Churches & Religion

In this photo by Oscar Rodriguez Zapata, a man walks next to a partially-covered Virgin of Guadalupe mural in Los Angeles in 2018. January 2023 marked 10 years since Zapata began documenting images of Guadalupe, at first on his phone for his own pleasure, but eventually taking his hobby more seriously, particularly as he noticed more and more Guadalupe images were vanishing.

Advocates document images of Virgin of Guadalupe

March 4, 2023, 6:27am Churches & Religion

There’s nothing that Oscar Rodriguez Zapata enjoys more than going out for a drive to explore Los Angeles’ vast neighborhoods in search of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Read story

Need a Lenten fish fry? There’s an interactive map for that

March 3, 2023, 7:34am Churches & Religion

By the time the doors open at 4:30 p.m., a boisterous line of 50 hungry people is looping around the gymnasium foyer at Blessed Francis Seelos Academy. Their objective: to occupy tables on the basketball court and, for the parish’s first time since the pandemic descended in 2020, sit down… Read story

Utah Senate President Stuart Adams speaks during a media availability, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City. A push to mandate that members of religious clergy report child sexual abuse when it's brought to their attention is facing pushback from churches throughout the United States. That's the case in Utah, where four separate proposals to narrow the so-called clergy-penitent privilege loophole have not received hearings in the statehouse as lawmakers prepare to adjourn for the year.

Push to require clergy to report abuse stalls in Mormon Utah

March 1, 2023, 8:13am Churches & Religion

Lindsey Lundholm looked out over hundreds of people at the Utah State Capitol last year and felt a deep sense of healing. Abuse survivors, religious leaders and major party politicians were all gathered to rally for an end to a legal loophole that exempts religious clergy from being required to report child… Read story

The Washington Capitol Building in Olympia.

Bill to make clergy mandatory child abuse reporters advances in Washington Legislature

February 28, 2023, 4:42pm Churches & Religion

A bill that would require clergy members to report child abuse or neglect in Washington has cleared the Senate. Read story

Ex-Cardinal McCarrick asks court to dismiss sex assault charge

February 27, 2023, 4:50pm Churches & Religion

Lawyers for former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick filed a motion Monday to dismiss a case charging him with sexually assaulting a boy decades ago, saying the 92-year-old once-powerful American prelate has dementia and is not competent to stand trial. Read story

Grants restore Black churches

The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Norfolk, Va., is a historically Black church that received a grant for preservation from the National Trust's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.

Saints glow in stained glass windows lining the newly pristine interior at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception. The sheen of black-and-white marble tiles, a throwback to the Catholic church’s original floor, captures the saints’ reflections. Read story

Israel’s rightward shift is straining its ties with U.S. Jews

FILE - An image of the U.S. flag is projected on the walls of Jerusalem's Old City in honor of President Joe Biden's visit to Jerusalem, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Several U.S. Jewish leaders are sounding alarms about what they see as a threat to Israel's democracy posed by its new government, the Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu who took office in December 2022, fearing it will erode the independence of its judiciary and legal protections for minority groups.

An array of U.S. Jewish leaders are sounding alarms about what they see as a threat to Israel’s democracy posed by its new government, fearing it will erode the independence of its judiciary and legal protections for minority groups. Read story

Journalist deflates accusation at Vatican financial trial

FILE -- In this April 28, 2016 file photo, Tommaso Di Ruzza, then director of the Vatican Financial Information Authority, left, flanked by Rene Brulhart, then president of the AIF. An Italian journalist on Wednesday deflated an accusation in the Vatican's sprawling financial trial, as he disputed Vatican prosecutors' claims about the source of a document concerning the Vatican's 350 million euro investment in a London property. Prosecutors had accused Di Ruzza of having given the journalist a copy of a contract related to the London deal, alleging a violation of Vatican confidentiality laws.

An Italian journalist on Wednesday deflated an accusation in the Vatican’s sprawling financial trial, as he disputed prosecutors’ claims about the source of a document concerning the Vatican’s 350 million euro investment in a London property. Read story