World Youth Day, as it is known, is held every two or three years in various locations around the world. This year, it coincided with the Roman Catholic Jubilee — a holy year that usually takes place every 25 years — and kicked off with a gathering of hundreds of mostly young Catholics from 70 countries who promote their faith online. (Povoledo, The New York Times)
Read MoreThe series, “Where men on the street go out in NYC,” quickly went viral, sparking floods of comments from young women, desperate to leave the dating apps behind and meet these potential partners in the flesh. Williams has made more than 50 videos in her series, which she hopes is helping young people get out and meet in real life — and maybe find romance. (Hale, USA Today)
Read MoreLeft without a job and cut off from military benefits, Kamalesan challenged his termination in the Delhi High Court, claiming it violated the right to freedom of religion guaranteed to every citizen by the Indian Constitution. This June, the court ruled that the dismissal was justified. (Chirayath, Christianity Today)
Read MoreReligious persecution is one of the many reasons individuals can claim asylum or apply to be a refugee. But the Trump administration's overhaul of the U.S. asylum and refugee systems has taken a toll on people fleeing religious persecution — many of whom saw the U.S. as a symbol of religious freedom. (Bustillo & Kim, NPR)
Read MoreBehold: Magisterium AI. Think of it as ChatGPT for Catholicism, an opportunity to ask a chatbot questions about the faith instead of a human. But the only sources in this large language model are 27,000 documents connected to the church, which has been reckoning with the effects of artificial intelligence on humanity. (Brasch, The Washington Post)
Read MoreA conservative Christian legal group asked the United States Supreme Court to review a decade-old case involving a former Kentucky county clerk who cited her faith when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — a long-shot effort activists hope will result in justices ending nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage. (Jenkins, Religion News Service)
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