Churches & Religion

Six fun, spiritual games for teaching a child to pray

August 6, 2016, 6:02am Churches & Religion

Most people who become followers of Christ — nearly 85 percent, according to the International Bible Society — do so between the ages of 4 and 14. Read story

Bassist: Prince found ‘real happiness’ as Jehovah’s Witness

August 5, 2016, 6:02am Churches & Religion

Music megastar Prince was known for throwing parties that stretched into the wee hours of the morning, but his faith and the Bible could also keep him gabbing until sunrise, according to his longtime friend and “spiritual brother,” bassist Larry Graham. Read story

Monsignor William Lynn leaves a bail hearing at the Center for Criminal Justice in Philadelphia. Lynn, a former Philadelphia church official imprisoned over his handling of abuse complaints is seeking bail after Pennsylvania's highest court granted him a new trial.

Ex-church official gets bail, prosecutor vows to retry him

August 2, 2016, 9:46am Churches & Religion

The city’s top prosecutor vowed on Tuesday to retry a former church official imprisoned for nearly three years over his handling of abuse complaints, even though the monsignor’s conviction has twice been overturned. Read story

Pope to young on Poland trip: Believe ‘in a new humanity’

July 31, 2016, 3:49pm Churches & Religion

Pope Francis encouraged hundreds of thousands of young people at a global gathering Sunday to “believe in a new humanity” that is stronger than evil and refuses to see borders as barriers. Read story

Pope Francis blesses youths ahead of a prayer vigil on the occasion of the World Youth Days, in Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, near Krakow, Poland, Saturday. The 79-year-old Francis has had an unrelenting schedule since he arrived in Poland on Wednesday for World Youth Days, a global Catholic gathering which culminates Sunday.

Pope to young: Try politics, activism; don’t be couch potato

July 30, 2016, 3:13pm Churches & Religion

Pope Francis challenged hundreds of thousands of young people who gathered in a sprawling Polish meadow to reject being a “couch potato” who retreats into video games and computer screens and instead engage in social activism and politics to create a more just world. Read story

Caribbean cave art sheds light on religious collision

Carved into the limestone rock in a cave in Mona are religious motifs, where both the spiritual beliefs of the native islanders and Christianity, as practiced by 16th-century Spaniards, seem to coexist.

The picturesque island of Mona sits isolated between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea. It has no human settlements and is devoid of human life except for Puerto Rican wildlife managers, conservationists and the odd researcher. Read story

Pope holds Mass celebrating Poland’s deep Catholic roots

Faithful cheer and take pictures and videos with their phones of Pope Francis arriving by tram in Krakow's Jordan Park, Poland, on Thursday. The Pope is on a five-day visit to Poland which will culminate with the World Youth Day on Sunday.

Pope Francis, visiting a shrine cherished by Poles, praised native son St. John Paul II on Thursday and honored the countless “ordinary yet remarkable people” in Poland who held firm to their Catholic faith throughout adversity in the former Communist nation. Read story