Religion News Service

"What are you giving up for Lent?" is a question Catholics direct at each other this time of year. "Giving up" usually applies to food, in keeping with the church’s ancient practice of fasting.

A special session of the United Methodist Church decided Feb. 26 to strengthen the denomination’s ban on the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ people.

A Southern Baptist working group urged a cautious approach in investigating churches linked to allegations of sex abuse but has agreed that three of 10 churches named by Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear in a report about sex abuse last week should be investigated.

On the last full day of the meeting in Rome on clergy sex abuse, a German cardinal and a Nigerian nun, each in his or her own way, explained that transparency was the only way for the Catholic Church to deal with the crisis. They spoke with bluntness unusual in meetings of bishops, practicing the transparency they preached.

While the Vatican's synod on clergy sexual abuse has grabbed headlines in much of the world, another meeting of bishops, slated for October 2019, is already making news in Brazil.

In a surprise, the plan recommended by the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops was rejected Feb. 25 by the denomination’s decision-making body.

Erected just outside Washington, D.C., by the American Legion more than 90 years ago,  the "Bladensburg Cross" is the center of a lawsuit the association filed in 2012, arguing the cross’ location is unconstitutional.

One of the most pressing questions about the clergy sexual abuse crisis is how the church should deal with bishops who are accused of covering up allegations of abuse or who have committed abuse themselves.

Signs of the Times: The most important result of this meeting would be to get other bishops, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, not to make the same mistakes that U.S. bishops made.

A British government inquiry into the sexual abuse crisis that continues to shake the Catholic Church has focused on the actions of the Vatican’s diplomatic service — its network of papal nuncios around the world.

J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said the denomination’s executive committee should immediately investigate 10 churches named in a report by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Times-Express, including 2nd Baptist in Houston – one of the largest churches in the SBC.

The existence of clergy sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention provides no satisfaction to us Catholics, but it does allow us to test our theories about the causes of abuse.

If a special session of the United Methodist Church's legislative assembly votes to drop language in its rulebook that bars "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from being ordained as ministers, a conservative evangelical church in the heart of South Carolina will likely cut the cord.

It's been 100 years since Germany's first democratic government decided to stop making generous payments to its Protestant and Roman Catholic churches — and did nothing about it.

No one has a greater impact on a Catholic parish than its pastor, which is why diocesan seminaries are key to the future of the church in America. 

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have called the reports by two Texas newspapers of hundreds of sex abuse cases in affiliated churches evidence of "pure evil" and "satanic" behavior within their ranks.

Pope Francis' 2018 trip to Peru included a visit to a biodiverse region, where a Swiss priest has sought to bring global attention to devastation caused by illegal gold mining. But despite the pope's visit, little has changed.

President Donald Trump began his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast by renewing his commitment to the religious conservatives who helped lift him into office.

Every morning when Khadra Abdo wakes up, her mind turns to her children. "My first thought is that I hope they are safe today, and that stays on my mind throughout the whole day," Abdo told Religion News Service.

Hours before post-shutdown conversations began on immigration and border security on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a group of Christian educators gathering in the nation’s capital this week that she intends to uphold her responsibility to "act upon our beliefs in the dignity and worth of every person."