Category: Religion
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Iranian state media reports the supreme leader met the president in July and has released a rare video. Why an appearance is itself news, what a released video can and cannot establish, and the theological dispute running underneath.
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A federal appeals court has kept in place an injunction barring immigration enforcement at houses of worship, finding a likely violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Why the claim belongs to the congregations, not the people being arrested.
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Pope Leo XIV has written to the Archbishop of Ende after the Flores earthquake. Why Flores is heavily Catholic, what religious networks do well and badly in the first days of a disaster, and what a condolence telegram actually accomplishes.
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Seven to ten million Coptic Christians live in Egypt — the largest Christian community in the Middle East and one of the oldest anywhere. Where they come from, what makes them theologically distinct, and why coverage in English skips them.
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Much of Europe and Latin America has the day off today for the Feast of the Assumption. What the feast marks, why the Orthodox call it the Dormition, and why a religious observance is a statutory holiday even in secular France.
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At his general audience on 12 August, Pope Leo XIV told Catholics that watching Mass online cannot replace being there — while urging communities to make it possible for those who work Sundays to attend.
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Pope Leo XIV has named eight new members to the Vatican’s Council for the Economy, half of them laypeople. Why who watches the Vatican’s money is a question with a long history.
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Pope Leo XIV has replaced Vatican City’s constitution three years after the last rewrite. The difference between the Holy See and the Vatican state, and why the change matters.
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The head of the Armenian Apostolic Church and six senior clergy are in court over a defrocked bishop. Who decides what happens inside a church — the church, or the state?
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A judge has ruled that abuse victims in Vermont can sue individual parishes as well as the diocese. Why diocesan bankruptcies happen, and the question of who owns church property.