Religion News Headlines

By Catherine Hornby VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis warned the Catholic Church to not close in on itself at a Mass to mark Pentecost Sunday attended by more than 200,000 people, urging the faithful to be open and present in a new and changing world. The Church should ask itself daily whether it is resisting new challenges …

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis lamented that investment losses by banks trigger more alarm in the economic crisis than the struggle of people to feed their families, as he led a huge rally Saturday to invigorate the church's moral conscience, hours after he held talks at the Vatican about the economic crisis with Germany's …

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis shared personal moments with 200,000 people on Saturday, telling them he sometimes nods off while praying at the end of a long day and that it "breaks my heart" that the death of a homeless person is not news. Francis, who has made straight talk and simplicity a hallmark …

VATICAN CITY (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel, mindful of the importance of Christian voters in September elections, met with Pope Francis on Saturday during a quick trip to Rome that focused on helping victims of Europe's economic crisis and emphasizing the continent's Christian roots.

By James Mackenzie VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Pope Francis on Saturday and, apparently responding to his criticism of a heartless "dictatorship of the economy", called for stronger regulation of financial markets. On Thursday, Francis appealed in a speech for world financial reform, saying …

VATICAN CITY - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, mindful of the weight of Christian voters in September elections, made a quick trip to Rome Saturday for a private meeting with Pope Francis, focusing on how Europe's struggling economy should be at the service of the people.

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security officials say clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria left one man dead of a heart attack.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The wife of the Mormon church's president shied away from the spotlight, but her lifelong work behind the scenes left a lasting impression on those who knew her.

VICTORIA - Invaluable, historic artifacts stolen from the Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria last week have been recovered.

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Gauchos, the legendary Argentine cowboys from the vast Pampas of Pope Francis's homeland, are being celebrated in a rare exhibition in no less a place than St. Peter's Square. Called "Argentina - The Gaucho, Tradition, Art and Faith," it opened on Friday in the Braccio Carlo Magno …

When Ed Buckner and his family went to a north Georgia state park to celebrate his son's birthday, he was surprised and concerned to find Bibles in the state-owned cabin he had rented. An atheist, Buckner ...

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - The long-awaited, controversial new edition of the bible of psychiatry can be characterized by many numbers: its 947 pages, its $199 price tag, its more than 300 maladies (from "dependent personality disorder" and "voyeuristic disorder" to "delayed ejaculation," "kleptomania" and "intermittent …

Pope Francis has denounced the global financial system, blasting the "cult of money" that he says is tyrannizing the poor and turning humans into expendable consumer goods. In his first major ...

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican Bank, a center of scandals for decades, is to launch its own website and publish its annual report in an effort to increase transparency, its new president said. Ernst von Freyberg told the bank's employees of the changes, which should be in place by the end of the …

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican Bank, a center of scandals for decades, is to launch its own website and publish its annual report in an effort to increase transparency, its new president said. Ernst von Freyberg told the bank's employees of the changes, which should be in place by the end of the …

The first thing visitors will see when they enter the Vatican Pavilion at the Venice Biennale—an art show dedicated to the modern and cutting edge—will be a nod to the past: a three-paneled triptych on which the 20th-century Italian artist Tano Festa reproduced details from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. The paintings, …

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican is getting back into its centuries-old tradition of arts patronage with its first-ever exhibit at the Venice Biennale, commissioning a biblically inspired show about creation, destruction and renewal for one of the world's most prestigious contemporary arts festivals.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two conservative religious groups say they were also the subject of unusual scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — You can see the streets where he grew up and played soccer, the church where Jorge Bergoglio prayed as a teenager and the cathedral where the man who would become Pope Francis said Mass. You can even visit the stand where he bought his newspapers every weekend and where he went for a hair …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - You can see the streets where he grew up and played soccer, the church where Jorge Bergoglio prayed as a teenager and the cathedral where the man who would become Pope Francis said Mass. You can even visit the stand where he bought his newspapers every weekend and where he went for a haircut.

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Disgraced Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who resigned as head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland after admitting to sexual misconduct, will leave his country for months of "prayer and penance", the Vatican said on Wednesday. A brief Vatican statement did not say where O'Brien, …

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican says the Scottish cardinal who resigned as archbishop after admitting to sexual misconduct will leave Scotland for several months of prayer and atonement.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Two doves celebrated their freedom with a soaring flight over St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, all thanks to Pope Francis.