Religion

A couple kiss in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Pope marks the 12th anniversary of his papacy hospitalized but with condition improving

Pope Francis marked the 12th anniversary of his papacy Thursday with increasingly positive medical updates four weeks into his hospitalization for double pneumonia.

Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, looks on during a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

Syria flashes signs of peril and promise in a week of violence and diplomacy

Pastor Robert Morris applauds during a roundtable discussion at Gateway Church Dallas Campus, Thursday, June 11, 2020, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Former Texas megachurch pastor indicted in Oklahoma on child sexual abuse charges

This February 2025 image provided by the Apsara National Authority, shows a headless statue excavated by archaeologists at the Angkor temple complex in Cambodia's Siem Reap province. According to archaeologists, the head of the same statue was dug up in 1927 and is now in Cambodia's National museum in the capital Phnom Penh, and the two parts may be reattached for display. (Apsara National Authority via AP)

The torso of a Buddha statue has been found at Cambodia’s Angkor temple complex

Tourists and locals walk along St. Peter's Square on a rainy day at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

The pope’s improving condition confirmed with a chest X-ray, Vatican says

Vehicles drive past the entrance to Miami International Airport in Miami on Tuesday, May 12, 2020, (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

Court records say a passenger attacked a flight attendant, swallowed rosary beads on plane to Miami

Court records say a passenger on a small regional flight to Miami attacked a flight attendant and swallowed rosary beads as pilots returned to the airport in Savannah, Georgia.

Myanmar resistance group admits responsibility for killing of Buddhist monk it accused of army ties

A local resistance group fighting against the military government in Myanmar has acknowledged responsibility for the killing last week of a Buddhist monk and his disciple in the country’s eastern region.

Palestinians mourn over the bodies of their relatives killed by an Israeli airstrike in the Netzarim corridor, at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Middle East latest: Israel kills 8 Palestinians in Gaza as Hamas says ceasefire talks resume

Israeli fire has killed eight people in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours even as a fragile ceasefire with Hamas has largely held.

Nuns attend a Rosary prayer for Pope Francis, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis follows Vatican spiritual retreat as doctors say he’s no longer in imminent danger

Pope Francis has participated remotely in the Vatican’s spiritual retreat after getting good news from his doctors.

A nun attends a Rosary prayer for Pope Francis, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

In his own words: Pope Francis has long been up front about his health problems and eventual death

Pope Francis has written and spoken at length about sickness, aging and death. And he has personally directed that his doctors provide the fairly detailed daily updates that have punctuated his own battle with pneumonia.

Sheeps are for sale in a northern district of Algiers, Saturday June 8, 2024, ahead of the Eid al-Adha, or "Feast of Sacrifice," when Muslims around the world slaughter sheep and cattle in remembrance of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul, File)

Drought-stricken Algeria plans to import 1 million sheep ahead of Islam’s Eid Al-Adha

Algeria is planning to import 1 million sheep ahead of Eid al-Adha to curb rising prices and shortages amid drought and inflation.

Greek police officers walk outside the National Gallery, as Nikolaos Papadopoulos, member of parliament of the small right-wing Niki party has detained after he allegedly attacked art works being hosted at an exhibition, in Athens, Greece, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greek lawmaker attacks paintings in Athens’ National Gallery, claiming they are offensive

Greece’s National Gallery says a Greek lawmaker attacked four paintings in an exhibition, including one he had previously criticized as offensive on religious grounds.

The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Supreme Court will take up state bans on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children, in a Colorado case

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether state and local governments can enforce laws banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children, in a Colorado case.

In this photo released by Syrian state news agency SANA, Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, and Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, sign a deal in Damascus, Syria, Monday, March 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)

Syria’s government signs a breakthrough deal with Kurdish-led authorities in the northeast

Syria’s interim government has reached a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast.

In this photo provided by New South Wales state police, a man, right, is arrested in Sydney, Monday, March 10, 2025, following a months-long wave of antisemitic crimes in Australia. (NSW Police via AP)

A cache of explosives in Sydney provoked antisemitic terrorism fears. Police now say it was faked

Police in Australia say an explosives-filled trailer that politicians earlier described as an antisemitic terrorism plot and a foiled mass casualty event was staged by criminals in a complicated hoax.

A Vatican Swiss guard stands prior to a mass for the world of volunteers led by delegate of Pope Francis Cardinal Michael Czerny in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Doctors declare Pope Francis no longer in imminent danger due to pneumonia, but remains hospitalized

Doctors said Pope Francis is no longer in imminent danger of death as a result of pneumonia but have decided to keep him hospitalized for several more days to receive treatment.

A fighter from the Druze Liwa al-Jabal militia points to an area believed to be operated by smugglers and armed groups, at an outpost in Syria's southern province of Sweida, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Syria’s Druze seek a place in a changing nation, navigating pressures from the government and Israel

Syria’s Druze minority is trying to navigate a new, uncertain Syria. Members of the small religious sect find themselves caught between two forces that many of them distrust: the new, Islamist-led government in Damascus and Syria’s hostile neighbor, Israel, which has used the plight of the Druze as

Relatives and neighbours mourn during the funeral procession for four Syrian security force members killed in clashes with loyalists of ousted President Bashar Assad in coastal Syria, in the village of Al-Janoudiya, west of Idlib, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

What we know about the deadly clashes in Syria that have killed more than 1,000 people

An ambush on a Syrian security patrol by gunmen loyal to ousted leader Bashar Assad escalated into clashes that a war monitor estimates have killed more than 1,000 people over four days.

Displaced Palestinians live in a school run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, west of Gaza City, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel cuts off electricity supply to Gaza, affecting a desalination plant producing drinking water

Israel has cut off the electricity supply to Gaza. The move has affected a desalination plant producing drinking water for part of the arid territory.

Former King Gyanendra Shah of Nepal waves upon his arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Thousands in Nepal want monarchy back as public frustration with politics grows

Thousands of supporters have greeted Nepal’s former king in capital Kathmandu and demanded his abolished monarchy be reinstated and Hinduism brought back as a state religion.

Locals and tourists walk along a main street near St. Peter's Basilica, background, in Rome, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Pope thanks volunteers for ‘miracle of tenderness’ as another Holy Year event passes without him

Pope Francis has issued a message thanking volunteers for the “miracle of tenderness” they offer the sick as he continues his recovery from double pneumonia.

Activists in Trinidad and Tobago push to include women’s occupations on Hindu marriage act

Trinidad and Tobago is considering amending its local Hindu marriage act to include a woman’s occupation on certificates as demanded by activists.

Village male residents pray during the funeral of four Syrian security force members killed in clashes with loyalists of ousted President Bashar Assad in coastal Syria, in the village of Al-Janoudiya, west of Idlib, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

2 days of clashes and revenge killings in Syria leave more than 1,000 people dead

A war monitoring group says the death toll from two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted President Bashar Assad and revenge killings that followed has risen to more than 1,000, including nearly 750 civilians, making it one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence sinc

Pope Francis, right, hugs Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI prior to the start of a meeting with elderly faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sept. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

In his own words: Pope Francis’ views on resigning changed over time

Pope Francis has entered his fourth week in the hospital with double pneumonia. Francis has increasingly handed off his day-to-day duties to cardinals as questions swirl about the near- and long-term future of his papacy.

People block the entrance to Israel's defense ministry headquarters during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 8, 2025, demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israel will send a delegation to Qatar to try to ‘advance’ ceasefire negotiations

Israel says it will send a delegation to Qatar on Monday “in an effort to advance the negotiations” around the ceasefire in Gaza.

Nuns pray for Pope Francis in front of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, in Rome, Saturday, March 8, 2025, where the Pontiff is hospitalized since Friday, Feb. 14. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis responding well to pneumonia therapy and showing ‘gradual, slight improvement’

The Vatican says Pope Francis is responding well to therapy for double pneumonia and has shown a “gradual, slight improvement” in recent days.

What one Finnish church learned from creating a service almost entirely with AI

St. Paul’s Lutheran church in Helsinki has held the first church service in Finland created mostly by artificial intelligence.

Ryan Walters, Republican candidate for Oklahoma State Superintendent, speaks at a rally, Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

Oklahoma schools chief seeks donations to put Bibles in classrooms

Oklahoma’s top public schools official is continuing his quest to put a Bible in classrooms. Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced this week he’s teaming with country music singer Lee Greenwood and seeking donations to buy $59.99 leather-bound “God Bless the USA” Bibles.

The Most Rev. Borys Gudziak, metropolitan archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Philadelphia for the United States, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, Tuesday, March 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Ukraine supporters focus on hope and resilience as US relations sour and war carries on

Religious leaders, scholars and diplomats have gathered at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana for a conference on Ukraine studies with a theme of hope.

Virginia man suspected of being about to conduct church mass shooting convicted of hate crime

Federal prosecutors say a northern Virginia man arrested during a megachurch’s Sunday services on suspicion that he was about to embark on a mass shooting has been convicted of a hate crime.

A woman prays at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the first Friday Prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in the Old City of Jerusalem, Friday, March 7, 2025. Arabic on top right reads: "Pray for the Prophet." (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

90,000 Palestinians attend the first Friday prayers of Ramadan in Jerusalem

Some 90,000 Palestinians have prayed at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City under tight security by Israeli forces.

FILE — In this Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023 file photo, Pope Francis followed by Cardinal Fernando Vergez Alzaga, right, President of Vatican City Governorate and Sister Raffaella Petrini, Secretary General of Vatican City Governorate arrives in the Paul VI Hall at The Vatican. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A day-by-day look at Pope Francis’ hospitalization for pneumonia, at the 3-week mark

Pope Francis was hospitalized on Feb. 14 after suffering a bout of bronchitis for weeks and after increasingly finding it hard to speak publicly.

Policemen use batons to disperse supporters of the banned Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir near Baitul Mokarram Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Police in Bangladesh use batons and tear gas to disperse rally by banned Islamist group

Police used batons and tear gas to disperse thousands of members of a banned Islamist group as they marched through streets in Bangladesh’s capital.

Locals and tourists walk along a main street near St. Peter's Basilica, background, as the sun sets in Rome, Italy, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Pope Francis hits 3-week mark of hospitalization after giving world a sign of his frailty

Pope Francis has hit the three-week mark in his hospitalization for double pneumonia. The 88-year-old Francis spent 20 minutes in the chapel praying Friday and did some work in between rest and respiratory and physical therapy.

A sprawling tent camp for displaced Palestinians sits adjacent to destroyed homes and buildings in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Saturday, March 1, 2025 during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Aid efforts in Gaza slow as millions of promised USAID dollars do not arrive, agency officials say

Officials from USAID say the the Trump administration’s cuts to the U.S. humanitarian agency have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in contractual payments to aid groups.