Churches & Religion

FILE - Employees Chuck Flippo, right, and Asa Montgomery walk through Patriots Park, Thursday, May 28, 2015, at the Touro Synagogue, the nation's oldest, in Newport, R.I. On Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, the New York-based Congregation Shearith Israel filed a court motion to take control of Touro Synagogue by ejecting its current tenants, the Newport-based Congregation Jeshuat Israel.

Iconic synagogue sparks dispute

February 5, 2022, 6:02am Churches & Religion

A Jewish congregation in New York City has moved to evict Rhode Island congregants who worship at the nation’s oldest synagogue as part of a long-running dispute over control of the historic building. Read story

FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2015 file photo, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S., at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual fall meeting in Baltimore. Archbishop Santo Marcian? penned a letter to Italian law enforcement personnel in response to the latest missive from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the Vatican's onetime U.S. ambassador who went rogue in 2018 after calling for Pope Francis to resign over the clergy sexual abuse scandal. Vigano's anti-Francis missives have become increasingly unhinged, especially during the coronavirus pandemic which he has denied and termed a criminal pretext by a "globalist oligarchy" to enslave humanity.

Italy military chaplain hits back at vaccine-mandate critic

February 2, 2022, 9:20am Churches & Religion

Italy’s Catholic military chaplain has pushed back strongly against calls by a former Vatican ambassador for the armed forces to resist COVID-19 vaccine mandates, saying the ambassador’s “conspiracy theories” were a source of confusion and disinformation. Read story

This undated selfie photo provided in January 2022 shows Army Col. Khallid Shabazz, the highest-ranking Muslim in the U.S. military. Not long after converting to Islam - facing discrimination from other soldiers, disappointment from his Lutheran family and with more than one citation for insubordination on his record - Shabazz was ready to quit the military. But a chance encounter with a Christian army chaplain not only convinced him to stay in the military but to pursue chaplaincy himself. '??Honestly, it was like a revelation from God. ... When it hit my ears, I knew that was what I was going to do in life. It was incredible.'??

Soldier gains TikTok following: Army chaplain offers fitness tips, inspirational quips

January 29, 2022, 6:05am Churches & Religion

Roughly half of the content creators on social media platform TikTok are under the age of 28. It’s just one reason why the popularity of Army Colonel Khallid Shabazz, who has some 43,000 followers on the social media platform, is so surprising. Read story

Donald Dardar, left, and Russell Dardar look toward the eroding shoreline of Bayou Pointe-au-Chien in southern Louisiana on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. The brothers have lived along the bayou all their lives as shrimpers and fishermen. They now also work to preserve the coastal land from further erosion by refilling canals and developing living shorelines.

Faith groups join fight against climate change

January 29, 2022, 6:02am Churches & Religion

On a boat ride along a bayou that shares the name of his Native American tribe, Donald Dardar points to a cross marking his ancestors’ south Louisiana burial ground — a place he fears will disappear. Read story

FILE - A view of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, on Nov. 10, 2020. On Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. The Vatican said Friday it had completed the sale of a London residential building that is at the heart of a fraud and embezzlement trial under way in the Vatican City State's tribunal, recovering more than it expected from the loss-making investment. The Vatican's economy ministry revealed the sale contract had been signed, and 10% of the deposit received, as it released the Holy See's budget for 2022. It foresees a narrowing of the Holy See's budget deficit to EUR33 million euros from EUR42 million euros last year.

Vatican selling London property at heart of fraud trial

January 28, 2022, 8:55am Churches & Religion

The Vatican said Friday it has signed a contract to sell a luxury London building that is at the heart of a fraud and embezzlement trial under way in the Vatican’s criminal tribunal, recovering more than it expected from the loss-making investment. Read story

Jewish leaders renew antisemitism fight

Congregation Beth Israel Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, facing camera, hugs a man after a healing service Monday night at White's Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake, Texas. Cytron-Walker was one of four people held hostage by a gunman at his Colleyville, Texas, synagogue on Jan. 15.

Although the FBI initially said the man who held four people hostage at a Texas synagogue was focused on an issue “not specifically related to the Jewish community,” the captor voiced beliefs that Jews controlled the world and had the power to arrange the release of a prisoner, survivors said… Read story

Bad luck: Pope acknowledges he got caught at record store

In this image from video made available by Javier Martinez Brocal of Rome Reports, Pope Francis leaves a record shop in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. Pope Francis grew up listening to the opera on the radio, is a fan of tango and milonga and thinks Mozart "lifts you to God." But it still came as a something of a shock to see him coming out of a downtown Rome record shop Tuesday evening with a CD in hand, after making an unannounced visit that was caught on camera by a Vatican reporter who happened to be nearby.

Pope Francis has long lamented that he can’t walk around town unnoticed like he used to before becoming pope. But he seems to have nevertheless kept his sense of humor after he was caught on camera making an unannounced visit to a Rome record shop this week. Read story