3+ week, 4+ day ago (287+ words) Baby James was asleep in his mother's arms, thousands of miles away from his crib in South Boston, when he fulfilled his parents' joyful dream. The 10-month-old was blessed by Pope Leo XIV last Wednesday during the weekly papal audience in St. Peter's Square. "I joke he might have a priestly calling now," Michael Hilborn said in a phone interview Monday. Hilborn and his wife, Erin, knew they wanted to stop by Vatican City to end their Italy trip. The vacation marked their first as a family of three, Hilborn said. The couple dreamed of getting their baby blessed by the Pope . . . and with a little bit of divine intervention from other Vatican visitors, it happened on a sunny morning. The couple had reserved tickets to the weekly papal audience, but were unable to pick them up because of the…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (461+ words) A Christian missionary father and his daughter were killed when a small plane bound for a hurricane relief mission in Jamaica crashed in a South Florida neighborhood. Christian ministry organization Ignite the Fire identified the two victims of the Monday morning crash as the group's founder, Alexander Wurm, 53, and his daughter Serena Wurm, 22. The pair were bringing humanitarian aid to Jamaica, according to the organization, when the Beechcraft King Air plane they were flying in crashed into a pond in a residential area of the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Coral Springs, narrowly missing homes. As of Tuesday morning, investigators had not reported any other victims. Ignite the Fire is "dedicated to empowering youth through missions and evangelism across the Caribbean," according to the organization's website. A statement on the group's social media described the Wurm family as passionate about humanitarian…...

2+ day, 23+ hour ago (661+ words) Christie Towers thanked the hundreds of people experiencing homelessness and their allies filling up the dining room at Cathedral Church of St. Paul in downtown Boston mid-morning on Thanksgiving Day. Towers, a poet and program director for MANNA, or Many Angles Needed Now and Always, said the room, decorated with autumnal leaves, paper turkeys, and cut-out hearts with written notes of gratitude, looked "beautiful." "We're gonna eat a lot of food and have a great time. There is nowhere else I'd rather be," she said. Towers is part of an interfaith community, led by the Jum'ah Prayer Community, that, for 25 years, has been feeding hundreds of MANNA members in an annual Thanksgiving meal. The tradition stretches back to when Ibrahim Ibrahim, owner of Black Seed Halal Grill, which sits next door to St. Paul, first became friendly with Reverend Jep…...

2+ week, 14+ hour ago (846+ words) VATICAN CITY " The Vatican on Saturday returned 62 artifacts from its vast ethnographic collection to Indigenous peoples from Canada, as part of the Catholic Church's reckoning with its role in helping suppress Indigenous culture in the Americas. Pope Leo XIV gave the artifacts, including an iconic Inuit kayak, and supporting documentation to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, which said it would return the items to individual Indigenous communities "as soon as possible." A joint statement from the Vatican and Canadian church described the pieces as a "gift" and a "concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity." The items were part of the Vatican Museum's ethnographic collection, known as the Anima Mundi museum. The collection has been a source of controversy for the Vatican amid the broader museum debate over the restitution of cultural goods taken from Indigenous peoples during colonial…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago (781+ words) US 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…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago (766+ words) The archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America - a denomination founded by conservatives who left the Episcopal Church over its approval of an openly gay bishop - is taking a leave of absence following allegations that he committed sexual misconduct shortly before he took the helm of the organization. North American Anglican archbishop takes paid leave in wake of allegations The archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America " a denomination founded by conservatives who left the Episcopal Church over its approval of an openly gay bishop " is taking a leave of absence following allegations that he committed sexual misconduct shortly before he took the helm of the organization. Stephen Wood, 62, a married father of four sons, said in a statement Monday night that a senior-ranking bishop will step in and fulfill his duties as archbishop, while another bishop will…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (334+ words) The Chicago-born pope was responding Tuesday to a range of geopolitical questions from reporters outside the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, including what kind of spiritual rights migrants in U.S. custody should have, U.S. military attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela and the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East. Leo underlined that scripture emphasizes the question that will be posed at the end of the world: "How did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not? I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be made about what is happening." He said "the spiritual rights of people who have been detained should also be considered," and he called on authorities to allow pastoral workers access to the detained migrants. "Many times theyve been separated from their families. No one knows whats happening, but their…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (541+ words) PROVIDENCE " The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence has approved mergers between parishes in Providence and between others in West Warwick, citing declining numbers of parishioners. In Providence, St. Agnes Parish will merge into St. Ann Parish, while in West Warwick, Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish and Saints Peter and Paul Parish will merge into St. Joseph Parish, diocese officials said. Parishioners were informed of approvals of the mergers at masses this past weekend. "This is certainly sad news for those who love their parishes and have heroically supported them for decades. They and their pastors are in my prayers daily," Most Rev. Bruce A. Lewandowski, Bishop of Providence, said in a statement. "With God's help, the mergers will create stronger, more vibrant parishes, to enable the Church to continue Christ's mission and ministry for years to come." According to the…...

6+ day, 16+ hour ago (767+ words) The Halki Theological School has become a symbol of Orthodox heritage and a focal point in the push for religious freedoms in Turkey. Located on Heybeliada Island, off the coast of Istanbul, the seminary once trained generations of Greek Orthodox patriarchs and clergy. They include Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of some 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. Turkey closed the school under laws restricting private higher education, and despite repeated appeals from international religious leaders and human rights advocates " as well as subsequent legal changes that allowed private universities to flourish " it has remained shut ever since. Momentum for reopening it appeared to grow after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in September. Erdogan said Turkey would "do our part" regarding its reopening. Erdogan had previously linked the move…...

1+ day, 11+ hour ago (959+ words) 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 site, the men recited the creed, which Leo said was "of fundamental importance in the journey that Christians are making toward full communion." "In this way, we are all invited to overcome the scandal of the divisions that unfortunately still exist and to nurture the desire for unity for which the Lord Jesus prayed and gave his life," he said. The prayer marked the highlight of Leo's visit to Turkey and the main reason for his trip, the first of his pontificate. The Nicaea gathering took place at a time when the Eastern and…...