18+ hour, 37+ min ago (117+ words) Pope Leo XIV started the second day of his trip to Turkey with a visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque on Saturday. Leo was following in the footsteps of his recent predecessors, who all made high-profile visits to the mosque in a gesture of respect to Turkey's Muslim majority. Pope Leo XIV started the second day of his trip to Turkey with a visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque on Saturday. Leo was following in the footsteps of his recent predecessors, who all made high-profile visits to the mosque in a gesture of respect to Turkey's Muslim majority. Behind the scenes as AP covers Pope Leo's visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque...

2+ week, 3+ day ago (782+ words) U.S. Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to make official a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender patients at Catholic hospitals. The step formalizes a yearslong process for the U.S. church to address transgender health care. From a Baltimore hotel ballroom, the bishops overwhelmingly approved revisions to their ethical and religious directives that guide the nation's thousands of Catholic health care institutions and providers. More than one in seven patients in the U.S. are treated each day at Catholic hospitals, according to the Catholic Health Association. Catholic hospitals are the only medical center in some communities. Most Catholic health care institutions have taken a conservative approach and not offered gender-affirming care, which may involve hormonal, psychological and surgical treatments. The new directives will formalize that mandate. Bishops will have autonomy in making the directives into law for their dioceses. "With regard to the gender ideology,…...

21+ hour, 58+ min ago (398+ words) Pope Leo XIV joined the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I by a lake an few hours from Istanbul on Friday afternoon in a ceremony to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea. Pope Leo XIV visited Istanbul's Blue Mosque on Saturday at the start of an intense day of meetings and liturgies with Turkey's religious leaders. Leo joined Eastern and Western patriarchs and priests Friday in commemorating an important anniversary in Christian history, gathering at the site in Turkey of an unprecedented A.D. 325 meeting of bishops to pray that Christians might once again be united. Leo, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and other Christian leaders met on the shores of Lake Iznik, the site of the Council of Nicaea that produced a creed, or statement of faith, that is still recited by millions of Christians today. Standing over the ruins of the…...

43+ min ago (942+ words) Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I sign a joint declaration at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, during Pope's first apostolic journey, in Istanbul, Turkey, November 29, 2025. (Dilara Senkaya/Pool Via AP) Leo had two key appointments in Istanbul before flying to Beirut: a prayer at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral and a divine liturgy with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, whose invitation to commemorate an important Christian anniversary was the impetus for Leo's visit. On the second leg of his maiden papal trip, Leo was visiting Lebanon at a precarious moment for the small Mediterranean country after years of successive crises. He is fulfilling a promise of Pope Francis, who had wanted to visit for years but was unable to as his health worsened. Francis often quoted St. John Paul II, who in 1989 said Lebanon was more…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago (485+ words) Bishop Steve Wood of St. Andrew's Church thanks health care workers at East Cooper Medical Center, where he was a patient fighting COVID-19 easier in the year, during an evening event to honor health care workers at East Cooper Medical Center Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP) The top leader of the Anglican Church in North America " a conservative denomination that broke away from the more liberal Episcopal Church about 15 years ago " has taken a leave of absence after facing allegations of sexual and other misconduct, which he denies. Archbishop Stephen Wood announced the leave Monday while he awaits the outcome of a church disciplinary process triggered by a formal complaint, called a presentment, of alleged misconduct against him. Wood, 62, a married father of four, has denied the allegations. "I believe the charges against me…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (494+ words) El papa Le'n XIV preside una misa en la Plaza de San Pedro, en el Vaticano, el 16 de noviembre de 2025. (Foto AP/Gregorio Borgia) El arzobispo Luis Javier Arg'ello Garc'a dijo a los periodistas en la Plaza de San Pedro que la jerarqu'a de la conferencia abord' el tema con el papa durante una audiencia el lunes. "Las acusaciones que se hacen, referidas a hechos que tuvieron lugar hace casi treinta a'os, son muy graves y adem's falsas, dec'a el comunicado. El diario espa'ol El Pa's, que desde 2018 ha expuesto d'cadas de abuso y encubrimiento en la Iglesia cat'lica espa'ola, inform' a principios de este mes que Zornoza fue acusado de abusar de un joven exseminarista mientras era un joven sacerdote y dirig'a el seminario diocesano en Getafe. El informe, citando una carta que el exseminarista escribi' al Vaticano durante…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (560+ words) Archbishop Luis Javier Arg'ello Garc'a told reporters in St. Peter's Square that the conference hierarchy had discussed the case with Leo during an audience Monday. Arg'ello confirmed a report in El Pa's newspaper that a canonical investigation into C'diz Bishop Rafael Zornoza, 76, had been opened two weeks ago. It is believed to be the first publicly known church investigation of a Spanish bishop accused of abuse since the Spanish church began reckoning in recent years with a decades-long legacy of abuse and cover-up. The diocese of C'diz has denied the accusations against Zornoza but confirmed the investigation was being carried out by the church court in Madrid known as the Rota. In a Nov. 10 statement, the diocese said Zornoza was cooperating with the investigation and had suspended his agenda temporarily "to clarify the facts and to undergo treatment for an…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago (491+ words) Buddhist monk Panna Kara with dog named Aloka, along with other monks from the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, who are undertaking a 2,300 mile pilgrimage of "Walk for Peace," rest after arriving to a welcome ceremony at Hong Kong City Mall in Houston, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP) The collection of about two dozen monks began their walk on Oct. 26 from Fort Worth, Texas, to "raise awareness of peace, loving kindness, and compassion across America and the world," according to the group, Walk for Peace. The monks planned to travel through 10 states before reaching Washington, D.C. So far, the monks have visited various Texas cities on their trek, including Austin and Houston, often walking along roads and highways while being escorted by law enforcement or by a vehicle trailing behind them, said Long Si Dong,…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (477+ words) Bishop Steve Wood of St. Andrew's Church thanks health care workers at East Cooper Medical Center, where he was a patient fighting COVID-19 easier in the year, during an evening event to honor health care workers at East Cooper Medical Center Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP) The top leader of the Anglican Church in North America has been suspended from ministry after facing allegations of sexual and other misconduct. Wood's suspension, approved by other senior bishops, doesn't imply guilt or innocence of any charges against Wood, said Bishop Julian Dobbs, the ACNA's new dean. A minister can be suspended when "it is determined to be in the best interests of the Church," Dobbs said in a statement. Wood was accused last month in a presentment, or a list of charges compiled by church members....

2+ day, 19+ hour ago (883+ words) Leo is scheduled to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and join Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Turkey, and is travelling to Lebanon to fulfill a promise made by his predecessor, Pope Francis, to visit Lebanon, a Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian. Pope Leo XIV is heading to Turkey on Thursday on his first foreign trip, fulfilling the late Pope Francis" plans to mark an important Christian anniversary and bring a message of peace to the region at a crucial time for efforts to end the war in Ukraine and ease Mideast tensions. Leo"s visit comes as Turkey, a country of more than 85 million people of predominantly Sunni Muslims, has cast itself as a key intermediary in peace negotiations for the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. There has been a surge of renewed optimism over…...