Religion News Service

The Bible is so big — with a leather cover, metal clasps and 5 inches of thickness — that Jill Biden held it with two hands when her husband was sworn in as President Barack Obama's vice president.

"Joanne was a brilliant and accomplished musician, a wonderful advocate for the arts, and a dear friend to everyone in our organization," said the account of Fred Rogers Productions on Twitter.

Fr. Orazio Caputo's situation is complicated — while the priest is accused by Italian prosecutors of aiding and abetting a criminal conspiracy, the church has also charged him with allegedly violating the confidence assumed in the sacrament of confession. According to canon law, such a violation may result in excommunication.

Signs of the Times: Trump has been a national obsession since he began running for president in 2015. He consumes all the oxygen in the room. Every conversation eventually turns to him. There are few if any Trump-free zones in the country, even in church on Sunday.

Churches were some of the first to offer pushback to Trump supporters Jan. 6. But those who gathered to support Trump and repeat disproven claims of election fraud appeared undeterred by theological critiques.

Religion News Service asked scholars, faith leaders, activists and other experts to reflect on some of the forces they've seen on the religious landscape this year and what they anticipate for 2021.

We have been hit by a worldwide pandemic, economic collapse, to say nothing of political chaos. It has truly been a horrible year.

It's no news that 2020 will go down as one of the worst years in recent memory. Here are 11 stories that captured moments of resilience and perseverance, and even a few moments of celebration.

Every December, this verse from the prophet Isaiah is featured in Messiah Sings and splashed across Christmas cards. One problem, or at least a complication: That's not what the Hebrew says.

Asbury United Methodist Church in Washington replaced a Black Lives Matter sign Dec. 18 that was taken from its grounds and set aflame the previous weekend by members of the Proud Boys.

Growing up, Santillan never thought he'd feel at peace with his LGBTQ identity. Now he hosts a podcast where he openly discusses his identity as a Latino and gay Catholic man.

President-elect Joe Biden marked his Electoral College win with a religious flair, citing Scripture and the Prayer of St. Francis during his victory speech.

Signs of the Times: Pope Francis' concern with capitalism and racism seems pointed at the American manifestations of these ills.

A star, a star will dance in the night on Dec. 21.

The Living Nativity, which Faith Church of Lafayette, Indiana has hosted since 1991, may be one of the few Christmas traditions that go off in usual fashion in a pandemic year.

The cardinal seems to have no intention of going quietly. On Nov. 16, Becciu filed charges against the Italian magazine L'Espresso, which broke most of the news about his financial dealings and his forced resignation.

Faith affiliation has emerged as one explanation for this political divide among Latino Americans.

Long a staple of Catholic life, the rosary is back in the spotlight with the election of Joe Biden, who will become the nation’s second Catholic president when he is inaugurated in January. The president-elect often carries a set of rosary beads with him that once belonged to his son Beau, who died in 2015.

As cases of COVID-19 spike in the U.S. just weeks before major religious holidays, questions abound as to whether attending religious services in person can, in fact, be safe.

Sad because the bishops failed to communicate that they understood the report's implications; predictable in that some bishops defended John Paul II against the report's finding that the pontiff shared culpability in the McCarrick case.