The Columbian

Churches & Religion

Pilgrims attend a mass presided by the Pope Francis at the Parque Tejo in Lisbon celebrating the 37th World Youth Day on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023. An estimated 1.5 million young people filled the parque on Saturday for Pope Francis' World Youth Day vigil, braving scorching heat to secure a spot for the evening prayer and to camp out overnight for his final farewell Mass on Sunday morning.

Pope discusses health, his ditched peace prayer in Fatima and LGBTQ+ Catholics in airborne briefing

August 7, 2023, 8:13am Churches & Religion

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Sunday his recovery from his latest abdominal surgery is going well and stressed that he ditched speeches during his five-day trip to Portugal and spoke off-the-cuff not because he was tired or feeling unwell, but to better communicate with young people. Read story

Worshippers attend a Mass July 9 in the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, Spain. With tourism reaching or surpassing pre-pandemic levels across southern Europe this summer, iconic sacred sites struggle to find ways to accommodate both the faithful who come to pray and millions of increasingly secular visitors attracted by art and architecture.

Churches struggle to balance worship, tourism

August 5, 2023, 6:05am Churches & Religion

A recent Saturday evening Mass at Sagrada Familia parish had all the hallmarks of a neighborhood worship service, from prayers for ill and deceased members to name-day wishes for two congregants in the pews. Read story

Chaldean nuns attend a service in the Mar Youssef Cathedral in Irbil, Iraq, on Sunday, July 30, 2023. Today, the number of Christians in Iraq is 150,000, compared to 1.5 million in 2003.

A feud between a patriarch and a militia leader adds to the woes of Iraqi Christians

August 4, 2023, 1:58pm Churches & Religion

Iraqi Christians have struggled since the Nineveh plains, their historic homeland of rolling hills dotted with wheat and barley fields, were wrested back from Islamic State extremists six years ago. Read story

Pope Francis is helped with a microphone by Scholas Occurrentes' President Jose Maria del Corral, left, as he makes remarks about a painting depicting the parable of the 'good Samaritan' during a meeting with members of the Scholas Occurrentes community of young people, an International educational movement created by Pope Francis himself, in Cascais, 25 kilometers south of Lisbon, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023. Francis gave the final brushstroke to the 3 km mural that the community has been working on and that is the result of the work of more than two thousand people.

Pope Francis blasts scandal of clergy sex abuse in Portugal and meets with survivors

August 3, 2023, 8:02am Churches & Religion

Pope Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal on Wednesday and blasted members of the country’s Catholic hierarchy for their response to the long-ignored scandal, which he said had marred the Catholic Church and helped drive the faithful away. Read story

Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he arrives for a meeting with the Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis arrived Wednesday in Lisbon to attend the international World Youth Day on Sunday that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Portugal. (Miguel A.

Pope Francis urges Europe to work for peace as he lands in Portugal for World Youth Day

August 2, 2023, 8:20am Churches & Religion

Pope Francis challenged Europe to retake its role as a peacemaker and bridgebuilder as he arrived Wednesday in Portugal to open World Youth Day, hoping to inspire the next generation of Catholics to work together to combat conflicts, climate change and other problems facing the world. Read story

Father Crespo, in the background, calls the numbers while World Youth Day volunteers play bingo with residents of a parish center in Lisbon, Thursday, July 27, 2023. When Pope Francis attends the international World Youth Day in Lisbon he will pay a visit to the parish center that cares for hundreds of residents of the impoverished neighborhood of Serafina.

As the pope heads to Portugal, he’s laying the groundwork for the church’s future and his own legacy

July 31, 2023, 8:34am Churches & Religion

When Pope Francis made the first foreign trip of his papacy, to Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day in 2013, he urged young people to make a “mess” in their local churches, to shake things up even if it ruffled the feathers of their bishops. Read story

Protesters gather in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, carrying Iraqi flags and images of influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, Saturday, July 22, 2023, following reports of the burning of a Quran carried out by a ultranationalist group in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen. Protesters attempted to cross the Jumhuriya bridge leading to the Green Zone, where the Danish embassy is, but were pushed back by security forces.

Denmark seeks to legally prevent burnings of Quran or other religious scriptures

July 31, 2023, 8:30am Churches & Religion

Denmark’s foreign minister said Sunday the government will seek to make it illegal to desecrate the Quran or other religious holy books in front of foreign embassies in the Nordic country. Read story

Dancers perform July 17 on the first day of the Guelaguetza in Oaxaca, Mexico. During the government-sponsored event, 16 Indigenous ethnic groups and the Afro-Mexican community promote their traditions through dances, parades and craft sales.

Mexico’s native ethnic groups celebrate culture

July 29, 2023, 6:00am Churches & Religion

Leticia Santiago carries her ancestral heritage wherever she goes. Every time she addresses the crowds during the Guelaguetza, the biggest cultural event in southwestern Mexico, her words, her garments and her skin reveal a clue about the town where she was proudly born. Read story

Concerns grow over church in Pierce County

July 29, 2023, 5:03am Churches & Religion

Milton residents watched last week as crews began cutting down trees along Taylor Street, clearing the way for a long-disputed new megachurch. Read story