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Pope Francis leaves following the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 26, 2023. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Pope Francis, in a historic move that could lead to more inclusiveness in decision-making in the Roman Catholic Church, will allow women to vote for the first time at a global meeting of bishops in October. In the past, women were allowed to attend the synods, a papal advisory body, as auditors but with no right to vote.
Representative Justin Jones marches with supporters to the Tennessee State Capitol the after being reinstated by the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County with 36-0 votes, after the Republican majority Tennessee House of Representatives voted to expel two Democratic members, representatives Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, for their roles in a gun control demonstration on the statehouse floor, in Nashville, Tenn., April 10, 2023. REUTERS/Cheney Orr
Despite Republican colleagues expelling him from the Tennessee state legislature, Nashville’s Democratic Rep. Justin Jones still believes working for justice in the South means working on “sacred ground.”
Stickers in the shape of a heart with a trans flag are pictured during a conversation about trans care, equity, and access, during National Trans Visibility Month with the Rainbow Room, a program of Planned Parenthood Keystone, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, March 29, 2023. Hannah Beier/Reuters
Nearly 30 groups of Catholic nuns, totaling more than 6,000 people across 18 states, signed onto a statement celebrating Trans Day of Visibility and calling people to resist anti-transgender legislation in their states.
An Indigenous woman in traditional clothes in front of the Sainte-Anne Basilica. She unfurled, a few minutes earlier in the church, a banner calling for the rejection of the doctrine of discovery, during Pope Francis’ trip to Canada to apologize to Indigenous people for abuses in residential schools for children. Quebec, Canada, July 27th, 2022. David Himbert / Hans Lucas via Reuters
The Vatican on Thursday formally repudiated the colonial-era “doctrine of discovery,” used centuries ago to justify European conquests of Africa and the Americas, saying “it is not part of Catholic Church teaching.”
Pope Francis speaks during a general audience at St Peter’s Square, Vatican City, March, 29, 2023. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS
Pope Francis has a respiratory infection and will need to spend “a few days” in hospital for treatment, the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg poses for a portrait in New York City, N.Y., April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Manhattan’s District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, is best known these days for leading the probe of whether former president Donald Trump and his company broke state laws in 2016 to buy Stormy Daniels’ silence about an alleged affair.
A migrant is carried to an ambulance after a fire broke out at the National Migration Institute (INM) center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March, 27, 2023. Omar Ornelas/USA Today Network via REUTERS
At least 39 migrants from Central and South America died after a fire broke out late on Monday at a migrant holding center in the Mexican northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, apparently caused by a protest over deportations, officials said on Tuesday.
Pope Francis arrives for the audience of the faithful from the parishes of Rho in the Paul VI hall. Evandro Inetti/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa via Reuters.
Almost four years after Pope Francis issued tougher measures against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the Vatican announced on Saturday expanded and clearer rules
Police officers arrive at the Covenant School after reports of a shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. March 27, 2023. Metropolitan Nashville Police Department/Handout via REUTERS.
A shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday morning, left multiple victims before police "engaged" the gunman, leaving the suspect dead, local officials said.
Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes leads a mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral, as a suspension of diplomatic ties between Nicaragua and the Vatican has been proposed according to a Nicaragua’s foreign ministry statement, in Managua, Nicaragua March 12, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has ordered the closure of the Vatican Embassy in Managua and that of the Nicaraguan Embassy to the Vatican in Rome, a senior Vatican source said on Sunday.
Pope Francis attends the Ash Wednesday mass at the Santa Sabina Basilica in Rome on February 22, 2023. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo
Pope Francis marks 10 years as head of the Roman Catholic Church on Monday celebrating Mass with cardinals in the chapel of the Vatican's Santa Marta hotel where he has lived since his election.
George Washington Carver. Via Alamy.
Over his career, Luther Williams has seen the impact of racist education standards and a lack of Black representation in science.
Maryuri, a recent migrant from Venezuela whose last name is withheld to protect her identity, speaks in front of the John A. Wilson Building in Washington, D.C., during a Feb. 22 press conference organized by Congregation Action Network to advocate for better migrant support services. Evan Robinson-Johnson/Sojourners.
Local faith leaders and asylum seekers gathered on Feb. 22 to demand that Washington, D.C., government allow asylum seekers to access resources available to the rest of the district’s unhoused population.
Headshot courtesy Vincent Lloyd. Graphic by Mitchell Atencio/Sojourners
Lloyd, a theologian and director of Africana studies at Villanova University (and Sojourners contributor), writes about his experiences teaching a seminar on “Race and the Limits of Law in America” through the Telluride Association. In the blistering essay, Lloyd writes that he experienced a “mutiny” — expelled from his role by his high school students led by a “charismatic” college-aged student who created a “cult” of anti-racism and eventually accused him of harm, micro-aggressions, and perpetuating “anti-black violence” through the seminar.
A graphic of Shane Claiborne. Original photo courtesy HarperCollins, graphic by Mitchell Atencio/Sojourners
When I opened Shane Claiborne’s new book, I rolled my eyes and sighed. Claiborne’s book, Rethinking Life: Embracing the Sacredness of Every Person, was dedicated to “all the women of faith over the centuries, the midwives of a better world, and to the two most significant women in my life—my mom, Patricia, and my wife, Katie Jo.”
A building that has collapsed following the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, in Hatay, Turkiye on February 9. (Photo by Erhan Demirtas/NurPhoto)
The rescue of a 2-year-old boy after 79 hours trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, and several other people raised spirits among weary search crews. But hopes were fading that many more would be found alive in the ruins of towns and cities.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby gives and address during an Armistice Service at Westminster Abbey in Westminster, London, Britain, November 11, 2018. Paul Grover/Pool via REUTERS
The Church of England will look into the use of gender-neutral terms to refer to God in prayers, but the centuries-old institution said on Wednesday there were no plans to abolish current services.
A sign outside the first L'Arche home in Trosly, France. Photo by Christopher Bemrose via Flickr.
More than just an accounting of Vanier and Philippe’s abuse, the report offers a clear timeline and analysis of the secret intentions and motivations named by the two men and their accomplices. It also offers a look at the many figures who attempted to hold Vanier and Philippe accountable, or rein in their abuse.
Rodney Wells, a stepfather, and RowVaughn Wells a mother of Tyre Nichols, take the stage with their attorney Ben Crump, during a news conference at Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church in Memphis, Tenn., on January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer
“Shame on us if we don’t use his tragic death to finally get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed,” Ben Crump told CNN's State of the Union.
Jean Vanier. Photo courtesy of L'Arche.
A report released today concluded that Jean Vanier — a Catholic lay leader and founder of L’Arche, a worldwide network of communities supporting adults with intellectual disabilities — founded the first L’Arche community primarily as a cover for a secretive religious sect with exploitative “mystical-sexual” beliefs and practices. The report also found Vanier sexually exploited at least 25 nondisabled women from 1952 until just before his death in 2019, far more than previously known.