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Pope Francis meets with the Italian pilgrims of the Camino de Santiago cared for by the Don Guanella organization at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Dec. 19, 2024. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
An Israeli government minister criticized Pope Francis on Friday for suggesting the international community should study whether Israel’s military offensive in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
A person is arrested, briefly detained, and subsequently released after a group of protestors block the entrance to the lobby of the Center City office of Sen. Bob Casey, in Philadelphia, on Oct. 10, 2018. The group gathers in support of undocumented immigrant Carmela Apolonio Hernandez and daughter Keyri Artillero Apolonio, 14, after they left their sanctuary church to occupy the Senators office. Photo by Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Reuters.
After news broke Wednesday that President-elect Donald Trump planned to nix a policy discouraging immigration arrests in places like churches and schools, Indiana pastor Zach Szmara fielded questions from churches across the country about how to prepare.
Supporters of legal abortion rights gathered in Freedom Plaza and marched to the White House on Jan. 20, 2024. Robyn Stevens Brody/Sipa USA via Reuters
Megan Boyd wasn’t surprised when she first heard her child Daisy describe the phrase “your body, my choice” being used at school. Saddened, yes. Disappointed, absolutely. But for Boyd, the surge in misogynistic rhetoric following the election was just another sign of a growing boldness she’d seen in her New Hampshire town.
A still from a video of Loyola Marymount University’s campus at sunset. Courtesy LMU media relations.
Last year, Sammi Mrowka, a graduate student at San Diego State University who is nonbinary and transgender, completed the legal process for changing their name and gender marker on IDs. Mrowka, who uses “he” and “they” pronouns, participated in a name and gender marker change clinic run by law students at the University of San Diego, who helped him fill out the paperwork.
A sidewalk Santa rings his bell on 5th Avenue as people gathered on the streets of New York to do their last minute shopping Dec. 24, 2001. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
In my favorite home video ever, it’s 2020 and my kids are opening their Christmas morning gifts while wearing new ski jackets, even though it was 75 degrees in South Texas, where we live. My son’s 4-year-old hands are still pudgy, and he hasn’t learned to glide his “l” sounds yet, so his raspy morning voice is extra adorable. As he unwraps his gifts, he shouts and cheers and stares at some Power Rangers in adoration.
Jesuit Father Patrick Hyland celebrates Mass at Hospice Divina Providencia where Saint Óscar Romero was murdered on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass. Photo by Jorge Palacios, Jr., courtesy Ignatian Solidarity Network.
When Ryan Medina stepped off the plane in San Salvador, capital city of El Salvador, he felt the thrill of being in a new country. He was eager to meet the fellow pilgrims he’d only known online and excited about the journey ahead. But as their van left the bustling city streets and began the drive to the gravesite of four U.S. churchwomen, the atmosphere shifted.
“I realized we were quite literally retracing the same route these women took after they were picked up from the airport on the night they were ambushed and killed,” said Medina, a teacher at Loyola Blakefield High School near Baltimore, Md.
A supporter of President Donald Trump holds a crucifix during a “Stop the Steal” protest after the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Phoenix on Nov. 11, 2020. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
For faith activists and leaders committed to continuing their work to oppose and resist Christian nationalism, President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House is disappointing but not a sign of total defeat. Ahead of Inauguration Day, many activists are continuing their coalition-building efforts and sounding the alarm on specific policies they believe Trump may sign executive orders on, day one in office.
Mike Huckabee looks on as Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump reacts during a campaign event at the Drexelbrook Catering and Event Center, in Drexel Hill, Penn., Oct. 29, 2024. Trump, now President-elect, has said will nominate Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
An evangelical Christian, Huckabee has been a vocal supporter of Israel throughout his political career and a longtime defender of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. A former Republican presidential hopeful, Huckabee hosted a weekly Fox News TV show for six years ending in 2015.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby looks on as he speaks with the press after a visit to the grave of Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero, during a visit to El Salvador, at The Metropolitan Cathedral in San Salvador, El Salvador, June 4, 2024. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned “in sorrow” on Tuesday, saying he had failed to ensure there was a proper investigation into allegations of abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps decades ago.
Doors to a church in Raleigh, N.C. Photo by D Guest Smith / Alamy via Reuters Connect
Rev. Jes Kast started planning for the Sunday after the election in midsummer, before her three-month sabbatical. She’d timed her leave intentionally, wanting to return to her congregation well-rested, right before one of most contentious elections in U.S. history. “I had a sense in my spirit that this next phase in ministering, whatever the outcome of the election, would require me to be as spiritually grounded as possible,” said Kast, who pastors Faith United Church of Christ in State College, Pa.
A barricade with the word “Stop” stands in front of the White House, after President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, in Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 2024. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Trump’s campaign was marked by racist and misogynistic rhetoric, promises of authoritarian tactics including dramatic expansion of executive power and retribution for his political rivals, as well as policies that appealed to the anxieties of conservative religious communities, especially Christians.
As faith and justice leaders absorbed the news of a second Trump term, many pointed to the importance of fostering and caring for self and neighbor while figuring out what to do over the next four years.
President-elect Donald Trump takes the stage in West Palm Beach, Fla., following results from the 2024 U.S. presidential election on Nov. 6, 2024. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
President-elect Trump, according to the Associated Press, has won the White House. He won the election in part by courting conservative religious communities — and appealing to their anxieties — on the campaign trail. His policy agenda will likely be shaped by these groups, influencing the White House on a range of issues from education to reproductive rights.
President Joe Biden gestures during a performance, at Gila Crossing Community School in Gila River Indian Community, Ariz., on Oct. 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
“This to me is one of the most consequential things I’ve ever had an opportunity to do in my whole career,” Biden said in his apology at an outdoor football and track field in Laveen Village, Arizona, near Phoenix. “It’s a sin on our soul. ... I formally apologize.”
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the vice president’s residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., Oct. 23, 2024. REUTERS/Bonnie Cash
In an interview with NBC’s Hallie Jackson on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris suggested she would not make concessions for religious exemptions on abortion laws, one of her strongest allusions yet to where she plans to take the abortion debate if she wins the White House in November.
A pack of birth control pills is displayed in this illustration picture taken in Philadelphia, Penn., July 11, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah Beier
The Biden administration's proposal to require private insurance agencies to cover certain over-the-counter contraceptives is getting nods of approval from faith-based reproductive rights advocates. But it’s unclear how other religious groups will respond.
Abortion stories presented on a quilt from Catholics for Choice. The quilt was brought to Vatican City in hopes to persuade Pope Francis and other Catholic officials to rethink their approach on abortion. Courtesy Catholics for Choice.
Early in the morning on Oct. 3, reproductive choice advocacy group Catholics for Choice unfurled a 50-foot long, 41-pound quilt on the road leading to St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. Their words, written in bold, large letters across the bottom of the quilt summed up their message: “POPE FRANCIS, LISTEN.”
Ohio Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Graphic by Ryan McQaude/Sojourners. Original photos by Go Nakamura/Reuters and Michael Brochstein / SOPA Images via Reuters.
As Republican Ohio Senator JD Vance and his Democratic opponent, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, compete for the vice presidency ahead of the November election, they bring distinct religious backgrounds — and distinct approaches to the role of faith in public life.
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance (R-Ohio) delivers remarks on Sept. 5, 2024, at Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. Owen Ziliak/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters.
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance attended a town hall outside Pittsburgh on Saturday hosted by a Christian nationalist televangelist who believes that Democrat Kamala Harris has an “occult spirit” that runs through her, that she represents the “spirit of Jezebel,” and that she used “witchcraft” during the September presidential debate.
Ruth Padilla DeBorst delivers he plenary speech on “justice,” which the Lausanne Movement would later apologize for, at the Fourth Lausanne Congress in Incheon, South Korea, on Sept. 23, 2024. Photo courtesy the Lausanne Movement. Photo credits for the Lausanne Congress: Michael Bode, Gjermund Oystese, MaryChris Lajom, Grace Snavely, Matthew Lauber, Altin Serani, Jaqueline Baisi, Gersham Girum
Ruth Padilla DeBorst told her audience: “There is no room for indifference toward all who are suffering the scourge of war and violence the world round, the uprooted and beleaguered people of Gaza, the hostages held by both Israel and Hamas and their families, the threatened Palestinians in their own territories, all who are mourning the loss of loved ones.”
Less than 48 hours later, the director of the Fourth Lausanne Congress emailed all attendees, issuing a lengthy apology for Padilla DeBorst’s speech.
‘The Book of Belonging,’ written by Mariko Clark and illustrated by Rachel Eleanor, sits on a shelf. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Ross.
Early in The Book of Belonging, a long-anticipated children’s story Bible, author Mariko Clark includes this paragraph: “Think about how cozy and special you feel when someone asks you about your day or wants to learn more about your favorite foods or hobbies. God made us to belong with God! That means God wants to be close and cozy with us. So all questions are welcome!”