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Religion

Pope Francis in his popemobile leaves at the end of a Mass where he canonized shepherd children Jacinta and Francisco Marto at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, Saturday, Friday, May 13, 2017, in Fatima, Portugal. On Friday, May 17, 2024, the Vatican will issue revised norms for discerning apparitions "and other supernatural phenomena," updating a set of guidelines first issued in 1978. (Paulo Novais/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Some of the Catholic Church’s best-known approved, and not approved, reports of apparitions of Mary

The Vatican has revised how it evaluates purported supernatural events, such as reported visions of the Virgin Mary, to guard against hoaxes and account for news going viral.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze attends a celebration of the Day of Family Purity in the center of Tbilisi, Georgia, Friday, May 17, 2024. Tens of thousands of people including the prime minister on Friday marched through the Georgian capital to mark the Day of Family Purity, which celebrates so-called traditional family values in the country where animosity toward sexual minorities is strong. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

Georgia’s prime minister joins tens of thousands in a march to promote ‘family purity’

The Rev. Brandon Thomas Crowley speaks during Sunday service at Myrtle Baptist Church Sunday, May 5, 2024 in Newton, Mass. In 2015, Crowley, the senior pastor of the church, one of America's oldest Black churches, announced to his congregation, “I am a proud, Black, gay Christian male.” (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

He feared coming out. Now this pastor wants to help Black churches become as welcoming as his own

A view of the synagogue in Rouen where a man armed with a knife and a metal bar is suspected of having set fire, Friday, May 17, 2024. French police have shot and killed a man armed with a knife and a metal bar who is suspected of having set fire to a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen. French police said officers were alerted early Friday morning that smoke was rising from the synagogue and came face to face with the man when they got there. (AP Photo)

French police fatally shoot a man suspected of setting fire to a synagogue

Bosnian Roman Catholic women pray on the occasion of the feast of the Assumption in Medjugorje, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on Tuesday, August 15, 2000. Some 19 years ago six young people claimed Holy Mary appeared to them in the town of Medjugorje. On Friday, May 17, 2024, the Vatican will issue revised norms for discerning apparitions "and other supernatural phenomena," updating a set of guidelines first issued in 1978. (AP Photo/Hidajet Delic, File)

Vatican moves to adapt to hoaxes and overhauls its process for evaluating visions of Mary

Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the late Rev. Billy Graham, speaks after unveiling a bronzed sculpture of his father at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, where it will stand on behalf of his native North Carolina, Thursday, May 16, 2024. Known as America's pastor, Graham died in 2018 at age 99. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The late Rev. Billy Graham is immortalized in a statue unveiled at the US Capitol

A statue of the late Rev. Billy Graham has been unveiled at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, where it will stand on behalf of his native North Carolina.

Mosque attack in northern Nigeria leaves 8 people dead. Police say the motive was a family dispute

Police in Nigeria say at least eight worshippers were killed and 16 others injured in northern Nigeria’s Kano state after a man with a locally made explosive attacked the mosque where they were praying early Wednesday morning.

Gloria Esperanza Reyes makes her monthly offering of flowers and sugarcane syrup to Yemaya, the Yoruba goddess of the sea, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. She also is venerated as Our Lady of Regla, a Black Madonna at a Catholic church across the Bay of Havana. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Afro-Cuban drums, Muslim prayers, Buddhist mantras: Religious diversity blooms in once-atheist Cuba

The 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro installed an atheist, Communist government that sought to replace the Catholic Church as the guiding force in the lives of Cubans.

This 2021 photo provided by Haim Parag shows David Ben-Avraham at a supermarket in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, where he briefly worked. Ben-Avraham, a Palestinian who was born a Muslim but made the almost unheard-of decision to convert to Judaism years earlier, was fatally shot by an Israeli soldier. (Courtesy of Haim Parag via AP)

A Palestinian converted to Judaism. An Israeli soldier saw him as a threat and opened fire

At first, it seemed like the kind of shooting that has become all too common in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

FILE - Brazilian singer Anitta performs during the Global Citizen Festival at Central Park in New York, Sept. 23, 2023. Anitta released a music video Tuesday, May 14, 2024, depicting rituals of the Afro-Brazilian faith Candomble, sparking some controversy. It is a rare personal offering from the artist, who grew up practicing the religion in Rio de Janeiro’s north zone. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

Anitta defends her Afro-Brazilian faith after new music video costs her some followers

Brazil’s biggest pop star, Anitta, has released a music video depicting rituals of the Afro-Brazilian faith Candomble, sparking controversy in a country where religious intolerance is all too common.

People sit on the beach on a weekday afternoon in Ocean Grove, N.J. on May 2, 2024 as a Christian flag and an American flag flutter in the breeze. The state of New Jersey says the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association is violating state beach access laws by keeping people off the beach until noon on Sundays. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

This, too, could pass: Christian group’s rule keeping beaches closed on Sunday mornings may end

A big change may be coming to a Jersey Shore town that was founded as a religious retreat and prevents people from using the beach on Sunday mornings.

The Benedictine College sign is seen Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Atchison, Kan., days after Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker gave a commencement speech that has been gaining attention. Butker's speech has raised some eyebrows with his proclamations of conservative politics and Catholicism, but he received a standing ovation from graduates and other attendees of the commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 11. (AP Photo/Nick Ingram)

Why the speech by Kansas City Chiefs kicker was embraced at Benedictine College’s commencement

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker may have stirred controversy for his proclamations of conservative politics and Catholicism, but he received a standing ovation at the May 11 commencement ceremony at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

Mosque attack in Nigeria’s north injures at least 24 people, including children

At least 24 worshippers, including four children, were injured in northern Nigeria’s Kano state after a man attacked the mosque where they were praying early Wednesday morning, resulting in an explosion, the police said.

Beth Stroud sheds a tear pondering what reinstatement would mean 20 years after she was defrocked from her job as a United Methodist pastor in Philadelphia, Sunday, May 12, 2024, at Turning Point United Methodist Church in Trenton, N.J. Delegates at a United Methodist conference recently struck down longstanding anti-LGBTQ bans and created a path for clergy ousted because of them to seek reinstatement. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)

United Methodists scrap their anti-gay bans. A woman who defied them seeks reinstatement as pastor

Twenty years ago, Beth Stroud was defrocked from her beloved job as a United Methodist pastor in Philadelphia.

A woman scrolls the Instagram page of Venerable Beomjeong, a Buddhist monk, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Seoul Beomjeong, who is also known as Kkotsnim, which means “flower monk” in Korean, has been garnering young followers on social media. He frequently uploads photos of himself with captions featuring Buddhist teachings and his thoughts. (AP Photo/Juwon Park)

Young South Koreans are increasingly drawn to Buddhism via social media-savvy influencers

South Korean young people are increasingly drawn to Buddhism due to social media-savvy influencers, including a monk who went viral on Instagram and a comedian who also DJs dressed like a Buddhist monk.

Muslims offer prayers at a mosque in New Delhi, India, Thursday, April 11, 2024. Some two hundred million Muslims make up the predominantly Hindu country's largest minority group. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India’s parliament has fewer Muslims as strength of Modi’s party grows

The political power of Muslims is declining in the world’s largest democracy. Tensions between Hindus and Muslims in India are not new, but they have gotten worse under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Suspect in shooting of 2 Jewish men in Los Angeles last year agrees to plead guilty to hate crimes

Prosecutors say a 29-year-old man accused of shooting and wounding two Jewish men as they left synagogues in Los Angeles last year has agreed to plead guilty to hate crimes and firearms offenses.

The Rev. William Lawson speaks during a funeral service for George Floyd at The Fountain of Praise church, June 9, 2020, in Houston. Rev. Lawson, a longtime pastor and civil rights leader who helped desegregate Houston and worked with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, has died. He was 95. Lawson’s longtime church, Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, announced on its website that he had died on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, Pool)

The Rev. William Lawson, Texas civil rights leader who worked with Martin Luther King Jr, dies at 95

The Rev. William “Bill” Lawson, a longtime pastor and civil rights leader who helped desegregate Houston, Texas, and worked with the Rev.

FILE - Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker speaks to the media during NFL football Super Bowl 58 opening night Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Las Vegas. Butker railed against Pride month along with President Biden’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his stance on abortion during a commencement address at Benedictine College last weekend. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

Chiefs kicker Butker congratulates women graduates and says most are more excited about motherhood

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker is getting attention for comments he made during a commencement address at Benedictine College last weekend in which he congratulated the women receiving degrees, but then said most were probably more excited to get married and have children.

Parishioners subdue armed teenager at Louisiana children’s service

ABBEVILLE, La. (AP) — Parishioners subdued a teenager with a gun who entered a Louisiana church during a service for dozens of young children, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Amanda Householder, center, speaks outside the St. Louis office of Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Monday, May 13, 2024, as David Clohessy, right, listens. They were among a group of people urging Bailey to take action in response to allegations of child abuse at Christian boarding schools in southern Missouri. (AP Photo/Jim Salter)

Abuse victim advocates pushing Missouri AG to investigate Christian boarding schools

Advocates for victims of abuse at Missouri boarding schools are urging the state’s attorney general to launch an investigation, work with local prosecutors and take other steps aimed at stemming the tide of abuse.

Malians take part in the annual replastering of the world's largest mud-brick building, the Great Mosque of Djenne, Mali, Sunday, May 12, 2024. The building has been on UNESCO's World Heritage in Danger list since 2016. The mosque and surrounding town are threatened by conflict. Djenne's mosque requires a new layer of mud each year before the start of the rainy season in June. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo)

Thousands replaster Mali’s Great Mosque of Djenne, which is threatened by conflict

Thousands of Malians joined the replastering of the world’s largest mud-brick building this weekend, a key ritual that maintains the integrity of the Great Mosque of Djenne in central Mali.

FILE - Museums employees walk down an aisle of the Vatican Museums as they prepare to open the museum, at the Vatican, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. Forty-nine employees of the Vatican Museums have filed a class-action complaint with the Vatican administration demanding better seniority, leave and overtime benefits in an unusual, public challenge to Pope Francis’ governance. The complaint, dated April 23, 2024, was made public the weekend of May 10, 2024, in Italian newspapers. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Vatican Museums staff challenge the pope with a legal bid for better terms and treatment

Forty-nine employees of the Vatican Museums have filed a class-action complaint with the Vatican administration demanding better seniority, leave and overtime benefits.

Buddhists monks clean Buddha statues ahead of the upcoming birthday of Buddha on May 15, at the Jogye temple in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Buddha’s birthday: When is it and how is it celebrated in different countries?

Buddha’s birthday is an important holiday in several countries in Asia where there are large Buddhist populations.

Buddhists wait for a lantern parade as part of festivities celebrating the birthday of Buddha, at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Lotus Lantern Festival draws thousands in Seoul to celebrate upcoming Buddha’s birthday

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Holding umbrellas and pink paper lotus flowers, thousands of South Koreans joyously filled the wet streets of Seoul in an annual festival anticipating Buddha’s birthday the coming week.

FILE - The Rev. Billy Graham addresses a gathering of about 40,000 people at Bulldog Stadium at Fresno State University in Fresno, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 11, 2001. A statue of the late Rev. Billy Graham set to stand inside the U.S. Capitol to represent North Carolina will be unveiled next week in a ceremony. (Mark Crosse/The Fresno Bee via AP, File)

Billy Graham statue for U.S. Capitol to be unveiled next week

A statue of the late Rev. Billy Graham set to stand inside the U.S. Capitol to represent North Carolina will be unveiled next week in a ceremony.

Pope Francis gestures as he attends an annual gathering of pro-family organisations at the Auditorium della Conciliazione, in Rome, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope urges Italians to have babies as a measure of hope for future

Pope Francis has pressed his campaign to urge Italians to have children. He has called for long-term policies to help families and warned that the country’s demographic crisis was threatening the future.

FILE - Vodou pilgrims attend a Mass marking the feast day of agriculture and work, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Amid the spiraling chaos, a growing number of Haitians are praying more or visiting Vodou priests known as “oungans” for urgent requests ranging from locating loved ones who were kidnapped to finding critical medication needed to keep someone alive. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)

Shunned for centuries, Vodou grows powerful as Haitians seek solace from unrelenting gang violence

Shunned publicly by politicians and intellectuals for centuries, Vodou is transforming into a more powerful and accepted religion across Haiti, where its believers were once persecuted.

FILE - Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is seen, April 27, 2023, at the University of Washington's Hans Rosling Center for Population Health in Seattle. The Catholic church is refusing to cooperate with a Washington state investigation into whether it unlawfully used charitable trust funds to cover up sexual abuse by priests, Attorney General Ferguson said Thursday, May 9, 2024, and he asked a court to force the Seattle Archdiocese to turn over decades of records. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

Catholic church is stonewalling sex abuse investigation, Washington attorney general says

Washington’s attorney general says the Seattle Archdiocese isn’t cooperating in a sex abuse investigation, but church officials disagree.

A photo of Hardeep Singh Nijjar is seen during a news conference providing an update from the Sikh community about Nijjar's homicide from June 18, 2023 in Surrey, B.C. on Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)

India says Canada has shared no evidence of its involvement in killing of a Sikh separatist leader

India says Canada has shared no evidence to back its allegation that the Indian government was involved in the slaying of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada last year, despite the recent arrests of three Indian men in the crime.

Pope Francis presides over the second vespers in St. Peter's Basilica on Ascension Day, Thursday, May 9, 2024, after reading the papal bull 'Spes non confundit' (Latin for, hope does not disappoint), the official decree establishing the Catholic Holy Year: a once-every-quarter-century event that is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Holy Year or holy mess, Vatican and Rome begin dash to 2025 Jubilee with papal bull, construction

The Vatican has crossed a key milestone in the runup to its 2025 Jubilee with the promulgation of the official decree establishing the Holy Year.

North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore explains his bill that seeks to define antisemitism at a press conference in the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. He said the bill would guide education in the state, in addition to how local prosecutors may evaluate antisemitic incidents. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)

North Carolina may join other states in codifying antisemitism definition

A bipartisan group of North Carolina lawmakers has approved a bill codifying a definition of antisemitism into law.

Michigan man accused of making explosives to target Satanic Temple in Massachusetts

A grand jury has indicted a Michigan man, who is accused of taking explosives to Massachusetts last year to target a building known as the Satanic Temple.

Court rules North Carolina Catholic school could fire gay teacher who announced his wedding online

A federal appeals court has ruled a Catholic school in North Carolina had the right to fire a gay teacher who announced a decade ago that he was going to marry his longtime partner.

Pope Francis appoints new bishop in Tennessee after former bishop’s resignation under pressure

Pope Francis has appointed Reverend James Mark Beckman as Bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee, almost a year after the previous bishop resigned following claims he mishandled sex abuse allegations.