Religion News

In his own words: Pope Francis has long been up front about his health problems and eventual death

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has written and spoken at length about sickness, aging and death, and personally directed that his doctors provide the fairly detailed daily updates that have punctuated his own battle with pneumonia.

Mar 10, 2025 11:18 PM Read more >

Syria's government signs a breakthrough deal with Kurdish-led authorities in the northeast

JABLEH, Syria (AP) — Syria's interim government signed a deal Monday with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the main U.S.-backed force there into the Syrian army.

Mar 10, 2025 10:29 PM Read more >

Greek lawmaker attacks paintings in Athens' National Gallery, claiming they are offensive

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's National Gallery said a Greek lawmaker on Monday attacked four paintings in an exhibition at the museum in Athens , including one he had previously criticized as offensive on religious grounds.

Mar 10, 2025 6:38 PM Read more >

Drought-stricken Algeria plans to import 1 million sheep ahead of Islam's Eid Al-Adha

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria’s president has announced plans to import a staggering 1 million sheep ahead of this year’s Eid al-Adha , the holiday during which Muslims worldwide purchase livestock for sacrifice.

Mar 10, 2025 6:35 PM Read more >

Doctors declare Pope Francis no longer in imminent danger due to pneumonia, but remains hospitalized

ROME (AP) — Doctors said Monday Pope Francis is no longer in imminent danger of death as a result of pneumonia that has kept him hospitalized for nearly a month, but have decided to keep him hospitalized for several more days to receive treatment.

Mar 10, 2025 5:16 PM Read more >

Quebec committee to look at how to strengthen secularism, possible public prayer ban

MONTREAL — The Quebec government has announced a new committee to make recommendations on how to strengthen secularism in the province, including by possibly restricting public prayer.

Mar 10, 2025 12:59 PM Read more >

A cache of explosives in Sydney provoked antisemitic terrorism fears. Police now say it was faked

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — An explosives-filled trailer that Australian politicians earlier described as an antisemitic terrorism plot and a foiled mass casualty event was staged by criminals in a complicated hoax -- and was never meant to be det

Mar 10, 2025 4:36 AM Read more >

Syria's Druze seek a place in a changing nation, navigating pressures from the government and Israel

JARAMANA, Syria (AP) — Syria’s Druze minority has a long history of cutting their own path to survive among the country’s powerhouses. They are now trying again to navigate a new, uncertain Syria since the fall of longtime autocrat Bashar Assad.

Mar 10, 2025 2:15 AM Read more >

Syria's worst violence in months reopens wounds of the civil war

An ambush on a Syrian security patrol by gunmen loyal to ousted leader Bashar Assad escalated into clashes that a war monitor estimates have killed more than 1,000 people over four days.

Mar 9, 2025 8:55 PM Read more >

Israel cuts off electricity supply to Gaza, affecting a desalination plant producing drinking water

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel cut off the electricity supply to Gaza , officials said Sunday, affecting a desalination plant producing drinking water for part of the arid territory. Hamas called it part of Israel's “starvation policy.

Mar 9, 2025 6:33 PM Read more >