Pilgrims have been pouring into this medieval hilltop town to venerate not only two of the Catholic Church’s most celebrated saints, Francis and Clare, but its newest — Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, who will be canonized on April 27. “St. Francis, St. Clare, of course, important saints who marked an epoch – but that’s far removed from today’s teens. Carlo is like the kids,” said Maria Rosario Riccio, a mother and educator who was visiting Acutis’ shrine recently with a 50-strong parish youth group from southern Italy. “He’s a near-saint of our time, who can show teens that it’s possible to love Jesus while being a regular youth.” (Dell’Orto, AP News)
Read MoreIn many countries around the world, a fifth or more of all adults have left the religious group in which they were raised. Christianity and Buddhism have experienced especially large losses from this “religious switching,” while rising numbers of adults have no religious affiliation, according to Pew Research Center surveys of nearly 80,000 people in 36 countries. (Lesage, Starr & Miner, Pew Research Center)
Read MoreThe start of season 1 didn’t grab Neulinger right away. She switched it off. But then, she said, she heard a voice. “I swear, I heard [God] say, ‘You go back to that show, and you turn it on, and you’re gonna watch it.’ And I did,” she said. As Neulinger watched, she was reminded of her childhood encounters with God. Her grandmother, a devout Christian, had often brought her to Sunday school. (Kuo, Christianity Today)
Read MoreAlcohol and personal health have been in the news lately amid a U.S. surgeon general advisory that even moderate drinking increases cancer risk. About seven-in-ten Americans ages 21 and older say they drink alcohol at least a few times a year, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Our survey explores how this group thinks about their own alcohol use and whether drinkers who are aware of the federal warning about cancer risks plan to change their own behavior. (Tyson & Kennedy, Pew Research Center)
Read MoreWorld Athletics president Sebastian Coe said Tuesday that the track and field's governing body has approved the introduction of cheek swabs and dry blood-spot tests for female athletes in order to maintain "the integrity of competition." The planned changes include reinstating a version of chromosome testing that was discontinued in the 1990s, requiring athletes who compete in the female category to submit to a cheek swab or dry blood-spot test for the presence of a gene that indicates whether the athlete has a "Y" chromosome present in males. (Associated Press, ESPN)
Read MorePlaying off a secular dance trend, as the first riffs from “Not Like Us” begin, Workman changes from green Ordinary Time vestments to purple Lenten ones. The deacon from the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas, copies Lamar’s walking dance steps with his daughter backing him up in altar server surplice. After the video posted to Lexy’s TikTok account received over 34 million views and 5 million likes, the Catholic priests got on board. Dancing to the diss track became a trend to hype up congregants and social media users for Lent. (Hertzler-McCain, Religion News)
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