Religion

Pope Francis recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, July 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope denies resignation rumors, hopes to visit Kyiv, Moscow

Pontiff says retirement might happen someday, but an announcement within a few months not considered

Pope Francis recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, July 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
FILE - In this undated photo provided by Bobi Gephart, Gephart and her husband, Nate Gephart, pose for a picture. Bobi says she has felt “overwhelming support” from people all over the world after she confronted Pastor John B. Lowe II, who had confessed to years of adultery. (Courtesy of Bobi Gephart via AP, File)

#ChurchToo revelations growing, years after movement began

Survivors of sexual abuse in churches continue to call for justice, change

FILE - In this undated photo provided by Bobi Gephart, Gephart and her husband, Nate Gephart, pose for a picture. Bobi says she has felt “overwhelming support” from people all over the world after she confronted Pastor John B. Lowe II, who had confessed to years of adultery. (Courtesy of Bobi Gephart via AP, File)
Pope Francis delivers the Regina Coeli noon prayer from his studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, 29, 2002. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope names 21 new cardinals, from India, Mongolia, elsewhere

Majority of picks from outside Europe

Pope Francis delivers the Regina Coeli noon prayer from his studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, 29, 2002. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
FILE - This Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011 file photo shows the headquarters of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tenn. Leaders of the SBC, America’s largest Protestant stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades, according to a scathing 288-page investigative report issued Sunday, May 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Report: Top Southern Baptists stonewalled sex abuse victims

Seven-month investigation was conducted by independent firm

FILE - This Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011 file photo shows the headquarters of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tenn. Leaders of the SBC, America’s largest Protestant stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades, according to a scathing 288-page investigative report issued Sunday, May 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic church is set to move into a brand new, much larger space in the next two years as their congregation continues to grow. Pictured is an early rendering of what the new building on Irwin Road could look like once the design is finalized. (Photo Courtesy of Our Lady of the Rosary)

Langford church preparing for move to new home as congregation continues to grow

Our Lady of the Rosary will leave its Goldstream Avenue home of 70 years in fall 2023

Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic church is set to move into a brand new, much larger space in the next two years as their congregation continues to grow. Pictured is an early rendering of what the new building on Irwin Road could look like once the design is finalized. (Photo Courtesy of Our Lady of the Rosary)
Pope Francis shows a flag that was brought to him from Bucha, Ukraine, during his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis kisses Ukrainian flag from ‘martyred’ Bucha

Francis has refrained from citing Russia or Putin by name, keeping with Vatican diplomatic tradition

Pope Francis shows a flag that was brought to him from Bucha, Ukraine, during his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Archbishop Richard Smith shares his observations regarding his trip to Rome, in Edmonton on Monday April 4, 2022. Archbishop Smith was part of the delegation that met with the Pope Francis over the Roman Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential school system. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Archbishop says pope wants to repeat his residential school apology on Canadian soil

Archbishop of Edmonton says Pope Francis statement last week just the first step on road to healing

Archbishop Richard Smith shares his observations regarding his trip to Rome, in Edmonton on Monday April 4, 2022. Archbishop Smith was part of the delegation that met with the Pope Francis over the Roman Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential school system. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, stands outside St. Peter’s Square at the end of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

‘Never losing hope:’ Former national chief says apology reflects decades-long fight

It was 13 years ago that Phil Fontaine requested an apology from then-Pope Benedict

Former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, stands outside St. Peter’s Square at the end of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, outside St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

‘Hope for change:’ First Nations delegates meet with Pope Francis

Meeting with the head of the Roman Catholic Church lasted two hours rather than scheduled one

Former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, outside St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Métis National Council President Cassidy Caron, shown in a handout photo, is part of the upcoming trip to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO- Metis National Council-David Stobbe

‘Always had faith:’ Métis delegates say Vatican visit a step to repair relationship

Métis, First Nation and Inuit delegates flying to Rome for meetings with Pope Francis next week

Métis National Council President Cassidy Caron, shown in a handout photo, is part of the upcoming trip to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO- Metis National Council-David Stobbe
Cristino Bouvette (left), an Indigenous priest, says he often thinks of his grandmother, Amelia Mae Bouvette (right), a residential school survivor, when he considers the Catholic Church’s role in reconciliation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Gerald McMaster

‘Reconciliation was possible:’ Indigenous priest reconciles faith with identity

Unmarked graves at former residential school sites has some pondering role of the church

Cristino Bouvette (left), an Indigenous priest, says he often thinks of his grandmother, Amelia Mae Bouvette (right), a residential school survivor, when he considers the Catholic Church’s role in reconciliation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Gerald McMaster
A child’s dress hung on a cross blows in the wind near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School to honour 215 children whose remains have been discovered buried near the site in Kamloops, B.C., on Friday, June 4, 2021. The Catholic religious order that operated some residential schools in Canada says it will give researchers access to its archives in Rome. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Oblates to open Rome archives for search of residential school records

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to get full access to records in the Italian city

A child’s dress hung on a cross blows in the wind near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School to honour 215 children whose remains have been discovered buried near the site in Kamloops, B.C., on Friday, June 4, 2021. The Catholic religious order that operated some residential schools in Canada says it will give researchers access to its archives in Rome. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
St. Jean Baptiste Parish Catholic church is shown in Morinville Alta, on Wednesday June 30, 2021 as firefighters put out hot spots. Alberta is more than doubling the amount of funding for a program it announced last summer for security improvements at religious facilities to protect them from hate crimes and vandalism. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Alberta boosts funding to improve security of churches, religious buildings

Program originally offering $2 million annually will now distribute $5 million

St. Jean Baptiste Parish Catholic church is shown in Morinville Alta, on Wednesday June 30, 2021 as firefighters put out hot spots. Alberta is more than doubling the amount of funding for a program it announced last summer for security improvements at religious facilities to protect them from hate crimes and vandalism. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Ritual scribe Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman inks some of the final letters on Nanaimo’s first-ever Torah scroll on Sunday, Dec. 12, at the Inn on Long Lake. (Greg Sakaki/News Bulletin)

Nanaimo’s first-ever Torah scroll completed with 300,000 handwritten letters

Mid-Island Jewish community’s Torah completion ceremony called a tremendous milestone

Ritual scribe Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman inks some of the final letters on Nanaimo’s first-ever Torah scroll on Sunday, Dec. 12, at the Inn on Long Lake. (Greg Sakaki/News Bulletin)
Nathalie Charles poses for a portrait outside the Princeton University Chapel in Princeton, N.J. on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Charles left her Baptist church at the age of 15 because as a queer woman of Haitian descent, she felt unwelcome in her congregation, with its conservative views on immigration, gender and sexuality. The 18-year-old freshman at Princeton has since identified as atheist, and then agnostic, before embracing a spiritual but not religious life. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)

What’s your religion? In US, a common reply now is ‘None’

‘Nones’ now constitutes 29% of American adults, up from 19% a decade ago

Nathalie Charles poses for a portrait outside the Princeton University Chapel in Princeton, N.J. on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Charles left her Baptist church at the age of 15 because as a queer woman of Haitian descent, she felt unwelcome in her congregation, with its conservative views on immigration, gender and sexuality. The 18-year-old freshman at Princeton has since identified as atheist, and then agnostic, before embracing a spiritual but not religious life. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)
People dressed in Santa Claus costumes take part in Christmas run in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Bah! Humbug! Italian bishop apologizes for telling kids Santa doesn’t exist

A Roman Catholic diocese in Sicily publicly apologized to outraged parents after…

People dressed in Santa Claus costumes take part in Christmas run in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
This image released by HBO shows Eureka O’Hara, left, and Pastor Craig Duke, of Newburgh, Ind., in a scene from the HBO series “We’re Here.” Duke’s pastoral duties have been terminated – the result of a bitter rift surfacing in his Indiana church after he sought to demonstrate solidarity by appearing in drag alongside prominent drag queens in the reality show. (Jakes Giles Netter/HBO via AP)

Joining drag queens on TV show costs Indiana pastor his job

Bitter rift appears after he appears alongside prominent drag queens in the HBO reality series

This image released by HBO shows Eureka O’Hara, left, and Pastor Craig Duke, of Newburgh, Ind., in a scene from the HBO series “We’re Here.” Duke’s pastoral duties have been terminated – the result of a bitter rift surfacing in his Indiana church after he sought to demonstrate solidarity by appearing in drag alongside prominent drag queens in the reality show. (Jakes Giles Netter/HBO via AP)
Dr. Bonnie Henry. (B.C. government photo)

Masks must be worn at in-person worship services in B.C., Dr. Henry says

Choirs are included in the the face mask order

Dr. Bonnie Henry. (B.C. government photo)
Pope Francis salutes bishops as he arrives for his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Alessandra Tarantino

Indigenous delegates to have private meeting with Pope Francis during Vatican visit

Pontiff will hear personal stories of the legacy of residential schools

Pope Francis salutes bishops as he arrives for his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Alessandra Tarantino
Pope Francis blesses faithful during the Angelus noon prayer he delivers from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis to visit Canada as part of reconciliation efforts with Indigenous Peoples

The pilgrimage could be the occasion for a papal apology that has been demanded by many in Canada

Pope Francis blesses faithful during the Angelus noon prayer he delivers from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)