The Lenten period for penance started this week with Ash Wednesday and Catholic priests are happily bracing for long lines outside the confessional.

The Palestinian Health Ministry and a witness say that Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank shot and killed a Palestinian-American in an attack on a village.

The same travertine quarries near Rome that built St. Peter’s Basilica and the Colosseum are still being dug out today, providing the distinctive pock-marked rock to build a new generation of churches, temples and mosques worldwide.

Ramadan has begun in Gaza under a fragile ceasefire deal, but many say the joyous spirit of the month has disappeared.

Pope Leo XIV has opened the church’s penitential Lenten season by presiding over Ash Wednesday.

A New Jersey Catholic diocese this week agreed to a $180 million settlement to resolve allegations of clergy sexual abuse, a figure far exceeding agreements in some large dioceses though still dwarfed by other massive settlements.

Muslim Palestinians in Gaza are preparing for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan under a fragile ceasefire deal.

Eulogies are pouring in after the death of the Rev. Jesse L.

Many people who knew and worked with the Rev. Jesse L.

As the sun rose in New Orleans, rows of parade-goers already lined the street.

For many Christians, this week brings Ash Wednesday, a solemn day of fasting and reflection.

A man accused of killing 15 people in a mass shooting at a Jewish festival on Sydney’s Bondi Beach has appeared in court for the first time since his release from the hospital.

Israel is beginning a land registration process in the occupied West Bank that critics say can shift large areas into state control.

Fears are rising of the outbreak of another war that could spread into a regional conflict in the Middle East as U.S. President Donald Trump raises the pressure on on Iran to give up its nuclear program.

Indonesia is training troops for a new peacekeeping force in Gaza, backing a key part of President Donald Trump’s postwar plan.

New Zealand's Court of Appeal has finished hearing an appeal from the Christchurch mosque gunman, in proceedings that were quiet and tightly controlled.

The Great Omari Mosque in Gaza City was hit by an Israeli strike during the war with Hamas.

The Vatican has warned a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group that it risked renewed schism if it goes ahead with plans to consecrate new bishops without papal consent.

The chairman of the federal Religious Liberty Commission ousted a member after a hearing that featured tense exchanges on the definition of antisemitism.

Activists have planned protests at more than two dozen Target stores around the United States to pressure the discount retailer into taking a public stand against the 5-week-old immigration crackdown in its home state of Minnesota.

Two Palestinian men riding bicycles were killed in an Israeli drone strike Tuesday, hospital officials said, as deadly violence continued in Gaza despite an October ceasefire.

A new wave of Christian artists from various backgrounds is drawing young audiences to faith-based rap, Afrobeats and R&B.

A group of Buddhist monks has finally reached Washington, D.C., after completing a 15-week trek from Texas that captivated the country.

Brenton Tarrant, the white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslims in New Zealand's deadliest mass shooting, wanted to be described as a terrorist and always intended to admit to his crimes, his former lawyer says.

Israeli military strikes on Monday killed three people west of Gaza City, according to the hospital where the casualties arrived.

Pakistan’s president warns that the Taliban's government in Afghanistan has created conditions “similar to or worse than” those before the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has started a state visit to Australia, aiming to console grieving Jews and improve bilateral relations.

Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 Muslim worshipers in New Zealand’s deadliest mass shooting, is asking an appeals court to discard his guilty pleas.

Israel's security cabinet has approved measures to strengthen control over the occupied West Bank and weaken the powers of the Palestinian Authority.

The Big 12 Conference says it has fined Oklahoma State $50,000 following an investigation into inappropriate chants referencing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormons.

Tourists in Milan during the Winter Olympics faced disappointment as access to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper was closed for three and a half days.

Venezuela’s former President Nicolás Maduro and the country’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez were both raised Catholic in an overwhelmingly Christian country.

Pakistani security forces have arrested four suspects linked to a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque near the capital that killed 31 people.

In the Nigerian villages of Woro and Nuku, attackers arrived on motorbikes, going door to door, shooting and setting homes ablaze.

The Angel Meloni is no more.

Attacks on Bangladesh’s Hindu minority have surged since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in an uprising in 2024.

Palestinians have gathered at Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt, hoping to pass through after it reopened.

The Vatican’s “trial of the century” has resumed with appeals after setbacks for the pope’s prosecutors.

Independent journalist Don Lemon says about a dozen federal agents came to his Los Angeles hotel to arrest him last week.

Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” is undergoing its first major restoration in three decades.

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from ending temporary protections that have allowed roughly 350,000 Haitians to live and work in the United States.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced two more arrests in the protest at a church in Minnesota against the immigration enforcement crackdown.

Israeli authorities are investigating a group of local officials and businesspeople that investigators suspect siphoned millions of dollars of wartime aid being funneled to help people in the early days of the Israel-Hamas war.

As a teenager in India, Susai Jesu led prayer services in his small Catholic village, helped at Mass and soon began training for the priesthood.

Rabbis and rabbinical students in the United States are more diverse than ever.

A new campaign by Mexico City’s Historic Center Trust aims to encourage Mexicans to rediscover the religious and architectural heritage at the heart of the nation's capital.

Journalist Don Lemon has been released from custody after being charged with federal civil rights crimes in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted services at a Minnesota church.

South Africa has declared Israel’s deputy ambassador persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country within 72 hours.

Two neighboring towns on the Arizona-Utah border that once served as a haven for a polygamous religious sect have entered a new era.

Israel says it will reopen Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt over the weekend.

Pharrell Williams uses the Recording Academy stage to pray for U.S. leaders.

A man has been arrested after repeatedly crashing his car into the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters in New York City.

Sarah Mullally was confirmed as archbishop of Canterbury on Wednesday, becoming the first woman to lead the Church of England.

Israel is marking the end of a painful chapter after the return of the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza.

People across Europe and beyond are commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Ilana Kantorowicz Shalem was born in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945, and is one of the youngest Holocaust survivors.

Israelis expressed relief as the remains of Ran Gvili, the last hostage taken into Gaza, were recovered Monday.

Israel says the remains of the final hostage in Gaza have been recovered, clearing the way for the next phase of the ceasefire that stopped the Israel-Hamas war.

Priests and priestesses of the Afro-Cuban religion known as Santería have offered gifts to deities and asked for peace as tensions rise between the United States and Cuba and the island braces for more economic difficulties.

Israel says its military is conducting a large-scale operation to locate the last hostage in Gaza.

American religious history is rife with protest movements.

Top U.S. envoys have met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to advance the ceasefire in Gaza.

Syria's government forces have taken control of a prison housing Islamic State group members in the country's north.

Desperate Palestinians at a garbage dump in a Gaza neighborhood are digging with their bare hands for plastic items to burn to keep warm in the cold and damp winter in the enclave, battered by two years of the Israel-Hamas war.

Iraq has asked that Islamic State group prisoners be moved from northeast Syria to its detention centers.

Divisions have emerged over U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace as its ambitions have grown beyond Gaza.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a bombing at a Chinese restaurant in Afghanistan’s capital that killed at least seven people including a Chinese national and wounded more than a dozen others.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has welcomed Parliament's passing anti-hate speech and gun laws following a deadly shooting at a Jewish festival on Sydney's Bondi Beach last month.

Several faith leaders are urgently calling for protecting the rights of worshippers while also expressing compassion for migrants.

Three U.S. Catholic cardinals have urged the Trump administration to use a moral compass in foreign policy.

In a story published Jan. 19, 2026, The Associated Press reported that 77% of Gaza’s population is facing crisis-level food insecurity.

At least eight more countries say the United States has invited them to join President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace overseeing next steps for Gaza.

The Syrian government has announced a ceasefire with the Syrian Democratic Forces, taking almost full control of the country.

Business owners in a Minneapolis Somali mall are feeling the impact of an immigration crackdown.

Hundreds of people in Spain have watched horses gallop through flames as part of the centuries-old tradition called Las Luminarias.

A British police force chief has retired following criticism over a decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match against Aston Villa last year.

Pope Leo XIV has met with families of Italian teenagers killed or injured in a fire that engulfed a Swiss ski resort bar during a party on New Year's Eve.

Israeli strikes in central Gaza have killed nine people, including three women, following the U.S. announcement of a second phase in the fragile ceasefire.

The Department of Homeland Security is making it easier for visa-holding religious workers to serve U.S. congregations with less disruption.

The U.K.'s home secretary has urged the head of West Midlands Police to resign following a report on the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match against Aston Villa.

The global music industry hit 5.1 trillion streams in 2025.

Strong winds have caused at least four deaths in Gaza as walls collapsed onto tents in the coastal territory.

Organizers of Australia’s largest free literary festival have canceled the weeklong event after most writers withdrew over the removal of an Australian Palestinian writer.

The FBI says that an arson suspect admitted to targeting a historic Mississippi synagogue because it's a Jewish house of worship.

Pope Leo XIV has met with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado at the Vatican.

A Minneapolis church opened its doors for a special Sunday service of ‘Lament and Hope’ amid the ongoing federal immigration crackdown in the city.

Hamas says it will dissolve its government in Gaza once a Palestinian technocratic leadership committee takes over as part of a U.S.-brokered peace plan.

A group of Buddhist monks is getting viral attention with their 2,300-mile Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C. The monks say their aim is to promote mindfulness and healing and finding inner peace.

Pope Leo XIV has baptized 20 babies in the Sistine Chapel, continuing an annual tradition marking the end of the Christmas holiday at the Vatican.

British-born Thomas Paine helped inspire the 13 English colonies to declare independence and form the United States of America.

As Milan prepares to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, the city’s Catholic archdiocese launched a multi-year program that uses sport to promote values such as inclusion and solidarity among children and adolescents.

Pope Leo XIV has denounced how nations are increasingly using force to assert their dominion worldwide.

Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered in Somalia’s capital to protest Israel’s recognition of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland.

Health officials say at least 13 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza as U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce his Board of Peace to oversee the fragile ceasefire.

A massive crowd of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics is joining an annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ in the Philippine capital, with some using the gathering to express outrage over a corruption scandal involving influential legislators.

Investigators say a shooting outside a church in Salt Lake City that killed two people and injured six others grew out of a dispute between people who knew each other and were attending a funeral.

Israel’s prime minister says a former U.N. Mideast envoy, Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, has been chosen to serve as the director-general for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace aimed at overseeing the peace process in Gaza.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a royal commission into antisemitism, weeks after a deadly attack at a Jewish holiday event in Bondi Beach.

Police say a shooting outside a church building in Salt Lake City has killed two people and injured six others.

Faith leaders are urging prayers for peace following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro.