Religion News

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canadians should "find strength in our differences" this Christmas.

RENO, Nev.

ROME (AP) — The Vatican next year will publish a collection of never-before-seen homilies delivered by the late Pope Benedict XVI during his private Sunday Masses, most of them penned during his 10-year retirement, officials said Saturday.

ACOLMAN, Mexico (AP) — María de Lourdes Ortiz Zacarías swiftly cuts hundreds of strips of newsprint and colored crepe paper needed to make a piñata, soothed by Norteño music on the radio while measuring pieces by feel.

BOSTON (AP) — When Ernseau Admettre decided to leave Haiti and head north with his young family in tow, very little was guaranteed.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — In an extraordinary pushback against Pope Francis , some Catholic bishops in Africa, Poland and elsewhere say they will not implement the new Vatican policy allowing blessings for same-sex couples .

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s chief prosecutor has appealed a court verdict that largely dismantled his theory of a grand conspiracy to defraud the Holy See of millions of euros but found a cardinal guilty of embezzlement.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean religious sect leader whose sex crimes were featured in the popular Netflix series “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal” earlier this year was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Friday, court officials said.

It’s normally a moment of pure joy for the Rev. Khader Khalilia: the excitement, the giggles, the kisses, as his young daughters — in their Christmas pajamas — open their gifts. But this year, just the thought of it fills Khalilia with guilt.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s center-right government said Thursday it would fulfill a commitment to legalize same-sex marriage, sidestepping staunch opposition from the country’s influential Orthodox Church .