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,…...

4+ day, 15+ hour ago (1018+ words) But quiet and worship are just what airport chapels have provided for decades to travelers and to the airport workers that many were originally designed for. "I love seeing travel bags and workers" outfits. It gives hope that you"re ministering to a need," said the Rev. Brian Daley, one of the priests at Our Lady of the Airways at Boston"s Logan International Airport. Built in the 1950s so that airport employees could attend Mass right in their sprawling workplace, it"s widely considered the first airport chapel in the United States. It"s also among the last to still function as a Catholic church instead of an interfaith space " though Muslim prayer rugs discreetly placed on the rear pews show it welcomes a variety of believers. Midday on a Friday, a man rolling a carry-on suitcase prayed for a…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (387+ words) Leo, who has previously urged local bishops to take the lead on speaking out on matters of social justice, said he appreciated the U.S. bishops" statement and urged Catholics and all people of goodwill to listen to what they said. "I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have," said the Chicago-born Leo. "If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there"s a system of justice." Speaking to reporters as he left the papal country house south of Rome, Leo acknowledged there are problems in the U.S. migration system. But he stressed that no one has said the U.S. should have open borders, and that every country has the right to determine who can enter and how. "But when people are living…...

1+ day, 19+ hour ago (969+ words) By NICOLE WINFIELD, ANDREW WILKS and MEHMET GUZEL, Associated Press 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…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago (1294+ words) By DAVID CRARY and HOLLY MEYER The U.S. feminist movement's perpetual quest for gender equality has suffered notable setbacks during President Donald Trump's second term " including the dismantling of various nondiscrimination programs and the ouster of several high-ranking women in the military. Yet strikingly, outspoken women from the Catholic Church and the ranks of conservative evangelicals are engaging with gusto in ongoing political and social debates even as their faiths maintain longstanding rules against women serving as priests or senior pastors. Many of these women see these ministry barriers as a nonissue. In a Dallas suburb, more than 6,500 conservative Christian women attended an Oct. 11 conference organized by commentator Allie Beth Stuckey. "Welcome to the fight," was her greeting. Ahead of the conference, Stuckey evoked the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, saying she had been inundated with messages from Christian women…...

4+ week, 1+ day ago (1295+ words) By LUIS ANDRES HENAO Like other Quaker houses of worship, it follows values of simplicity and equality. There's no clergy, pulpit or altar. No statues of saints, no stained-glass windows. No one sings or chants, burns incense or lights candles. They simply sit in silence in 200-year-old wooden pews " and wait for a message from God to move through them until they speak. "This feels different in that it's so simple. It's set up in a way that makes you feel like your internal world " is equally as important as the space that you're in," says Valerie Goodman, a pink-haired artist reading her Bible outside the meeting house on a recent Sunday before going inside. Goodman, 27, grew up Southern Baptist but left the evangelical church in college. "It feels like I can have a minute to breathe. It's different than…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (526+ words) A high school senior from Downey will be among the young people who ask Pope Leo XIV questions during a first-ever digital encounter at this year's National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) in Indianapolis. Ezequiel Ponce, 17, a senior at Downey High School who belongs to St. Dominic Savio Church in Bellflower, is one of a select few teens who earned the opportunity to ask questions to Pope Leo in a historical digital Q&A on Friday, Nov. 21, during the second day of the NCYC. Pope Leo will address more than 15,000 young people between the ages of 14 and 18 at the conference, which this year is being held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, according to an Archdiocese of Los Angeles press release. In previous years, Pope Francis had sent video messages to NCYC attendees, but this event will be the first time…...

6+ day, 23+ hour ago (513+ words) It's no wonder that the heavens opened up and flooded the earth with tears when Rabbi Gilbert Kollin passed away on November 12, 2025, at the age of 91. He was like a cup of kindness. It was in his handshake, his hug, his greeting. It was the way his smile came through the phone, which is basically how our friendship began. Although he was my Rabbi at Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, I did not know him very well when I learned I had breast cancer. Feeling an aching need to talk to my Rabbi, I called and left him a disjointed phone message ending with something like, "I'm not even sure why I called." He returned the call several times, and when I did not respond he finally left a message saying he would like to come see me the following…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (617+ words) By TIFFANY STANLEY, Associated Press 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (333+ words) Causs, 62, joins an all-male governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which sits just under the church's president and his two top counselors. Apostles help set church policy while overseeing the faith's many business interests. With his appointment, he joins the order of succession to the church presidency, which is decided by seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve. A native of France, Causs spent the past decade as a presiding bishop who managed the church's money and welfare programs. Under his leadership, the church increased its humanitarian spending and dotted the globe with lavish temples where the faith's most sacred ceremonies take place. The faith known widely as the Mormon church does not disclose or discuss its finances, but the latest filings from its investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc., valued its portfolio at $58 billion. The church's…...