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Sheetal Banchariya/New York Daily News/TNS

St. Patrick's holds rare Mass of Reparation after 'scandalous behavior' at service for NYC trans icon Cecilia Gentili

Religion / Religious News /

NEW YORK — St. Patrick’s Cathedral held a rare Mass of Reparation Saturday after the Archdiocese of New York claimed mourners at a funeral service for trans icon Cecilia Gentili last week engaged in “scandalous behavior.”

St. Patrick’s pastor, the Very Rev. Enrique Salvo, said that at Cardinal Dolan’s request, the Mass was offered ...Read more

Sara Nevis/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Lawmaker proposes religious exemption for California motorcycle helmet law

Religion / Religious News /

FRESNO, Calif. — Turban-wearing Sikh motorcyclists would be free to ride helmet-free in California if Assembly Bill 2392, proposed by Fresno Assembly member Esmeralda Soria, becomes law this year.

California’s helmet law for motorcyclists was passed in the 1990s as a public safety move, but for former Fresno City Councilmember Soria the ...Read more

On combined Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday, religious leaders say you can partake in both

Religion / Religious News /

Wednesday is Valentine's Day, a holiday widely observed by indulging in something romantic and sweet with the person you love. But many Catholics and other Christians across Southern California will be receiving a cross made of ash on their foreheads that day because it's Ash Wednesday, whose vibe is anything but indulgent.

How are you supposed...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Should a Florida man's church confession be evidence in a criminal case?

Religion / Religious News /

CLEARWATER, Fla. — One day a little more than three years ago, a man gripped a microphone as he stood before a stage inside a Pinellas County church and told his pastor and parish leaders he was sorry for what he’d done to the pastor’s 12-year-old granddaughter.

Juan Martin Gonzalez said that he’d sinned. He apologized. He vowed to “...Read more

Filippo Monteforte/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Milei praises Pope in reversal after Vatican meeting

Religion / Religious News /

For Javier Milei, Pope Francis used to be “the devil’s man on Earth.” But now, after an encounter at the Vatican, the president praises the pontiff as “the most important” Argentine.

Milei’s U-turn, in a television interview to be broadcast Monday evening, sees him admitting that he’s been forced to change his tune.

“One of the...Read more

Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City Star/TNS

Woman says founder of Kansas City's International House of Prayer sexually abused her when she was 14 in the 1980s

Religion / Religious News /

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Michigan woman has come forward with allegations that International House of Prayer founder Mike Bickle sexually abused her starting when she was 14 and before he formed the Kansas City ministry.

Her allegations, which some say are the most damning to surface yet about Bickle and come after four decades of silence, are ...Read more

Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

A church began ringing its bells again. Not everyone is happy

Religion / Religious News /

PHILADELPHIA -- Late last year, Rev. Alfred Bradley planned a Christmastime surprise for the neighborhood he grew up in. He was bringing back the sound of church bells to the Fishtown neighborhood.

Thanks to two crafty volunteers and two generous families, the Holy Name of Jesus Church on E. Berks and Gaul Streets received a bell tower upgrade ...Read more

Gary W. Green/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Hindu faithful denied permission to build temple in Gotha, Florida

Religion / Religious News /

ORLANDO, Fla. — Leaders of a Hindu congregation hoping to build a new temple in Gotha will have to find a different location.

Orange County commissioners voted 5-2 on Tuesday to reject the congregation’s appeal of a zoning board ruling which concluded the proposed temple with a 43-foot-tall spire would be a “detrimental intrusion” in ...Read more

Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Religious 'nones' now outnumber Catholics and evangelical Protestants

Religion / Religious News /

Americans who don’t belong to any religion now reportedly outnumber the nation’s largest religious groups.

“Nones” — as Pew Research Center identifies people with no religious affiliation — made up 28% of the 3,300 respondents surveyed for a study published Wednesday called “Religious ‘Nones’ in America: Who They Are and What ...Read more

Filippo Monteforte/Getty Images of North America/TNS

Pope Francis pleads for Haitian nuns' release, as gang violence and kidnappings spike

Religion / Religious News /

As Haiti’s Catholic Church tries to negotiate the freedom of six kidnapped nuns and two of their companions from an armed gang, Pope Francis has called for the release of all hostages in the volatile nation and said he was praying for social harmony.

The Roman Catholic pontiff made the appeal in his weekly Angelus address on Sunday while also...Read more

Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America/TNS

Commentary: Speaker Mike Johnson wants Christianity to rule

Religion / Religious News /

Recently elected U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is a man of faith — something many Americans, including myself, can relate to. What is less agreeable, however, is Johnson’s lifelong mission to use the power of the government to impose his own faith upon others.

As a Southern Baptist minister of the same faith tradition as Johnson, ...Read more

Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Modi to inaugurate major Hindu temple in milestone for India

Religion / Religious News /

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to fulfill his party’s decades-long promise when he consecrates a major Hindu temple in northern India on Monday, marking a new milestone in the popular leader’s project of reshaping the country into a more avowedly Hindu nation.

The inauguration of the Ram temple, before a crowd of business leaders, ...Read more

Cameron Clark/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Loud n Clear: How this church is reaching out to the deaf and hard of hearing

Religion / Religious News /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Eduardo Cardenas grew up feeling isolated.

He lost his hearing after getting spinal meningitis at 10 months old. For years, he said, his family didn’t even know he was deaf.

However, he found another way to express himself — through music and religion.

“Music was really my first language. When I learned music, ...Read more

Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Maryland AG defends Child Victims Act in constitutional challenge by Catholic Archdiocese of Washington

Religion / Religious News /

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is defending the state’s Child Victims Act from a constitutional challenge raised by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington in a pair of lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by clergy.

With parallel briefs filed in lawsuits against the Washington diocese in Montgomery and Prince George’s ...Read more

Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News/TNS

Brooklyn Chabad Lubavitch tunnel diggers refused NYPD order to leave tunnel they dug, says DA

Religion / Religious News /

NEW YORK — When cops were called to a basement sanctuary at Brooklyn’s Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, they found four rabbinical students inside a tunnel refusing to come out of the tunnel they created, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Dov Bear Shenhav, 20, Shmuel Malka, 19, Blumenfeld Yerachmiel, 20, and Henachem Mulakando, 19, “refused...Read more

Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News/TNS

Melee over secret tunnel at Brooklyn Chabad headquarters ends in 12 arrests

Religion / Religious News /

NEW YORK — A dozen students at Brooklyn’s Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters were arrested as they tried to stop efforts to block a secret illegal tunnel they had dug in a bizarre attempt to expand the house of worship, officials said Tuesday.

Police were called to the famed Orthodox headquarters on Eastern Parkway near Kingston Avenue in ...Read more

Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News/TNS

Melee over secret tunnel at Brooklyn Chabad headquarters ends in 12 arrests

Religion / Religious News /

NEW YORK — A dozen students at Brooklyn’s Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters were taken into police custody as they tried to stop attempts to block a secret tunnel they had dug in a bizarre attempt to expand the house of worship, officials said Tuesday.

Cops were called to the famed headquarters on Eastern Parkway near Kingston Ave. in ...Read more

Church files suit against Castle Rock challenging Colorado town's ban on sheltering homeless people in RVs

Religion / Religious News /

DENVER — “Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.”

That passage from Isaiah 58:7 was invoked by the Rock Church in a lawsuit it filed against Castle Rock last week as part of an attempt to overturn the town’s decision to bar the evangelical church from providing temporary shelter to homeless people in two RVs ...Read more

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Shia LaBeouf has been confirmed in the Catholic Church. Is becoming a deacon next?

Religion / Religious News /

LOS ANGELES — New year, New Shia LaBeouf.

The “Transformers” star, whose acting career has been tainted for years by alcoholism, abuse allegations and arrests, was officially confirmed into the Catholic Church on New Year’s Eve. Now, he’s reportedly eyeing the diaconate.

The Capuchin Franciscans-Western American Province announced ...Read more

Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City Star/TNS

Another leader of the International House of Prayer of Kansas City steps down as fallout over sex abuse allegations continues

Religion / Religious News /

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Less than two weeks after the International House of Prayer of Kansas City permanently separated from its founder amid a sex abuse scandal and its executive director resigned, another leader at the global prayer ministry is stepping down.

David Sliker is leaving his position as president of IHOP University “after seven ...Read more