[ad_1] ROME (AP) — The Vatican’s chief prosecutor has strongly defended the integrity and fairness of the city state’s justice system following criticism that Pope Francis’ absolute power and his interventions in the so-called “trial of the century” last year violated the defendants’ fundamental rights. Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi’s defense comes as the Vatican tribunal finalizes […]

[ad_1] (RNS) — “Chaver,” an honorific with origins in ancient Jewish history, has traditionally been awarded to rabbinical scholars and pillars of the religious community. But the title has evolved over the centuries, and on June 30, it was settled on Tobi Kahn, an Orthodox Jewish artist, at the Museum at Eldridge Street, in Manhattan. […]

[ad_1] (RNS) — Recently, a group of more than 30 Buddhists and Christians gathered to form relationships and discuss ways to collaborate as part of the National Buddhist-Christian Dialogue. As one of the Christian participants, representing the American Baptist Churches USA, I participated in the dialogue against the backdrop of white Christian nationalism. Recently, Louisiana […]

[ad_1] (RNS) — Every day since March, 63-year-old Ranjani Saigal has posted a 90-second Instagram reel. “I’m not a social media person,” said Saigal, who goes by “The Hindu Grandma” on Instagram. “I didn’t know what a reel was, I didn’t know what TikTok was, any of that. Like many other grandparents, I was like, […]

[ad_1] (RNS) — As a first-year student at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, Shayna Dollinger was inundated with sexual proposals from a fellow first-year student. When she complained to the associate dean of the school about the unwelcome verbal advances, she was advised to see the Title IX administrator who handles […]

[ad_1] DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — Hundreds of mostly exiled Tibetans gathered in India’s hillside town of Dharamshala to celebrate the birthday of the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, who turned 89 on Saturday. The Dalai Lama has made the hillside town his headquarters since fleeing Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese […]

[ad_1] (RNS) — When Pope Francis called for a worldwide consultation of lay Catholics about their concerns as part of the Synod on Synodality, U.S. bishops responded less than enthusiastically. Instead, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops put its time, effort and money into a national program called the Eucharistic Revival. It was not impossible […]

[ad_1] (RNS) — In 1856, amid cultural debates about the morality of enslaving fellow humans, the abhorrent, dehumanizing treatment of Black Americans and the ability of states to pursue their own paths on slavery, the Republican Party was born. This political project was launched to not only halt the spread of slavery in a growing […]

[ad_1] LONDON (RNS) — New British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer celebrated a massive election victory on Friday after the Labour Party gained power with a landslide, securing a 170-seat parliamentary majority. Yet, losses in a handful of former strongholds — to independent candidates standing on pro-Palestinian tickets — suggests the new government will have […]

[ad_1] PARIS (RNS) — On Wednesday (July 3), five days before the second and decisive round of parliamentary elections in France, in which the populist National Rally Party is on track to win a majority, leaders of the French Muslim community gathered in Paris’ Grand Mosque to call for massive voter mobilization against what they […]