Churches & Religion

Episcopalians vote to allow gay marriages

July 2, 2015, 12:00am Churches & Religion

SALT LAKE CITY -- Episcopalians voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to allow religious weddings for same-sex couples, solidifying the church's embrace of gay rights that began more than a decade ago with the pioneering election of the first openly gay bishop. Read story

A South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigator examines the charred remains of a door outside Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal church Wednesday in Greeleyville, S.C.

Official: Fire at South Carolina black church wasn’t arson

July 1, 2015, 12:00am Churches & Religion

GRELLEYVILLE, S.C. — A fire that destroyed a black church in South Carolina was not the work of an arsonist, a federal law enforcement source said Wednesday. Read story

Oklahoma court: Ten Commandments monument must come down

June 30, 2015, 12:00am Churches & Religion

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma's Supreme Court says the Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol must be removed because it indirectly benefits the Jewish and Christian faiths in violation of the state's constitution. Read story

Pope Francis blesses the faithful as he celebrates the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.

Pope in U.S. to meet with homeless, prisoners and immigrants

June 30, 2015, 12:00am Churches & Religion

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will meet with homeless people, immigrants and prisoners during his upcoming trip to Cuba and the United States and become the first pope to address the U.S. Congress. He'll also preside over a meeting about religious liberty — a major issue for U.S. bishops in… Read story

A wooden rib that is part of a ship based on the story of Noah's ark is raised into place Thursday in Williamstown, Ky.

Biblical boat replica being built in Kentucky

June 27, 2015, 12:00am Churches & Religion

WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. — In a rolling Kentucky pasture, the first few wooden ribs of a giant Noah's ark tourist attraction have begun to sprout. Read story

Vatican may open to remarried divorcees

VATICAN CITY — An upcoming world summit of Catholic bishops will discuss dropping long-standing rules against remarried divorcees as part of efforts to update the church's stance towards modern family life, the Vatican said Tuesday. Read story

Busy times for the woman behind the pope’s visit

Donna Crilley Farrell, executive director of the World Meeting of Families, talks in her Philadelphia office June 1.

PHILADELPHIA — By 10 a.m. on another jam-packed day, the woman responsible for organizing the conference that will bring Pope Francis to Philadelphia has finished a morning workout, answered a slew of emails, ushered her twins off to school, and met with the Secret Service. Read story

Pope urges revolution to save Earth, fix ‘perverse’ economy

Two women walk into the Vatican bookshop where Pope Francis' encyclical in on sale in Rome on Thursday.

VATICAN CITY -- With a poet's lyricism, a former chemist's precision and a pontiff's moral thunder, Pope Francis recast humanity's relationship with nature in stark ethical terms, hoping to spur a warming, filthy world to clean up its act "before it's too late." Read story