World

Fasting may have become a health fad, but religious communities have been doing it for millennia

By Iqbal Akhtar — July 30, 2021

(The Conversation) — A scholar of religion explains the wisdom religious traditions provide on the practice of fasting.

Brutal killing spotlights violence against women in Pakistan

By Kathy Gannon — July 30, 2021

Three Jehovah’s Witnesses sentenced to six or more years in Russian prison for their faith

By Kathryn Post — July 29, 2021

Alta Fixsler, 2-year-old on life support, has a visa to come to US for treatment. Will UK court let her go?

By Avi Shafran — July 29, 2021

(RNS) — The case, reduced to its essence, pits current medical opinion against Alta’s parents' Hasidic Jewish faith.

German woman indicted over her time with IS in Syria

By Associated Press — July 28, 2021

BERLIN (AP) — The indictment of Leonora M., is the latest in a string of cases in Germany involving women who went to the area held by IS and were involved in holding women captured by the extremist group as slaves.

Vatican real estate deal trial gets underway with defense on the attack

By Claire Giangravé — July 27, 2021

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — On the opening day of the trial of 10 defendants accused of a wide range of financial crimes in regard to a London real estate deal, the defense attempted to portray the prosecution as antiquated and authoritarian.

Karadima, priest defrocked for sexual abuses, dies in Chile

By Associated Press — July 27, 2021

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Fernando Karadima, a Chilean priest who was at the center of a sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in Chile, has died at 90.

28 abducted Baptist school students freed in Nigeria

By Sam Olukoya, By Ibrahim Garba — July 26, 2021

KANO, Nigeria (AP) — Kidnappers in Nigeria have released 28 of the more than 120 students who were abducted at the beginning of July from Bethel Baptist High School.

Pope honors grandparents on first World Day for elderly

By Associated Press — July 26, 2021

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis celebrated the Roman Catholic Church’s first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly on Sunday.

In Japan, Greek-influenced Olympics meet another kind of pagan heritage

By Heather Greene — July 23, 2021

(RNS) — Greek pagan pageantry encounters a culture with its own deep sense of myth and magic.

RNS News Quiz: Ben & Jerry’s and Wally Funk

By Emily Churchill — July 23, 2021

(RNS) — Test your knowledge of the week's current events in the world of religion.

André Mendonça, President Bolsonaro’s ‘terribly evangelical’ Supreme Court justice

By Eduardo Campos Lima — July 22, 2021

SÃO PAULO (RNS) — Mendonça’s nomination has been seen by many as a political maneuver by Bolsonaro to strengthen his ties with evangelicals, a significant and loyal voting bloc for him.

Politics foil replacing hazardous bridge to Jerusalem site

By Ilan Ben Zion — July 22, 2021

JERUSALEM (AP) — The tenuous state of the Mughrabi Bridge has raised fears of another disaster after a stampede at a religious festival left 45 people dead.

Room for 10,000: Inside China’s largest detention center

By Dake Kang — July 22, 2021

DABANCHENG, China (AP) — This site suggests that China still holds and plans to hold vast numbers of Uyghurs and other minorities in detention.

New book examines Sting’s enduring Catholic imagination

By Yonat Shimron — July 21, 2021

(RNS) — Before bursting onto the international rock scene as the principal songwriter and lead singer for the Police, Sting grew up Catholic. The faith’s images, symbols, stories and hymns appear everywhere in his music, writes Evyatar Marienberg in a new book.

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