Religion News

POMOMA, Calif. (AP) — A Los Angeles-area church was destroyed in a massive fire early Sunday, just hours before a celebration that was set to include a Christmas play and a toy giveaway.

(RNS) — The Rev. Susan Sparks, a minister and a professional comedian, uses humor in her sermons to help her American Baptist congregation in New York City consider ways to approach those with whom they disagree.

ROME (AP) — The Vatican document explicitly saying Catholic priests can bless same-sex unions lays out the conditions for what such blessings can, and cannot, involve.

The Catholic church, in its doctrine, still rejects same-sex marriage and condemns any sexual relations between gay or lesbian partners as “intrinsically disordered.

JANVIER, ALBERTA — RCMP in Alberta are investigating a fire that destroyed a church. Police say their Wood Buffalo detachment responded to the fire on Friday night in Janvier, a hamlet located adjacent to the Chipewyan Prairie First Nation.

Cydney Wallace, a Black Jewish community activist, never felt compelled to travel to Israel, though “Next year in Jerusalem” was a constant refrain at her Chicago synagogue.

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis turned 87 on Sunday, closing out a year that saw big milestones in his efforts to reform the Catholic Church as well as health scares that raise questions about his future as pope.

Cydney Wallace, a Black Jewish community activist, never felt compelled to travel to Israel, though “Next year in Jerusalem” was a constant refrain at her Chicago synagogue.

LONDON (AP) — Church of England priests offered officially sanctioned blessings of same-sex partnerships for the first time on Sunday, though a ban on church weddings for gay couples remains in place amid deep divisions within global Anglicanism over

MEXICO CITY (AP) — It’s the fortnight before Christmas and all through the world’s Catholic convents, nuns and monks are extra busy preparing the traditional delicacies they sell to a loyal fan base even in rapidly secularizing countries .