Religion News Service

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference president, urged President Donald Trump to cease the deportation of “large numbers” of Haitian immigrants. 

Young people are facing an epidemic of despair, but data shows religious community is an antidote, according to co-authors of The Death of Religion? Nones, Others, and the Flourishing of Faith.

At least two were physically carried from the building by law enforcement officers. The arrests add to a growing list of clergy who have encountered law enforcement while protesting against Trump immigration policies.

The Alternative für Deutschland party may gain power on Sept. 6 in Saxony-Anhalt, posing a direct threat to refugees and the German churches that serve them.

"All I want is to see my husband back," said Denise Gedeon, whose pastor-husband, Joubert Adrien, was detained by ICE — one of two pastors arrested during a weekend that also brought a death, prayers and vigils for a Haitian community under siege.

His writings touched on conservation, community and belonging, and he acquired legions of fans beyond environmental studies — including many scholars of religion.

A penitent confesses: "The old Latin Mass is like a zombie. We thought it was dead, but it keeps coming back." What will his penance be?

As the CIA director quietly carried warnings to Moscow, Pope Leo's foreign minister offered dialogue and humanitarian cooperation — missions that one Vatican expert likened to a "good cop, bad cop operation."

Faith leaders and congregations are responding to what they see as a human-engineered spiritual, moral and humanitarian crisis, especially as ICE activity stepped up over the weekend.

"In talking to the Canaanite woman, Jesus sounds like Donald Trump and JD Vance," Thomas Reese writes. 

Faith-based anti-death penalty activists have used the bell-tolling tactic throughout the country. Bells ran again Aug. 13, a day when three death row inmates were executed.

"The Bible teaches us not to put our leaders on pedestals, free from criticism. A nationalism that ignores the failings of leaders and people," writes Thomas Reese, "is not biblical."

The largest portion of the funding — $1.4 billion — is expected to support some 2,500 faith-based hospitals and clinics and train and pay tens of thousands of community health workers to provide healthcare services.

Across East Africa, young Catholics are transforming Pope Francis' call to care for creation into climate education and advocacy, arguing that protecting the environment is as much a religious obligation as attending church.

Tens of thousands of migrants recently crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, leaving scores dead and overwhelming the small Spanish territory in North Africa.

The nuns are safe for now, but anyone else who won't abide by the law risks losing their individual and/or facility licenses and ending up in jail.

Modern popes tend to stay out of partisan politics, but when Leo speaks, he certainly sounds like a Democratic Socialist.

As prominent prelates clash over the traditional Latin Mass, Pope Leo XIV's response may reveal his deepest instincts about authority, unity and tradition.

Allies of the older Latin Mass community had called for expanded access in the wake of the recent schism brought on by the ordination of four bishops without papal approval by the ultra-traditionalist SSPX. 

Some see the facilities' construction as a sign of the apocalypse, while others see it as an opportunity to advocate for environmental stewardship.