Religion News Service

How could we be surprised? Did we think that we, the American Jewish community, could splash blood upon our communal door and thus ward off the twin angels of hatred and death?

In May, Roberto Rauda, an undocumented immigrant, went to a New London, Conn., courthouse to pay a fine for carrying an open container of beer. Instead he was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a routine sweep and ended up in the Bristol County House of Corrections in North Dartmouth, Mass.

The more than 30 young adults taking part in a global meeting of Catholic leaders to discuss how to engage today's youth have been dismissed by critics of the summit as irrelevant, or insufficiently orthodox, or worse.

A federal court heard oral arguments this week on whether a longstanding housing tax break for clergy called a "parsonage allowance exclusion" is constitutional, setting the stage for a clash over competing claims of religious privilege and religious discrimination.

The Archdiocese of Anchorage is launching an independent commission on sexual abuse to review all personnel files of those who have served in the region since 1966 and plans to release names of any Catholic church workers in their purview with credible sexual misconduct claims against them.

The Catholic bishops of the U.S. announced Oct. 23 that at the behest of Pope Francis they will meet for a weeklong retreat in Chicago in January.

Signs of the Times: These bishops see young people as empty vessels into which they will pour content. Or worse, vessels filled with garbage that must be removed to make room for the church's content.

During a recent Sunday service, Pastor Jok Chol led the congregation at his Pentecostal church to pray for a sustainable peace after President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar signed the latest peace agreement in neighboring Sudan.

At the Renewed Universal Catholic Church in Nyeri, in central Kenya, celebratory ululations filled the air last spring after Bishop Peter Njogu ordained three new, married priests.

The United States Department of Justice is launching a federal grand jury investigation into Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania just months after a state-level investigation unearthed decades of allegations of widespread child sexual abuse by hundreds of priests that impacted more than 1,000 children over several decades.

The canonizations of Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Óscar Romero did not occur without controversy.  

Powerful data-mining tools allow today’s campaigns to connect religious voters with their political viewpoints and to micro-target ads to fit their particular brand of faith.

As the Catholic church's monthlong synod on young people reaches its halfway point here, there has been more excitement outside the synodal hall than inside.

On both sides of the Atlantic, a drama set in a bakery has pitted freedom of religion against LGBT civil rights and Exhibit A has been a wedding cake — or as it's been colloquially dubbed here, a gay cake.

A high-ranking Vatican cardinal has blasted Archbishop Carlo Viganò for calling for the resignation of the pope and accusing a dozen Vatican officials of covering up the sexual abuse of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

As dawn breaks in this bustling capital city of 1.5 million people, Pastor Moses Mugisa treks along a main road, carrying his Bible as he heads to the streets to meet young people abusing drugs.

Patrick Carolan, leader of a Franciscan network active on environmental issues, used to meet fairly regularly with Obama administration staffers.  Since President Trump took office, he met with then-Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. But he's never been invited to the White House.

As senators remain embroiled in a contentious battle over Brett Kavanaugh's potential elevation to the U.S. Supreme Court, faith groups are increasingly voicing both passionate opposition to and support for the nominee.

Pope Francis urged bishops to reject conformism and frames of mind that "paralyze, separate and alienate us from young people," leaving them "orphans without a faith community to sustain them."

At a demonstration in the Hart building Friday morning, a coalition of more than 20 faith leaders from across the religious spectrum stood outside the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting as lawmakers arrived for the vote.