Activists gather outside the White House to protest President Donald Trump’s executive actions on immigration in Washington January 29, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday tempered a key element of his move to ban... More »
U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Vice President Mike Pence (C) attend a ceremonial swearing-in for U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly (L) at Homeland Security headquarters in Washington, U.S., January 25, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Aides to U.S. ... More »
Ninos Thabet, an 18-year-old Christian who studied art at Mosul University, creates miniature replicas of statues destroyed by militants when they overran the 3,000-year-old Assyrian city of Nimrud 2-1/2 years ago, in Erbil, Iraq, January 13, 2017. Picture tak... More »
Believers attend a service at the unofficial catholic church in Majhuang village, Hebei Province, China, December 11, 2016. Picture taken December 11, 2016. REUTERS/Thomas Peter The Vatican should take steps to improve relations with China, the Chinese head of... More »
A stone tablet thought to be about 1,500 years old with a, worn-down chiseled inscription of the Ten Commandments is seen in this photo released in Dallas, Texas, U.S., October 21, 2016. Courtesy Heritage Auctions/Handout via REUTERS A 1,500-year-old stone tab... More »
Italian composer Ennio Morricone conducts during a Jubilee concert in Paul VI hall at the Vatican November 12, 2016. REUTERS/Remo Casilli Homeless people were the guests of honor on Saturday night at a special benefit concert in the Vatican conducted by Oscar ... More »
Pope Francis gestures as he speaks to journalists on his flight back to Rome following a visit in Georgia and Azerbaijan, October 2, 2016. REUTERS/Luca Zennaro/Pool Pope Francis on Sunday advised U.S. Catholics who feel they are torn between two imperfect cand... More »
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a church service, in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., September 3, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stepped up his bid to win over minority voters by addressing a largely bl... More »
Actor Jude Law (R) chats with actress Ludivine Sagnier as they attend the photocall for the movie ‘The Young Pope’ at the 73rd Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy September 3, 2016. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi Jude Law was thrilled to be given the opportunity... More »
A tapestry picturing Mother Teresa hangs from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, September 1, 2016. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini When Mother Teresa is made an official saint of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, one city will be partic... More »
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE Pope Francis said on Saturday that his meeting with Bernie Sanders, contesting the Democratic candidacy for the U.S. Presidency, was not meddling in politics and that anyone who thought otherwise should “look for a psychiatrist”. Sanders... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will speak at an event in the Vatican next week, likely broadening his appeal to Catholic voters ahead of crucial nominating contests in a series of Northeastern states. Like Pope Francis, Sander... More »
BAKU Three Azeri servicemen were killed in fresh fighting with Armenian-backed separatists over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region on Monday, Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry said. Azerbaijan had halted its attacks but Armenia was still “aggravating the situat... More »
LAHORE, Pakistan Pakistani authorities hunted on Monday for breakaway Taliban militants who once declared loyalty to Islamic State after the group claimed responsibility for an Easter suicide bomb targeting Christians, that killed at least 70 people. The attac... More »
ROME A sixth-century church boasting a rare collection of early Christian art is reopening to the public in Rome after a restoration that took more than 30 years. Nestling at the foot of the hill where Rome’s emperors once lived, Santa Maria Antiqua was buried... More »
WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Wednesday headed toward a possible 4-4 split over a legal challenge by Christian nonprofit employers who object to providing female workers insurance covering birth control as required by President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.... More »
CHICAGO Chicagoans this month are less obsessed with badmouthing Mayor Rahm Emanuel or worries about their sports teams, and more focused on finding the perfect “paczki,” a rich, Polish, donut-type dessert that’s taking the high-end dessert market by storm. Lo... More »
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis warned on Monday that the recent influx of migrants risked overwhelming European values and traditions, but said he was confident the continent could successfully integrate the newcomers. In an annual address to diplomats at the Vatic... More »
BERLIN Children carried toy lightsabers to a church in Berlin and some of the congregation dressed up as Darth Vader on Sunday to mark the release of the new Star Wars movie with a service on Sunday. At the terracotta-brick Zion Church, an organist played the ... More »
BANGUI Pope Francis ventured into one of the world’s most dangerous neighbourhoods on Monday to beg Christians and Muslims to end a spiral of hate, vendetta and bloodshed that has killed thousands over the past three years. Under intense security, Francis pass... More »
SINGAPORE The co-founder of a Singapore church and five other leaders were sentenced to jail terms of up to eight years on Friday, for fraudulently diverting millions of dollars to support his wife’s pop singing career. The mix of faith and fraud has fascinate... More »
FLORENCE, Italy Pope Francis called on Tuesday for a Catholic Church that is not cosseted, self-centered and obsessed with power and money, as he faces new challenges to his financial reforms at the Vatican. The Argentine pope, who made his comments during a d... More »
DUBLINIrish women are tweeting details of their periods to Prime Minister Enda Kenny to help publicise a campaign to repeal restrictive abortion laws. Abortion is a divisive issue in Ireland where, after large street protests from both sides of the debate, a c... More »
BOSTON Survivors of clergy sex abuse said they hope the upcoming film “Spotlight,” about the Boston Globe’s groundbreaking report that Roman Catholic officials routinely covered up abuse by priests, prompts more victims to publicly confront their abusers. The ... More »
HAVANA Pope Francis met Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Sunday, hours after warning Cubans to beware the dangers of ideology and the lure of selfishness as their country enters a new era of closer ties with the United States. Latin America’s first ... More »
WASHINGTON The four leaders of the U.S. Congress asked members on Thursday to refrain from one of Washington’s favorite rituals when Pope Francis visits the Capitol next week: no trying to grab a handshake as he makes his way in. On Sept. 24, Pope Francis will... More »
ROME Pope Francis slipped out of the Vatican on Thursday evening to make a surprise visit to a Rome optician’s shop to get a new pair of eyeglasses, insisting that his old frames be re-used and that he would pay for them. Francis was driven to Ottica Spiezia o... More »
MANILA An influential Christian group in the Philippines ended a protest on Monday over the prosecution of its leaders, calling off a blockade by 20,000 members of a main road in the capital after talks with the government. The Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Chr... More »
SEOUL North Korea released video footage on Monday of a Canadian pastor confessing before a Pyongyang church congregation that he had committed crimes against the state. Hyeon Soo Lim, of the 3,000-member Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, traveled t... More »
CAPE TOWN Veteran South African anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu was discharged from hospital on Tuesday after a week fighting a persistent infection that is not related to his prostate cancer, his daughter said. Tutu, 83, who has been living with prosta... More »
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Religious groups are an under-used health resource that could help achieve universal healthcare and accelerate the medical response to disease outbreaks, health experts said on Tuesday. Faith-based organizations such as th... More »
LA PAZ A Bolivian avant-garde restaurant hopes this week to serve a well-known non-paying customer and receive a holy seal of approval for its new creation: a quinoa-based communion wafer. Chefs at the restaurant, Gustu, in La Paz expect Pope Francis to receiv... More »
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis will decide for himself if he chews coca leaves in order to ward off altitude sickness when he lands next week at La Paz, Bolivia, the highest international airport in the world, the Vatican said on Tuesday. A Bolivian minister said o... More »
SYDNEY Justin Bieber arrived in Sydney on Monday to attend a week-long gathering at a Hillsong pentecostal church, after the pop star this year vowed to discard his hard-partying image. “Justin is here, like tens of thousands of others, as a delegate who is se... More »
