTERS Se... More »
A top Chinese health official will attend a conference at the Vatican on organ trafficking this week, a state run newspaper said on Monday, with the visit coming as China and the Holy See try to improve ties. More »
Demonstrators in support of the immigration rules implemented by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, rally at Los Angeles international airport in Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 4, 2017. REUTERS/Ringo Chiu President Donald Trump on Sunday ra... More »
U.S. Judge James Robart emerged from relative obscurity on Saturday as the first jurist to come under fire from the president since he took office after his temporary order to lift Donald Trump’s immigration ban. More »
The Bay family is reunited after Hamed Bay was separated from other passengers and questioned as a result of U.S. Donald Trump’s executive order travel ban, at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. January 28, 2017. Hamed Bay was traveling back to the U... More »
