The death of Pope Francis at age 88 sets off a chain of events as Catholics around the world mourn and the Vatican begins a series of ceremonies and plans to select a new pope. (Neuman, NPR)
Read MoreThe Pope’s passing on Monday morning has thrown open a global succession race to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. Yet it has also focused attention on the Vatican’s fraught relationship with an American flock that is undergoing cultural and theological changes that echo the rightward shift in the nation’s politics in the MAGA era. (Chafin & Zitner, The Wall Street Journal)
Read MoreChurches enjoyed bumper attendances over Easter, members of the clergy have said. Some parishes reported congregations up by half compared to recent years, buoyed by large numbers of young people turning to religion. (Evans, The Telegraph)
Read MoreAmericans’ religious preferences have generally held steady in the past five years, after a sharp increase in the percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation and concurrent declines in Protestant and Catholic identification over the prior two decades. In 2024, 45% of Americans identified as Protestant or nondenominational Christian, 21% as Catholic and 10% as another religion, with 22% not identifying with any religion. Those figures are each within one percentage point of their 2018-2020 levels. (Jones, Gallup)
Read MoreFrom the moment Donald J. Trump was re-elected to the presidency, his conservative Christian supporters have rejoiced in a second chance for their values to have power. And now, week after week, scenes like these are taking place at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as they seize on this opportunity. (Dias & Graham, The New York Times)
Read MoreTwo fifths of teachers have been physically assaulted by pupils in the last year, a survey shows, with knives and fire extinguishers among the weapons used to attack teachers in the classroom. Teachers said they had been punched, kicked, shoved or spat at and some primary school teachers reported being threatened with weapons by pupils. (Woolcock, The Times UK)
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