Religion News Service

The persecuted church in Russia is speaking. Is the global church listening?

The resolution also denounces "weaponization" of the U.S. Constitution" and urges UCC churches to divest from private incarceration companies that are participating in the White House crackdown on immigrants.

Attacks from the religious right on Marina Silva, a Pentecostal and longtime environmentalist, expose the rifts within Brazil's evangelical movement as the Amazon's future hangs in the balance.

The religious right has hoped for the repeal of the Johnson Amendment since at least 2007, when President Donald Trump pledged to totally destroy it. The new regime is bound to be helpful to Republicans but unlikely to advance the cause of religion.

Religious organizations in New York City are reviving old strategies and adopting new ones to protect their communities from immigration enforcement.

"New York was the center of the slave trade in the United States," said Boshop Matthew Heyd of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. "That evil is part of the fabric of the diocese, and we're trying to repair this fabric."

At age 47, Bishop-designate Thomas Hennen will be the youngest bishop leading a U.S. diocese. Hennen's ministry to LGBTQ+ people has seen mixed reactions about his pastoral approach.

The American Humanist Association, which has a chapter in West Virginia, sued its water authority for awarding a $5 million grant to an Ohio Catholic college.

As the so-called One Big, Beautiful Bill made its way toward congressional approval last month, U.S. Catholic bishops signed their names to not one but two letters to senators on the same day, both airing misgivings. The existence of dueling letters, church observers say, offered a rare public glimpse of a rift that's been years in the making.

The United States is beginning to look like a dictatorship seeking to divest itself of anyone who is poor and speaks Spanish. How a person reacts to the sight of armed, masked men assaulting immigrants in the United States defines a person’s character. Increasingly, the priority put on detaining people is defining the character of the government, if not the entire country. 

'I'm like, not again!' said one parishioner of the historic St. Teresa of Avila Church, who moved there after her previous church in the neighborhood was closed.

Acutis' "reputation of holiness," part of any saint's cause, has taken the church by storm. He is referred to by many names: the saint in sneakers, the patron of the Internet, God's jester or — as Francis described him — the saint next door.

Around the world, we are "witnessing an alarming rise in attempts to discredit, politicize or suppress scientific knowledge," the Vatican says in a new Pontifical Academy of Sciences document defending the freedom of science.

As the archbishop threads the needle between two leadership roles that have never been held by the same man, he has shied away from publicly criticizing President Donald Trump, even when issuing statements critical of Trump administration actions on Iran or mass deportations.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops took a firm but mixed approach to the bill, while other Catholic leaders signed an interfaith letter asking senators to oppose the bill.

The Eucharist is supposed to be the sacrament of unity, but sadly liturgy still divides Catholics, especially when it comes to the Traditional Latin Mass. Is compromise possible that can respect both unity and diversity in the church?

The Homeland Security Committee named the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA among those under scrutiny.

U.S. Catholic bishops are quietly criticizing Trump's budget policies in a letter to Capitol Hill. It's a good letter, but in today's media landscape, they need to do more than that, writes Fr. Thomas Reese.

At an event celebrating the city's native son, Cardinal Blase Cupich spoke on immigration and the undocumented in his "Sermon on the Mound."