Belgian authorities are puzzled by the theft of an infant Jesus icon from a Nativity scene in Brussels.

Pope Leo XIV has celebrated Lebanon's tradition of interfaith coexistence as a beacon of hope for a conflict-torn region.

Pope Leo XIV visits holy sites in Lebanon on Monday, drawing Christians and Muslims.

Pope Leo XIV's visit to Lebanon highlights the country's religious pluralism and sends a message to Christians not to abandon the region.

Pope Leo XIV has doubled down on the Holy See’s insistence on a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Israel's president for a pardon during his ongoing corruption trial.

Pope Leo XIV has challenged Lebanon’s political leaders to be true peacemakers and put their differences aside.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Pope Leo XIV has visited Istanbul’s Blue Mosque without praying there as he focused on strengthening ties with Orthodox patriarchs.

Israeli forces have raided a village in southern Syria, killing at least 13 people, according to Syrian officials.

Pope Leo XIV has marked a significant moment in his first foreign trip to Turkey by visiting the site of the historic Council of Nicaea.

Pope Leo XIV has joined Orthodox patriarchs and ecumenical leaders in Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

People who work with refugees are worried about backlash after authorities say an Afghan national shot National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., this week.

Pope Leo XIV is encouraging Turkey to be a source of stability and dialogue in a world riven by conflict.

Israel has returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians, following Hamas' return of the remains of an Israeli hostage.

Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first foreign trip.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson's family says that the civil rights leader has been released from a hospital where he was treated for a rare neurological disorder.

As travel picks up for the season, flyers can find a moment of quiet and relaxation at interfaith chapels or meditation spaces in many U.S. airports.

The Vatican has doubled down on the value of monogamous marriage between a man and woman.

Traditional Christmas markets are opening across Germany, drawing revelers to enjoy mulled wine, grilled sausages, and festive attractions.

Pope Leo XIV is set to embark on his first trip abroad with a visit to Turkey, marking a key event in Catholic and Orthodox Christianity.

Paternity disputes in Uganda have become a significant issue as DNA testing becomes more accessible.

President Donald Trump’s administration is promoting efforts to work with Nigeria’s government to counter violence against Christians.

Israel's military says it has launched new airstrikes against Hamas militants in Gaza, testing the ceasefire that began on Oct. 10.

Rosalía has won over millions of music lovers for her fusions of flamenco and urban Latin beats.

The daughter of a detained Chinese Christian pastor is urging U.S. lawmakers to help free her father at a time when President Donald Trump has vowed to “save our Great Christian population” worldwide.

Pope Leo XIV has revealed a closely held secret: He uses a different Wordle start word each day.

A group of Buddhist monks walking from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., on a cross-country peace journey received unexpected help after their escort vehicle was destroyed in a crash in Dayton, Texas.

A new Texas law says every public school classroom must display a poster listing the Ten Commandments.

Ukraine has asked the Vatican to formalize its role facilitating negotiations for the return of Ukrainian children and civilians taken by Russia during the war.

A museum dedicated to the Shroud of Turin has opened at the Christ Cathedral campus in Garden Grove, California.

Pope Leo XIV has strongly backed U.S. bishops who condemned the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Palestinian attackers have stabbed an Israeli to death and wounded three others in the West Bank.

Pope Leo XIV is urging countries at United Nations climate talks to take “concrete actions” to stop climate change that is threatening the planet.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced its next spring fashion exhibit.

Israeli settlers have rampaged through a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, torching homes and cars in the latest in a string of settler attacks in recent weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to oppose any attempt to establish a Palestinian state.

Pope Leo XIV has welcomed Spike Lee, Cate Blanchett, Greta Gerwig and dozens of other Hollywood luminaries to a special Vatican audience.

Parts of Gaza's huge Muwasi tent camp are struggling after winter's first major rainfall.

The Vatican has returned 62 artifacts to Indigenous peoples from Canada.

A new exhibition in Mexico City explores how the sacred myth that marked the site of the ancient Mexica — or Aztec — capital has survived the European conquest, colonization and centuries of change to remain at the heart of Mexico’s identity.

U.S. Catholic bishops have voted to make official a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender patients at Catholic hospitals.

In a story published Nov. 12, 2025, about an upcoming execution in Tennessee, The Associated Press, relying on court records, erroneously reported how old Karen Pulley was when she died.

Israel's president says authorities must take decisive action to stop “shocking and serious” Jewish settler violence against Palestinian civilians and Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.

U.S. Catholic bishops have elected Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley as their new president, choosing a conservative culture warrior to lead during President Donald Trump’s second term.

The Vatican has launched an investigation into a possible antisemitic incident involving a Swiss Guard.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the next stages of the fragile Gaza ceasefire.

At the core of the program is the idea that there is no separation between what happens within the church and what happens in the government.

Salman Rushdie is among those being honored at the Dayton Literary Peace Prize event in Ohio.

Israel has confirmed it has received the remains of Hadar Goldin, a soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.

Vice President JD Vance’s recent comments about hoping his Hindu wife converts to Christianity have sparked discussions about interfaith marriages.

Gaza health officials say over 69,000 Palestinians have died in the Israel-Hamas war.

The suits against Galveston, Round Rock and Leander ISDs come after Texas passed a law requiring the commandments be posted in classrooms. The law is being challenged in federal court.

British police have arrested 10 people around a Europa League soccer match in Birmingham between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

As a left-leaning Muslim politician, London Mayor Sadiq Khan shares similarities with New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

British police said six people have been arrested ahead of Aston Villa’s Europa League soccer match with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Birmingham, a match that has seen fans of the Israeli team banned.

Israeli authorities have identified the latest remains of a hostage that Hamas handed over as belonging to a Tanzanian agricultural student.

The latest round of exhumations of Native American students from a cemetery at the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania resulted in the remains of 17 students being repatriated to their families and tribes, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

Within hours of Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York’s first Muslim mayor, there were swift and harsh reactions from his Jewish critics.

The FBI has announced Wednesday a third man has been arrested and accused of planning a Halloween terror attack in Michigan.

Zohran Mamdani's historic New York City's mayoral race victory has sparked excitement and hope among many American Muslims.

A historian’s hunch about what might lie hidden within the walls of a Japanese church in Salt Lake City led congregants to uncover a century-old time capsule recalling the city's once vibrant Japantown.

Israel's military says the remains of a hostage in Gaza, Staff Sergeant Itay Chen, have been returned for burial in Israel.

Salman Rushdie's new book, “The Eleventh Hour,” marks a creative reset for the author.

New York City’s Jewish community — the largest in the United States — is abounding with anxiety and friction a day ahead of an election that could give the city its first Muslim mayor.

Jewish and Catholic leaders have condemned a Halloween parade float in Pennsylvania that included a replica of the Auschwitz gate.

Concerns that antisemitism is on the rise among Republicans burst to the surface this weekend at a meeting in Las Vegas.

Long lines have formed at food pantries across the U.S. as federal food benefits were cut off due to the government shutdown.

Day of the Dead commemorations in early November are a crucial religious, family and community celebration for most Mexicans and many other Latin Americans.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria.

There’s been an unprecedented surge in the numbers of attendees at Sunday worship at the Quaker Arch Street Meeting House in Old City Philadelphia.

The Red Cross says it has transferred the unidentified remains of three people to Israel but an Israeli military official says they were still being examined and may not be those of missing hostages.

Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica has become the world’s tallest church.

Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has sparked a conversation about forgiveness after forgiving the man accused of assassinating her husband.

Lucia Ortiz trudges through endless fields of cempasuchil flowers, the luminescent orange petals of which will soon cloak everything from city streets to cemeteries across Mexico.

The Shrine of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic church a short drive from the White House, was intended to be a sanctuary for worshippers.

Imams around Morocco have read government-written sermons urging parents to involve their children in public affairs.

Hamas says it is expanding its search for the remains of hostages still left in Gaza.

A top American cardinal has celebrated a traditional Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with the explicit permission of Pope Leo XIV.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has toured a U.S.-led coordination center in southern Israel.

Police in Pakistan say that three police officers have been killed when a powerful roadside bomb struck a police vehicle in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s northwest.

Authorities say Pakistan has banned a radical Islamist party behind recent violent protests that left at least one police officer and four civilians dead.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla have visited the Vatican to pray with Pope Leo XIV.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance has criticized Israel’s parliament vote on West Bank annexation.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance is seeking to ease concerns in Israel that the Trump administration is dictating terms to its closest ally in the Middle East.

Netflix's “Nobody Wants This” became a surprise hit last year, topping charts and drawing millions of viewers.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to visit Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other envoys projected optimism about Gaza’s fragile ceasefire agreement during a visit to Israel even as they acknowledged significant challenges remain.

Israel’s military says Palestinian militants in Gaza have handed over another body of a hostage.

Pope Leo XIV has met with an organization of clergy abuse survivors and advocates for the first time.

Gaza's fragile ceasefire is facing its first major test.

Pope Leo XIV has canonized Venezuela's “doctor of the poor” before tens of thousands of people.

Israel says Hamas has handed over “two coffins of deceased hostages” from Gaza.

The Catholic Church and Church of England are taking a historic step toward unity.

Israel has received the coffin of a missing hostage handed over to the Red Cross from Hamas.

British officials are working to overturn a decision preventing Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a Europa League soccer game at Aston Villa.

Pope Leo XIV has denounced the use of hunger as a weapon of war during an address to a U.N. agency.

The Vatican’s child protection board says the Catholic Church has a moral duty to help victims of clergy sexual abuse heal.

Mourners in Jerusalem gathered at Capt. Daniel Peretz’s funeral, where Matan Angrest, a recently released hostage, paid his respects.

Israel has received the remains of two more hostages after they were transferred by the Red Cross from Hamas.