As the faithful across the globe mourned the life of Pope Francis last week, the focus now shifts to selecting the 267th pope to lead the nearly 1 billion Roman Catholics worldwide.

That decision lies with the conclave, consisting of about 140 eligible cardinals who must convene 15 to 20 days after the death of a pope, according to Canon Law.

...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Another person once close to Justin Bieber has offered an explanation for ongoing concerns about the pop singer’s mental health and the state of his marriage, amid the 31-year-old’s public outbursts, vulnerable social media posts, questionable Coachella behavior and recent move to “torch” a lot of his longtime ...Read more

In 1805, New York made a deal. State officials granted taxpayer funds and a corporate charter to a private organization known as the Free School Society, which agreed in return to provide a free education to poor children in New York City. Over the next decades, the society became a precursor to modern-day charter school networks that are ...Read more

Nearly a thousand parishioners with ties to Ukraine gathered at a church in Hamtramck, Michigan, for services on Easter Sunday, celebrating the day Jesus rose from the dead while worrying about the war ravaging their home country.

The 9:30 a.m. Easter Mass at the Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church, which was conducted entirely in ...Read more

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Pope Francis met at the Vatican on Easter Sunday, shortly before the pontiff delivered a sermon urging political leaders to support vulnerable populations.

The meeting, announced by Vance’s office, marked the first between a U.S. vice president and the pope since 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Multiple South Carolina churches are taking their parent denomination to the S.C. Supreme Court to try to get out from under its jurisdiction and keep their church holdings intact.

The lawsuit was filed this week by the Methodist Church of Simpsonville, with its pastor and chair of the church council named as individual ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge denied Friday a request by 27 organizations representing Christian and Jewish denominations to block a policy from President Donald Trump’s administration that allows for immigration enforcement agents to enter houses of worship without a warrant.

The ruling comes less than two months after a different federal...Read more

MIAMI -- For many South Florida Jews, Passover is a holiday marked by spending time with family and friends, observing long held traditions and of course, eating festive food. As many sit down to their Seder meals Saturday night, one Broward organization is remembering those who struggle to put food on the table.

The Dorit & Ben J. Genet ...Read more

A majority of Americans said they don’t think states should be required to provide funding for religious charter schools, according to a new poll.

Fifty-seven percent of U.S. adults said states can refuse to fund religious charter schools, while 43% said states are required to do so, according to a poll published this week by Marquette Law ...Read more

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp signed a “religious liberty” measure Friday, resolving a decade-long debate over a divisive measure that supporters say protects faith-based beliefs from government overreach and critics decry as a license to discriminate.

The Republican inked the bill at a brief signing ceremony at the state Capitol as lawmakers...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Clergy from across Philadelphia erected an altar in front of ICE headquarters on Thursday, decorating it with fruit, flowers and crosses in a prayerful protest against the Trump administration’s decision to let agents make immigration arrests in churches.

The demonstration spilled off the sidewalk and onto Eighth Street in ...Read more

ATLANTA — After a decade of fierce debate, Georgia approved one of the most divisive bills in recent state history by passing a “religious liberty” measure that supporters say protects faith-based beliefs from government overreach and critics decry as a license to discriminate.

Republicans muscled the initiative through the Georgia House ...Read more

RICHMOND, Va. — The General Assembly started about two hours late at its reconvened session Wednesday because of an apparent discord over a judicial nomination for a Virginia Beach court.

The drama started when the confirmations, expected to be passed in both chambers quickly, ground to a halt, apparently over conflict surrounding Aaron Kass,...Read more

A majority of people in most religious traditions support abortion being legal in the U.S., as do most Americans, a new poll found.

However, four major religious groups — Hispanic Protestants, Latter-day Saints, white evangelical Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses — for the most part believe abortion should be illegal, according to an ...Read more

In a moment defined by fracture and division, a surprising development has emerged in America's religious landscape. The decades-long decline of Christianity is leveling off.

According to new research from the Pew Research Center, the share of Americans identifying as Christian has stabilized at around 62% — a dramatic shift from previous ...Read more

A physical altercation inside the Kansas Statehouse on Friday ended with Capitol Police arresting Satanic church leader Michael Stewart, capping off a morning of inflammatory religious demonstration.

Stewart punched a man who repeatedly attempted to rip a booklet out of his hands while he called out to Satan from the Capitol’s first-floor ...Read more