WASHINGTON (RNS) The spiritual leader of the Ahmadi Muslims, a persecuted group who are seen as heretics by many mainstream Muslims, made a rare visit to Capitol Hill. By Lauren Markoe.

(RNS) A new documentary follows a tiny Torah -- smuggled into a concentration camp and entrusted to a young boy, then taken to space by Israel's first astronaut -- from hell on earth to space. By Lauren Markoe.

SAN FRANCISCO (RNS) The way many members of the Mormon Church treat gay and lesbian people people is in many cases not in keeping with what I feel is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. I am a Mormon bishop, and I believe this must change. by Donald Fletcher.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Catholic traditionalist group SSPX said the Vatican's latest reconciliation offer is "clearly unacceptable,'' a move that comes as Pope Benedict XVI appointed a high-profile American prelate to oversee relations with traditionalists. By Alessandro Speciale.

NEW YORK (RNS) The Dalai Lama has given Nicholas Vreeland, director of The Tibet Center in New York, a daunting new assignment. On July 6, Vreeland will be enthroned as the new abbot of Rato Monastery in Southern India, one of the most important monasteries in Tibetan Buddhism. He will be the first Westerner to hold such a position. By Kim Lawton.

(RNS) The horrendous ugliness of this year's political campaigns is a last-ditch effort to install hatred on the throne -- all of it egged on by wealthy bigots whose goal, inevitably, is gaining more wealth. But it's last-ditch because times are changing. By Tom Ehrich.

A Christian textbook says the Loch Ness Monster is proof of Creationism; 44 percent of Americans don't know Obama's religion; American mosques in search of American imams.

(RNS) The Presbyterian Church (USA)'s biennial convention will revisit several thorny topics that have dominated church life for the past decade, including whether to allow same-sex blessings and whether to divest of companies that operate in Israel. By Gregg Brekke.

(RNS) Three out of four Mormons said Mitt Romney's rise to become the presumptive GOP presidential nominee is a good thing for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But less than a quarter expect the media to cover the church fairly, according to a new poll. By Daniel Burke.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The sexual abuse scandal has tarnished the image of the priest and contributed to a crisis of priestly vocations in the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican said Monday (June 25), while also faulting a widespread “secularized mentality” and parents' ambition for their children. By Alessandro Speciale.

SHARON, Mass. (RNS) It will be at least 5 to 10 years before the pool of American imams becomes large enough to meet demand from mosques. In the meantime, Muslim communities will continue to depend on imams from abroad -- and that creates challenges for a community that increasingly wants to assimilate. By Omar Sacirbey.

ST. LOUIS (RNS) In his new job as the Vatican's senior communications adviser, Fox News reporter Greg Burke, 52, will be counseling Pope Benedict XVI and his closest staff on how to better project the Catholic Church's image to the rest of the world. By Tim Townsend.

WASHINGTON (RNS) A character on a National Geographic Channel documentary series about a rural Hutterite colony defended his community and the production company after Hutterite bishops criticized the show and its producer. By Chris Lisee.
 

A Philadelpia jury convicted Monsignor William Lynn on one charge of endandering the welfare of a child, the first time a member of the Catholic hierarchy in the U.S. was found guilty of covering up the sexual abuse of minors. Here's what people had to say on Twitter. 

(RNS) A Philadelphia priest was convicted Friday of one count of child endangerment, becoming the first cleric in the Catholic Church’s long-running clergy abuse scandal to be tried and found guilty of shielding molesters. By David Gibson.