The Vatican has given its blessing to a document suggesting that those with same-sex attraction can pursue the priesthood in Italy. The Italian Episcopal Conference, the group of Roman Catholic bishops in Italy, approved a document at its 78th General Conference in 2023 titled "The formation of priests in churches in Italy. Guidelines and standards for seminaries."
Emanuel Sarfraz, a senior journalist and general secretary of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Lahore Chapter, passed away in Lahore on Jan. 13 following cardiac failure. He was 56 years old. A well-respected figure in Pakistan’s media industry, Sarfraz had over three decades of experience with prominent national and international media organizations.
Negotiators from Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on a 42-day cease-fire and hostage release in Gaza, U.S. President Joe Biden and other officials announced Wednesday. The deal raises hopes for an end to over a year of war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and devastated the region.
The number of Christians persecuted worldwide jumped to 380 million last year, and while North Korea and Somalia remained the countries with the highest persecution levels respectively, two Central European countries saw the steepest increases, according to Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List (WWL).
Leaders of evangelical Christian organizations have signed a joint statement urging President-elect Donald Trump to prioritize the needs of persecuted Christian refugees and others seeking asylum as he prepares to take office this month, January 2025.
Authorities prevented Christians internally displaced by war in Sudan from celebrating Christmas in a park where they had taken refuge, sources said.
Jimmy Moore has been appointed director of church strengthening and support at the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO), a McLean, Virginia-based nonprofit uniting 290 organizations and a global network of churches to care for vulnerable children and families. Moore specifically aims to leverage technology to help churches better engage in orphan care.
In less than two weeks, Colombia has witnessed the shocking murders of two Christian pastors, shaking the nation’s religious community. On Dec. 29, the Lora Rincón pastoral family was killed in Aguachica, Cesar, in a targeted shooting. Days later, on Jan. 8, Pastor Iván Darío García González was gunned down after preaching at the Nuevo Renacer Christian Church, leaving one parishioner injured.
An Islamist gang trapped more than 450 people in false blasphemy charges in recent years in Pakistan, including five who were tortured death in custody, according to human rights lawyers.
Trained chaplains from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) are visiting relief shelters to offer frontline support and prayers to those forced to flee their homes as fires ravage the Los Angeles region in Southern California.
The Charity Commission announced on Thursday that it was launching statutory inquiries into TBF Trust, the Oxford Centre for Religion in Public Life, the Reconciliation Trust, and Servants Fellowship International (SFI). The charity regulator said the new investigations were being launched after it had identified "possible risks due to their shared premises, trustees and/or founders, and the flow of funds with Barnabas Aid, another charity under inquiry".
The public consultation period for New Zealand’s controversial Treaty Principles Bill, opposed by 400 church leaders and affecting the tenets of the 19th-century Treaty of Waitangi, closed on Jan. 7, 2024. Some respondents reported technical difficulties submitting feedback on the New Zealand Parliament’s website.
