Religion News Service

Signs of the Times: This week, Catholic and Baptist leaders meet to deal with issues facing their churches. While the two Christian churches are very different from each other, they do face similar problems.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has issued new guidelines for its more than 300 parishes, which, beginning June 19, are set to fully reopen.

Religion News Service asked more than 180 members of the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference their position on denying Communion to Catholic politicians who back the right to an abortion, a practice the church condemns. Few offered a firm yes-or-no answer.

When the bishops gather virtually for their June 2021 meeting, all the attention will be focused on whether pro-choice Catholic politicians will be banned from Communion.

"A new papal document reforming the Curia — the Vatican bureaucracy, mostly composed of priests and bishops — will soon be published. I'm sure Pope Francis’ heart is in the right place, but I expect to be disappointed," writes Fr. Thomas Reese.

Services that offered blessings to same-sex couples at over 100 parishes across Germany were the latest chapter in ongoing tensions between the German Catholic Church and Rome. 

Even as President Joe Biden faces mounting pressure from U.S. Catholic bishops for his views on abortion, experts say the president's policy positions on issues from immigration to poverty are likely to find resonance with the Vatican.

Two of the seven Catholic peace activists who broke into a nuclear submarine base three years ago left prison this week as part of an early release agreement.

Signs of the Times: What is going on here? If the pope is against abortion, why is the Vatican intervening in conservative Catholic bishops' efforts to deny Communion to pro-choice politicians?

Jesuit Fr. Stephen Chow, the newly appointed bishop of Hong Kong, did not at first think he was the right man for the job.

Sixty years after she stepped into the jungle to observe chimpanzees in their natural habitat, Jane Goodall, the world-renowned primatologist and conservationist, has won the 2021 Templeton Prize.

Signs of the Times: When Jesuit Gonzaga High School looked into solar power, school officials discovered was that in D.C., public incentives for a building owner to go solar, even a nonprofit, are very strong.

As the U.S. bishops' conference is set to debate whether to deny the Eucharist to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights, ordinary Catholics are considering what the sacrament does for them.

"Anything the Trump administration did must be wrong." This view is a guiding principle of many Democrats. The principle seems to apply even to a limit that Trump's 2017 tax laws put on a tax deduction for rich homeowners.

Pope Francis will celebrate a Mass for Myanmar Catholics in Rome May 16, underlining his efforts to promote peace and reconciliation in the Southeast Asian country, which has spiraled into violence after a military coup.

Millions need and deserve help these days. But there is a group that could also use — and certainly deserves — help that is rarely mentioned these days: clergy sexual abuse survivors.

On the eve of her removal from the House Republican leadership for failing to back President Donald Trump's attacks on the 2020 election, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney cited principles she insisted were foundational for many conservatives such as herself: the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law and faith.

When U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced that the White House would back efforts to suspend intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, it was a victory for Vatican officials and U.S. Catholic groups that had long supported loosening vaccine patents.

California's SB 379 would ensure that, moving forward, UC Health would only affiliate with hospitals that allow its staff to provide all necessary care, but the Catholic-affiliated Dignity Health is the largest hospital provider in the state.

Bishops have every right to challenge Catholic politicians on abortion. Deploying Communion as a bludgeon to selectively sanction elected officials on a single issue is not the answer.