1+ day, 10+ 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…...

2+ day, 22+ 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…...

3+ day, 2+ hour ago (768+ words) Leo is arriving first in Ankara, where he has a meeting planned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a speech to the country's diplomatic corps. He'll then move on to Istanbul for three days of ecumenical and interfaith meetings that will be followed by the Lebanese leg of his trip. 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. Ankara has hosted rounds of low-level talks between Russia and Ukraine and has offered to take part in the stabilization force in Gaza to help uphold the fragile ceasefire, engagements Leo may applaud in his arrival speech. Turkey's growing military weight, as NATO's largest army after the U.S., has been drawing Western leaders closer to Erdogan even as…...

6+ day, 15+ 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+ week, 18+ hour ago (377+ words) A one-line statement from the Vatican said Leo had accepted the resignation of C'diz Bishop Rafael Zornoza, 76. It didn't say why, but Zornoza submitted his resignation to the pope last year when he turned 75, the normal retirement age for bishops. The report, quoting a letter the former seminarian wrote the Vatican over the summer, said Zornoza fondled him and regularly slept with him from when he was 14-21 years old. The former seminarian's letter said Zornoza heard his confession and persuaded him to see a psychiatrist to "cure" his homosexuality. The diocese of C'diz 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…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (780+ words) Q. My sister, Olivia, died unexpectedly about a year ago. I received the call. I in turn called my brother and other sister. Of my family, only Olivia and I were close. My brother bullied us mentally and physically during our childhood. She has an adult son, who decided to let the state take care of things, as they were both transient. There was no service. During that time, I worked through a tremendous amount of grief and sadness, as well as guilt. Almost a year later, my brother dropped this bomb that my other sister and I could purchase an urn and that he would make arrangements for a mass and burial for Olivia. It was more of an order than a request. The bully rose again. I did not want to do this. I grieved my sister already and…...

2+ week, 13+ 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…...

2+ week, 3+ day ago (652+ words) The Trump administration has deported 400,000 people this year and detained some 60,000 others, part of a crackdown on undocumented immigrants that has also swept up some who are in the country legally. Immigration enforcement officials have blocked priests from offering Communion to some incarcerated immigrants. On Tuesday, Catholic bishops from around the country took their first step since President Trump retook office to act collectively in support of immigrants who could be affected by the campaign. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops announced "You Are Not Alone," a program that lays out ways for Catholics across the country to provide direct aid and solidarity to immigrants. On Wednesday, the bishops will consider a "special message" on immigration. Such messages are rare - the last one was in 2013 - and require two-thirds agreement. The new program may signal the impact of two consecutive popes…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago (604+ words) The United States" Catholic bishops will elect their next president and vice president on Tuesday in Baltimore. The vote acts as a barometer for the bishops" priorities, hinging on whether they choose an outspoken culture warrior as their next leader. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops as a whole was often at odds with the approach of Pope Francis. His successor, Pope Leo XIV, is continuing a similar pastoral emphasis on marginalized people, poverty and the environment. Half the 10 candidates on the ballot come from the conservative wing of the conference. The difference is more in style than substance. Most US Catholic bishops are reliably conservative on social issues, but some place more emphasis on opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. "The slate of 10 candidates perfectly reflects the dynamics of the American hierarchy in that it"s split down the middle,…...