Residents of the Philadelphia area are being asked to show some brotherly love to those traveling to the city to see Pope Francis next year. With hotel rooms filling up fast, organizers hope to find more than 10,000 households willing to host guests in their spare bedrooms for a modest fee.
Pope Francis confirmed Monday that he will make his first papal visit to the United States with a trip to Philadelphia next September for the World Meeting of Families, a conference held every three years in a different city to celebrate the importance of family.
Maryland’s biggest school district has stripped references to religious holidays from next year’s calendar, removing Christmas, Easter, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah from the lineup of days off.
A Mormon bishop in Los Angeles apologized Sunday for the tone of a blog saying Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was unworthy to enter the faith’s temples, but stood by his criticism of Reid’s stands on some issues.
A U.S. pastor who was defrocked after officiating his son’s same-sex wedding ceremony, and later reinstated, can keep his ordination, a Methodist judicial council has ruled.
Officials say a pastor at a Texas Panhandle church has resigned after being arrested on a prostitution charge.
Religious conservatives are moving their fight to state legislatures, seeking exemptions that would allow some groups, companies and people with religious objections to refuse benefits or service for gay spouses.
A Vatican document said on Monday that homosexuals had “gifts and qualities to offer” and asked if Catholicism could accept gays and recognize positive aspects of same-sex couples.
Pope Francis has ordered a review aimed at simplifying the Church’s procedures for annulments, the Vatican said on Saturday, a move that could make it easier for Catholics to end marriages.
The Church of England has voted to allow women to enter its top ranks as bishops at its meeting in York in northern England Monday.
