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Churches & Religion

Ruben Enaje, center, remains on the cross flanked by two other devotees during the reenactment of Jesus Christ’s sufferings as part of Good Friday rituals in San Pedro Cutud, north of Manila, Philippines, Friday, March 29, 2024. Filipino villager Ruben Enaje was nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea. (AP Photo/Gerard V.

A Filipino villager is nailed to a cross for the 35th time on Good Friday to pray for world peace

March 29, 2024, 8:28am Churches & Religion

A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea. Read story

A priest holds a cross during a Good Friday ceremony outside Notre Dame cathedral , as part of Easter celebrations, Friday, March 29, 2024 in Paris.

In Jerusalem, Palestinian Christians observe scaled-down Good Friday celebrations

March 29, 2024, 8:18am Churches & Religion

Hundreds of Christians participated in a customary Good Friday procession through the limestone walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, commemorating one of the faith’s most sacred days with noticeably thinner crowds amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Read story

In this image made available by Vatican Media, Pope Francis kisses the foot of a woman inmate of the Rebibbia prison on the outskirts of Rome on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024, a ritual meant to emphasize his vocation of service and humility. The Holy Thursday foot-washing ceremony is a hallmark of every Holy Week and recalls the foot-washing Jesus performed on his 12 apostles at their last supper together before he was crucified.

Pope, looking strong, washes feet of 12 women at Rome prison from his wheelchair

March 28, 2024, 4:53pm Churches & Religion

Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 12 women inmates at a Rome prison during a Holy Thursday ritual meant to emphasize his vocation of service and humility. Read story

Pope Francis smiles as he waves faithful at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

Pope Francis skips Palm Sunday homily at start of busy Holy Week that will test his health

March 25, 2024, 7:59am Churches & Religion

Pope Francis decided at the last minute to skip his homily during Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, avoiding a strenuous speech at the start of a busy Holy Week that will test his increasingly frail health. Read story

Khammai Sayakoummane, center, places a Tibetan scarf on the Birthplace of Antioch marker March 16 during the “May We Gather” pilgrimage in Antioch, Calif. The event aimed to use karmic cleansing through chants, prayer and testimony to heal racial trauma caused by anti-Chinese discrimination in Antioch in the 1870s. (Godofredo A.

Buddhists use karmic healing on anti-Asian hate

March 23, 2024, 6:03am Churches & Religion

For one afternoon, on Antioch’s main street and tranquil riverbank, the fragrance of burning incense was paired with the sound of Buddhist and Tao chants. Their cumulative calming energy was meant to be a balm of sorts to soothe the racial and religious hate that cast a shadow on Antioch’s… Read story

FILE - Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at an annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, in Las Vegas.

US Jews upset with Trump’s latest rhetoric say he doesn’t get to tell them how to be Jewish

March 21, 2024, 11:00am Churches & Religion

Since the start of his political career, Donald Trump has played on stereotypes about Jews and politics. Read story

Dancers Anna Chapin, left, 13, and Keira Wachter, right, 12, rehearse their moves while the Reprise Choir practices “She Was Dancing,” a song in the upcoming “Voice of Washington” program.

Celebrating Washington in song: Reprise Choir’s ‘The Voice of Washington’ highlights Evergreen state creators

March 21, 2024, 6:03am Churches & Religion

If the Washington musicians that spring quickest to mind are Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Heart or Bing Crosby, here’s your ticket to a whole new set of Evergreen State sounds. Read story

From left, Adam Mortada and his older brother Hussein Mortada stand outside Dearborn High School on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 in Dearborn Mich. In Dearborn, where nearly half the 110,000 residents are of Arab descent – public school teachers and staff strive to make things easier for students observing Ramadan. Hussein is a senior at Dearborn High School and says everyone in his family is fasting during Ramadan.

Fasting at school? More Muslim students in the US are getting support during Ramadan

March 18, 2024, 2:04pm Churches & Religion

While Muslim students remain a rarity in many U.S. school districts, they are a major presence in some communities, prompting public schools to be more attentive to their needs during the holy month of Ramadan when dawn-to-sundown fasting is a duty of Islam. Read story

Randa Baker, Right, who was displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, prepares the Iftar meal with her mother on the first day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan at a makeshift tent camp in the Muwasi area, southern Gaza, March 11, 2024. The holy month, typically a time of communal joy and reflection, is overshadowed by the grim reality of a conflict that has claimed over 30,000 Palestinian lives and left vast swaths of Gaza in shambles.

A Gaza family uprooted by war and grieving their losses shares a somber Ramadan meal in a tent

March 16, 2024, 1:38pm Churches & Religion

It was a somber scene as Randa Baker and her family sat on the ground in their tent in southern Gaza at sunset Monday for their meal breaking their first day of fasting in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Read story