Inspiration Faith & Prayer Health & Wellness Entertainment Love & Family
Newsletters Special Offers

Beliefnet News

Vatican City – Ever since Pope Benedict XVI allowed schismatic bishops back into the Catholic fold last week, his decision has been met with abundant expressions of outrage and dismay, from both inside and outside the church. Yet the controversy isn’t fueled by the bishops’ thoughts on the church or the papacy or liturgy but…

Moscow – Hundreds of Russian Orthodox Church electors convened Tuesday in Moscow for the first election of a patriarch since the fall of the officially atheist Soviet Union. The 711 electors, which include prominent businessmen and political figures as well as monks and priests, have until Thursday to pick a successor to Alexy II, who…

Americans are more loyal to their toothpaste or toilet paper than to their religious denomination, making consumers more choosy about Charmin or Colgate than they are about church, according to a new survey. According to a Phoenix-based research firm, 16 percent of Protestants say they would consider only one denomination, while 22 percent of them…

Jan. 24–Its pageantry goes unnoticed in the ubiquitous, cheeky national ad campaigns for Las Vegas. But in the biggest casinos on the Strip, no detail from dining to decor is overlooked when it comes to Chinese New Year, an event that brings hundreds of millions of dollars to Nevada. The ancient holiday is a marketing…

(RNS) The pastor of a Colorado Springs megachurch at the center of yet another sex scandal involving former pastor Ted Haggard told his congregation Sunday (Jan. 25) that he knew of the lurid allegations 18 months ago but “there’s nothing being held secret here.” Pastor Brady Boyd of New Life Church acknowledged that the church’s…

VATICAN CITY — When Pope Benedict XVI allowed the leaders of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) back into the Catholic fold last week, he must have known that his move would cause controversy inside the church. The question many are now asking is whether Benedict anticipated the intense backlash his decision would unleash…

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Friday quietly ended the Bush administration’s ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option. Liberal groups welcomed the decision, while abortion rights foes criticized the president. Known as the “Mexico City policy,” the ban has been reinstated and then reversed…

WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious leaders from the U.S. Catholic bishops to evangelical human rights advocates have applauded President Obama’s executive order that essentially ends torture of detainees held by the U.S. government. On Thursday (Jan. 22), his second full day in office, the president signed an executive order on “ensuring lawful interrogations” to “promote the safe,…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican extended its digital communications capabilities on Friday (Jan. 23), when it launched its own video channel on the Web site YouTube. The Vatican channel (www.youtube.com/vatican) features short video news clips about events involving Pope Benedict XVI and other Vatican officials in four languages — English, Spanish, German and Italian —…

Washington – As President Obama addressed a nation suffering from economic crisis and waging two foreign wars on Tuesday (Jan. 20), he turned to a familiar source of presidential oratory amid hardship: St. Paul. “We remain a young nation but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things,” Obama…
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners