What happened

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday began his first Holy Week as pope by criticizing leaders who invoke Jesus to “justify war.” Christians throughout the Middle East are “suffering the consequences of an atrocious conflict,” including not being able to “live fully the rites of these holy days,” he said at a Palm Sunday Mass at the Vatican. Hours earlier, Israeli police had blocked the top Catholic leader in Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from celebrating Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, drawing widespread criticism from Western leaders and diplomats.

Who said what

“This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace,” the pope told tens of thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’” Pope Leo is “known for choosing his words carefully,” Reuters said, and while he did “not specifically name any world leaders,” he has been “ramping up criticism of the Iran war.”

“Leaders on all sides of the Iran war have used religion to justify their actions,” but “especially Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,” The Associated Press said. The secretary’s “proselytizing Christian campaign” in the U.S. military has alarmed military, legal and religious experts, The Washington Post said, and the “war with Muslim-majority Iran has only made Hegseth’s approach more stark.” Last week at the Pentagon, Hegseth invoked the “mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ” in a prayer to inflict “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

What next?

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement that Israel’s “manifestly unreasonable” and “fundamentally flawed decision” to block Pizzaballa from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre marked the “first time in centuries” that Catholic prelates were prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday at the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried before his Easter resurrection. Israeli authorities said all religious buildings in Jerusalem’s Old City, home to some of the most sacred Christian, Muslim and Jewish sites, have been closed amid Iranian missile threats, and Pizzaballa was turned back for his own safety.

But “as criticism poured in from close allies, top Israeli leaders went into damage-control mode,” The Times of Israel said. Sunday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the police to give Pizzaballa “full and immediate access” so he can “hold services as he wishes” during Christianity’s holiest week.

Pope Leo XIV has said God ignores the prayers of those who wage war and have “hands full of blood”. In what appears to be a clear rebuke of Donald Trump’s administration, the US-born pontiff, celebrating Palm Sunday mass in St Peter’s Square, called for an immediate ceasefire to the “atrocious” conflict between Israel, the US and Iran, and said Jesus cannot be used to justify war.

Leo is “known for choosing his words carefully”; he “did not specifically name any world leaders” but he has “been ramping up criticism of the Iran war in recent weeks”, said Joshua McElwee in The Independent.

What did the commentators say?

“The papacy has always been political,” said Pete Reynolds in The Wall Street Journal. And now “some of the biggest challenges to its vision of society are coming from the US”. As the first American leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, Leo “brings a deeper understanding” of US society and politics than any previous pope, so “his critiques” can’t be as easily dismissed by US politicians. But he will also be well aware that “millions of American Catholics voted for Trump”.

In marked contrast to other senior Vatican figures – such as secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who said American strikes on Iran risked setting “the whole world ablaze” – the pope’s initial response to the war had been “a tempered call for peace”, said Anthony Faiola and Michelle Boorstein in The Washington Post. Until now, Leo was delicately “navigating a minefield” with the Trump administration. Pitched by the Vatican “as a unifier and bridge builder”, he was striving to remain “above the fray”, while his allies in the Holy See, and cardinals and bishops in the US, “more directly challenge the administration”.

The problem is, said George W. Bush’s former speechwriter, William McGurn, in The Wall Street Journal, that “the moral witness of the papacy” has been diminished by successive popes’ “blinkered position on war”. “The kind of rightly ordered world” Leo “desires can’t be built by armies alone – but can almost never be built without armies and without the threat of force.” Traditional Catholic teachings, “grounded in the reality of man’s fallen human nature”, have been traded for “functional pacificism” that “risks being dismissed even by sympathisers”.

What next?

The Vatican potentially has great sway over US policy: Catholics, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, hold senior positions in the US administration, and are well represented on the Supreme Court and among leading House Republicans.

But a “major rift” has opened up in the Christian coalition that elected Trump, said John Grosso in the National Catholic Reporter. “Traditionalist Catholics and evangelicals” are split over the Iran war and, more broadly, “over the role Israel plays in US foreign policy”. Leo’s most recent comments could be “a moment of reckoning for Catholics caught up in Maga”, Austen Ivereigh, a biographer of Pope Francis, told the paper. How do they “reconcile obedience to church authority with support for Trump”?

Keir Starmer has condemned last night’s “horrific antisemitic attack” on four ambulances run by Jewish volunteers in north London. As police pursue three suspects for criminal damage and hate crime, the prime minster said Britons must “all stand together at a moment like this”.

This attack comes less than a week after two men were charged with spying on London’s Jewish community for Iran, and less than six months after the Yom Kippur attack on Manchester's Heaton Park synagogue – renewing fears that antisemitism in British society is on the rise.

What did the commentators say?

“The Jews of Britain are facing conditions not seen in my lifetime,” said Danny Cohen in The Telegraph. “There is a whiff of the 1930s in the air.” The antisemitism “is toxic and it is heart-breaking”. It has “come striding out of the shadows”, and “entered the mainstream” on a wave of social media and “age-old racist hate”. We’re facing constant harassment, “violent attacks on property” and “cold-blooded attempts to kill”. People in positions of power “must speak up consistently and unapologetically in support of Britain’s Jews”.

“Anti-Jewish hatred is now clear, present and mortally dangerous,” said Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian. Incidents of antisemitism are “through the roof”. Of course, “every minority faces discrimination”, but “next to no other diaspora community goes through this”. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine does not mean Russian Orthodox churches require “round-the-clock protection”; people may “loathe” Donald Trump’s aggression in the Middle East, but “US-branded stores on UK high streets are not smashed and daubed”. Yet “Israel and Jews are the exception”.

At British universities, “campus antisemitism has been a problem for decades”, said Stephen Pollard in The Spectator, but now it is a “critical problem that is out of control”. The “sheer scale of the hate” is borne out by last week’s Union of Jewish Students report that one in five students wouldn’t share a house with a Jew, and that 47% see the 7 October attacks as “justified”. This is “yet more evidence of the normalisation of Jew hate” and a “signal” that “we are heading to a dark place”.

What next?

Counter-terror police are investigating a claim from an Iran-aligned group that it was responsible for the ambulance attacks. “This will raise concerns that Tehran is mounting a concerted campaign of attacks across Europe,” said The Telegraph.

Simply taking “measures to ensure the safety of Jewish people” is not enough, said Prospect. They must be “supplemented by a politics that promotes broad alliances against racism, of which antisemitism is one example, and by the practice of anti-racist solidarity”. This won’t be easy while the Iran War continues and while the politics of Israel/Palestine continues to feed “distance and suspicion”.

What happened

Pope Leo XIV last month accepted the resignation of Bishop Emanuel Shaleta, leader of the Chaldean Catholic community in San Diego, the Vatican announced Tuesday, a day after Shaleta pleaded not guilty to embezzling $270,000 from his parish. Shaleta was arrested at the San Diego airport last week and charged with 16 felony counts of money laundering and embezzlement. The pope on Tuesday also accepted the retirement of Iraqi Cardinal Louis Sako, patriarch of the roughly one million Chaldean Catholics worldwide, about half of whom live in the U.S.

Who said what

The Chaldean Catholic Church, based in Iraq, is one of 23 Eastern Rite churches in full communion with Rome. Sako, 76, said he resigned “of my own will” to pursue “prayer, writing and simple service.” It’s “unclear if his retirement is connected to Shaleta’s case,” The Associated Press said. Sako shepherded his “ancient church through the traumatic years” of ISIS persecution and is leaving as the Iran war “has spilled over into Iraq.” There are now only about 150,000 Christians in Iraq, down from 1.5 million when the U.S. invaded in 2003.

Shaleta had led the “small Chaldean Catholic community” of about 71,000 in San Diego since 2017, Reuters said. Prosecutor Joel Madero said a parishioner at St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral turned over documents showing possible embezzlement in 2024, and Shaleta “provided completely unreasonable tales of where that money was going.” The bishop said during a Mass last month that he had never “abused any penny of the church money.”

What next?

Pope Leo named Bishop Saad Hanna Sirop as temporary administrator of San Diego’s Chaldean diocese. Shaleta, who faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, has a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 27.

The Tokyo High Court has upheld a decision to dissolve the Unification Church, a controversial religious organisation linked with the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. Tetsuya Yamagami, the convicted murderer who was sentenced to life in prison, cited Abe’s affiliation to the church as his primary motivation for the killing.

The church used “coercive tactics to solicit large donations” from its members, said The Japan Times. A lower court ruled last year it had “committed acts in violation of laws and regulations”, which were “significantly harming the public welfare”.

Forced compensation

There has been “intense societal focus on the rulings” due to the “scope of harm” the organisation has caused across the country. Under the Religious Corporations Act, the church will be forced to compensate those affected – around 1,500 people – with “damage fees totalling approximately ¥20.4 billion” (£97 million).

The church will also lose its title as a religious organisation, so it can continue only as a “voluntary organisation” and as such will lose tax benefits. Even if the church appeals the decision to the Supreme Court, the liquidation process can proceed immediately.

The Unification Church is a South Korean movement that has “exerted significant influence in Japan since the 1960s”, said The New Yorker. It was founded by Sun Myung Moon and followers are referred to as Moonies. They promote a “theological mix of Christian Messianism, Cold War anti-Communism, pro-natalism, and self-adulation”. Around the same time, Moon “befriended” Shinzo Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, “a war criminal who later served as prime minister” and head of the Liberal Democrats, Abe’s future party.

The church “boasted of having millions of members around the world”, ranging from “Brazil to Nigeria”; however, “this number was likely inflated”. By the 1990s, there were about 600,000 Unificationists in Japan, “twice as many as in Korea”, and today the organisation still has around 60,000 followers in Japan. As recently as 2017, the church’s annual fundraising goal in Japan was an “astounding” $200 million, according to a former official, though the church denies this.

‘Exploiting fears’

It was the “shock assassination” of Abe in 2022 that put the Unification Church under global scrutiny, said the BBC. Yamagami, who has appealed his sentence, “had held a grudge against the prime minister” because of his closeness to the organisation, “which had bankrupted his family”.

Investigators found that the church “coerced” followers into “buying expensive items” by “exploiting fears about their spiritual well-being”, and also revealed “close ties with many conservative lawmakers”.

Abe had appeared in a 2021 video expressing his “respect” for the church’s leader and wife of Moon, Han Hak-ja, said Nippon.com. The following year Abe was killed by Yamagami, who harboured a “deep-seated resentment” of the religious organisation, stemming from the “financial duress his family suffered” at its hands.

The “political connections” the church had “are just the tip of the iceberg” as many other issues “remain unresolved three and a half years after” Abe’s murder. “So much suffering could have been avoided had those in power in both Japan and South Korea not waited to act against the UC.”

To combat the “universal threat” of “cults” like the Unification Church, Japan should “draw on foreign legal frameworks like France’s anti-cult laws”. This is an “ongoing human rights crisis that can no longer be ignored”.

After more than 100 days on the road, a party of Buddhist monks have arrived in Washington, completing their 2,300-mile “walk for peace” across the United States.

The group, which set off from a temple near Fort Worth, Texas in late October, numbered around two dozen and included monks from Thailand, Vietnam, France, Burma and Sri Lanka. They have amassed more than five million followers across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok over the course of their journey, said Rolling Stone.

The monks plan to use their visit to the capital to petition for Vesak – the Buddha’s birthday – to be recognised as a national holiday, said the BBC. But they said on Dhammacetiya, their official website, that they were not marching with a political agenda or to “force peace upon the world, but to help nurture it, one awakened heart at a time”.

‘Hope and encouragement’

The journey has “not been easy”, said The New York Times. The southern states have experienced an “unusually harsh” winter. Faced with snow and ice, the walkers wore scarves and coats over their orange robes and those walking barefoot were forced to temporarily don boots. To make matters worse, before the group had even left Texas, a truck driver accidentally crashed into one of the support vehicles, which in turn struck two of the monks, one of whom was so severely injured he required a leg amputation.

Along the way, the monks ate and slept at temples, churches, universities and community centres, bedding down in sleeping bags on the floor or outdoors in tents. Two members of the group practised “dhutanga”, said The Guardian, a Buddhist form of asceticism in which devotees never lie down, even to sleep. Instead, they “sit down in a meditation position, and they meditate all night” to “replenish their energy”.

At every stage, crowds have “swarmed” around the monks, said The New York Times. These supporters have “transcended racial, religious, economic, educational and geographic lines”, sharing a common belief that the monks were providing “comfort”, “hope and encouragement” that “otherwise seemed to be in short supply” in a politically polarised nation.

Thousands of well-wishers followed the journey remotely via online trackers, while the monks’ dog, Aloka, whose name means “light” in Sanskrit, has “become a celebrity in his own right”, recognisable for the “heart-shaped mark on his forehead”.

End of the road

While “millions are finding hope in their journey”, said Rolling Stone, there has been “pushback” at multiple stages during the walk. Around “a dozen Christian protesters” have trailed the walkers, bearing signs reading “Jesus Saves” in opposition to what they see as “a religious movement, promoting Buddhism”.

And “although the monks’ walk is not a direct commentary on politics, it coincides with a sense of unease spreading across the country”, which has also generated some political resistance. In Georgia and South Carolina, protesters carried placards and megaphones, with some signs “resembling Maga flags”.

But the predominant response has been one of welcome, support and encouragement. “My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practising mindfulness and find peace,” said the group’s leader, the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara.

Tuesday marked the final day of walking, taking the total number of days to 108, “a sacred number in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism”, said NPR. “It represents spiritual completion, cosmic order and the wholeness of existence.”

This won’t quite be the end of their journey, however. After a visit to the state capitol building in Annapolis, Maryland, the monks will take a bus back to Fort Worth, and then “will walk together again”, although this time only for six miles, to return to “the temple where their trip began”.

What happened

Sarah Mullally Wednesday was formally confirmed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, making her the first woman to lead the Church of England. She also officially became the spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, a confederation of 42 Anglican provinces, some of which do not accept the ordination of woman priests. London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral was transformed into an ecclesiastical courtroom for her Confirmation of Election, a centuries-old legal ceremony set within a church service.

Who said what

“These are times of division and uncertainty for our fractured world,” Mullally said in a statement. “I pray that we will offer space to break bread together” and “pledge myself to this ministry of hospitality.” England’s former chief nursing officer, Mullally served as Bishop of London before the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, stepped down last January amid allegations he mishandled a prominent case of child sexual abuse.

Mullally’s new position “has been a notoriously difficult one in terms of holding together people with a broad range of theological viewpoints both at home and abroad,” the BBC said. The Church of England has allowed women priests since the 1990s and had female bishops since 2015, but male bishops can “continue to refuse to ordain women if they choose,” and Mullally “will now lead such bishops” in England. “It is fair to say that I have, both in my secular role as well as in the church, experienced misogyny at times,” she told reporters, pledging to help ensure the issue is “brought into the open.”

What next?

Mullally will begin her public ministry after her installation ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral on March 25.

The appointment of Sarah Mullally as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury is an “immense step”, said Alastair Bruce on Sky News. But as the Church of England takes a new direction, critics have “poured cold water” on recent surveys which claimed that younger people were more likely to be churchgoers than older generations, said Kaya Burgess in The Times.

Instead, experts have pointed to the fact that church attendances “across the major denominations” have “failed to recover fully from their pandemic slump”.

Why did people think there is a Christian revival?

For many, 2025 was the year where a “stirring of renewed spiritual interest became impossible to ignore, even among doubters”, said Ken Costa in The Telegraph.

The Quiet Revival, a report published by Bible Society in April 2025, kickstarted the belief that attendance for worship was rising, “busting the myth of church decline”. It claimed that “church attendance has risen by 50%” in the last six years, that there was “growth among young adults”, that churches in England and Wales were “more diverse”, and that churchgoers were “more likely to give to charity”.

The report was based on two YouGov polls from 2018 and 2024, recording that the number of people who attended church at least once a month rose from 8% in 2018 to 12% in 2024. The number of those aged 18 to 24 jumped from 4% to 16% in the same time frame, with a “notable rise” in the number of young men attending.

What are the problems with Christian revival surveys?

The narrative around a purported Christian resurgence “may be misleading”, said Conrad Hackett, associate director of research at Pew Research Center (PRC).

Surveys that imply Gen Z are more religious often canvass participants in “opt-in” panels, where people are “recruited” to take part, responding to website ads or email campaigns, he said on the company website. There is a much higher likelihood that opt-in surveys would contain “bogus respondents”, who, instead of answering honestly, answer with “the minimal effort required to complete surveys quickly and receive monetary rewards”, or an agenda to skew the survey’s results. Increasingly, large language models can be “easily programmed” to take part in opt-in surveys, which researchers describe as an “existential threat” to the validity of online opt-in surveys.

Data collected by the Church of England has “painted a more nuanced picture”, said Sir John Curtice of the National Centre for Social Research. According to the C of E, average adult weekly attendance increased by 4.5% in 2022/23, and all-age average Sunday attendance rose by 1.5% in 2023/24, this rise “was not sufficient” to reverse a 19% fall between 2019 and 2023 following the pandemic, “let alone suggest any reversal of the long-term decline in church attendance”, said Curtice. “Even the Bible Society report acknowledged that the apparent recent growth in attendance had occurred among Catholics and Pentecostalists rather than in the churches of England’s established church.”

A spokesperson for Bible Society told Christian Today that The Quiet Revival report was based on a “high-quality YouGov survey” which used a “tried and trusted methodology”. The team was “meticulous in controlling for bias in responses”, and that there was “no reason to think that ‘opt-in’ surveys are inherently unreliable”.

What does the new, random sampling, research say?

Surveys based on random samples show that “Christian identity and practice are not increasing among young adults in Britain”, said the PRC report. “The narrative of a religious revival in the UK appears to be receiving much more attention than data and commentary challenging this narrative.”

I’m “surprised” and “sceptical” at the claims of increased church attendance, particularly among young people, said David Voas, Emeritus Professor of Social Science, UCL on The Conversation. Bible Society, which published The Quiet Revival report, “haven’t engaged with the mountain of evidence, some of it very recent, pointing to religious decline”. While it does appear that church attendance has continued to “rebound from the lows of the Covid lockdown”, it still remains “substantially lower” than pre-pandemic levels.

Two major reports stand out. The Labour Force Survey in summer 2025, of around 50,000 individuals per quarter, showed that 28% of 18- to 34-year-olds identified as Christian, down from 37% from early 2018. “Throughout this period, older British adults consistently identified as Christian at higher levels than young adults,” said PRC.

Similarly, the annual British Social Attitudes survey of more than 3,000 randomly sourced participants, showed “no clear evidence of a Christian revival”, said PRC. In 18- to 34-year-olds, the number of churchgoers has still not surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with 6% in 2024, compared to 8% in 2018.

Around 1,000 people attended Tommy Robinson’s carol concert to “put the Christ back into Christmas” on Saturday. The Church of England has not reacted meekly, with several bishops expressing their concern at the Unite the Kingdom religious event. There’s “something especially offensive about appropriating this great Christian festival of light triumphing over darkness as a prop in a dim culture war”, said the Bishop of Manchester, writing in The Independent.

‘No one beyond redemption’

When Robinson “finally arrived on stage”, it was to chants of his name from an attendee “wearing a Union Jack hat” and “carrying a can of San Miguel in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other”, said Luke O’Reilly in The New Statesman. Others in attendance included a man “wearing a nun’s wimple and veil” over his tracksuit and another carrying “a large wooden cross with ‘Jesus Saves’ carved into it”.

Robinson “has been many things over the years“, and now the former “football hooligan is “a born-again Christian”. With British Christianity “stirring” again, “like a human bellwether, Robinson is blowing with the wind”. And yet Christians do “believe that anyone – no matter how badly behaved – can be saved”. After all, “the Bible is full of unsavoury characters”. Most famously, Paul was a merciless persecutor of Christians before he became one himself, and he, “like Robinson started preaching immediately” after his conversion.

It’s a “key tenet of the Christian faith that no one is beyond redemption”, said vicar and comedian Ravi Holy in The Guardian. “I don’t want to cast anyone into outer darkness, especially as a reformed prodigal myself.” But Jesus said that “true repentance should bear fruit”, and “the new Tommy doesn’t seem radically different from the old one”.

Spreading fear

“The far-right are now parking their tanks on the front lawn of the Church of England,” said the Bishop of Kirkstall, who also features in an official C of E social media video, released the day before Robinson’s carol service, emphasising that “Christmas belongs to all of us”.

This “resistance” by “leading lights in the Anglican church” shows “immense courage”, said Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The i Paper. Robinson’s “motley patriots” were “once rightly marginalised” but now they seem to “dominate our country”. The Church is “breaking that sordid consensus”. The willingness of “the heart of the establishment” to take a stand “could be a turning point”.

The “whole point of coming to church” is to “sit alongside people you may not like, who hold very different, even (to you) repulsive, political views”, said vicar Giles Fraser on UnHerd. At Christmas, churches “resound with angels singing, ‘Fear not’. In contrast, Robinson spreads fear.” And “that is not the Christian message”. Robinson is welcome to come to church but he would “have to sit alongside people of different colours and languages, and immigrants”.

They say God is always with you, and now that includes in your pocket. From chatbot Jesus to AI-written sermons, churches are using the technology to try to get more people engaged with religion. AI could improve access and allow pastors more freedom for hands-on work, but it may not be effective in drawing in the masses.

Mass media

Churches are enlisting the help of AI to “stay relevant in the face of shrinking staff, empty pews and growing online audiences,” said Axios. The degree of use varies from place to place, with some places simply employing the tools in “mundane ways” like to “answer frequently asked questions such as service times and event details” or “feeding congregation attendance data into AI software to help them tailor outreach and communications.”

AI is also being used to convey otherworldly messages. The technology allows people the “feeling they are talking to a divine power, clergy member or deceased person,” said Axios. For example, the app Text With Jesus lets users chat with and ask questions of Jesus. The app quotes the Bible and seems to provide thoughtful responses. Still, with apps like these, “we have no idea what’s under the hood there, what’s really creating the reality that then they present,” said Robert P. Jones, a religious researcher, to Today.

Some pastors have said they use AI to draft sermons for their congregations. Many argue that “AI sermons not only draw on a wealth of sources, but also leave more time for pastoral care,” said Deena Prichep in NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday. The “goal of a sermon is basically to tell a story that can break open the hearts of people to a holy message. So does it matter where that comes from?” One church in Phoenix, Arizona, played an AI-generated message from Charlie Kirk from beyond the grave, in which he said that his “soul is secure in Christ.”

New blood

Denominations of Christianity are not the only religions that have integrated AI into their sermons or practices. There are also “Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Islamic chatbots, but some religions are more open to adopting new technologies than are others, and for different uses,” said Brian Owens at Nature.

Adults who are religiously unaffiliated, meaning they identify as atheists, agnostics or as “nothing in particular,” make up approximately 29% of the population, said Pew Research Center. But embracing AI technology could attract more people to religion. “Culture responds to that new technology and there are new standards or practices that emerge,“ said Brad Hill, the chief solutions officer of faith-based AI platform Gloo, to Christianity Today. “People who are in the business of flourishing and people who are trying to advance good need to be equipped with the very best tech so that they can apply it to that end.”

AI bots and other tools are “addressing an access problem,” said The New York Times. Many people have “longed for spiritual guidance, and have had to travel, sometimes great distances, to reach spiritual leaders.” Now, “chatbots are at a user’s fingertips.” However, using AI to spread religious messages “might not be as effective and convincing or inspirational” as “putting a person in the role of a religious authority,” said Owens.

The Spanish prime minister and a Catalan bishop are both fans of avant-garde singer Rosalía’s new album “Lux”, “perhaps surprisingly for an artist who sings an ode to the Berlin techno club Berghain”, said The Times.

Featuring an image of the Catalan singer adorned with a white nun’s veil and a rosary, the album exudes “religiosity”, despite its sometimes explicit lyrics. It is also part of a wider trend across Spain: a “growing return to the Catholic faith”.

What’s more, the new release “has already made Spotify history”, said Rolling Stone. With more than 42 million streams in just one day, “Lux” broke the platform’s record for a female Spanish-language artist. The magazine’s review said the album “sounds like absolutely nothing else in music right now”.

‘Fusion of faith, flamenco, and rock opera’

Rosalía fans think she is “somewhat of a saint, worthy of candlelit ‘altars’”, said The Times, and “Lux” has quickly become a smash hit. A “fusion of faith, flamenco, and rock opera”, with lyrics from 14 languages, it has “cemented Rosalía’s place among innovators in contemporary pop music”. The album includes collaborations with the likes Björk, Yves Tumor and Escolanía de Montserrat – a choir “regarded as the region’s beacon of Catholic faith”.

Ahead of the album’s release, Rosalía put on a “show of promotional power”, said El País. “In her handling of fan anticipation and the industry’s promotional wheel”, she bears some artistic resemblance to Madonna, another star who “came of age musically and produced her first masterpiece when she abandoned ‘the material world’ and embraced spirituality”.

“Lux” “seems to be making everything related to nuns trendy… even the wimple”. Rosalía “is neither the first nor the only celebrity to seek answers to the modern world within the walls of the convent”. But the album does coincide with many other signs that nuns are “making a comeback”.

Spain ‘is having a nun moment’

In pop culture, nuns are typically relegated to “the sadistic school teacher” or an “evil spirit”. But more recently “Instagram has been filled with accounts of young (and not so young) religious women” from all sorts of religious backgrounds who are “using social media to vindicate the role of nuns in modern life”.

Spain is “having a nun moment”, said The Times, and Rosalía’s “aesthetic leap from motorbikes to mysticism” has only amplified the nunmania (or monjamania). A celebrated film about modern life in the convent and a “cult podcast devoted to 16th-century nuns” gaining popularity at the same time prove the point.

Sociologists have also identified a “parallel revival of the Catholic faith” among those under 35. Though the number of those attending “regular Sunday worship” has stayed relatively low, young people are participating more and more in “faith-based festivals and retreats”.

The craze may just be a “seasonal spike”, but for now Spain – “long caught between its Catholic heritage and a secular present” – seems to be “enthralled” by all things nun.

The first American pope leads a church increasingly willing to express disapproval of America’s president. Pope Leo XIV and a few U.S. bishops have recently criticized President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration, with Leo saying “deep reflection” is needed about his home country’s treatment of migrants.

Leo’s recent comments were his “strongest criticism of Trump yet,” said the BBC. Scripture asks, “how did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not?” Leo said to journalists. The pope was “obviously talking about the ICE round-ups,” said Catholic historian Austen Ivereigh. Immigration is not an abstract issue for the church. “Many people targeted in the ICE raids are Catholic,” said the BBC.

What did the commentators say?

Two American clerics also weighed in last week, said The New York Times. Bishops Kevin C. Rhoades and Robert Barron, both of whom have ties to the administration’s Religious Liberty Commission, both criticized “immigrant detainees’ lack of access to religious sacraments like communion.” The religious liberty of migrant detainees is “part of their human dignity, needs to be respected,” said Rhoades. The comments came after the filing of a lawsuit claiming Chicago-area detainees had been deprived of “basic religious accommodations,” said the Times. It is a rift that puts church leaders at odds with high-ranking Catholics” like Vice President JD Vance.

The Catholic Church and the White House are “not getting along,” said Elizabeth Bruenig at The Atlantic. The MAGA movement is “home to its share of outspoken Catholics” like Vance, Steve Bannon, and Jack Posobiec, but its anti-migrant stance contradicts church teachings about the “dignity and love that the faithful owe to foreigners and refugees.” Trump’s policies have pitted the “demands of the faith” against the “law of the land.” The church does not require open borders. But the “scale and brutality” of its anti-migrant policies have left “little for Catholics to endorse.”

If the Trump administration “wants to set itself up as somehow Christian,” then it should do the “bare minimum” and “welcome the stranger,” said Simcha Fisher at America, a Jesuit magazine. There is not much sign of that happening. It is “reasonable and acceptable” for Americans not to want to live next door to migrants, Vance said in a recent podcast interview. Such comments from a Catholic official are a “flagrant insult to our faith,” said Fisher.

What next?

Conservatives say a “silent majority” of American Catholics support Trump’s immigration policies, said Catholic News Agency. The president “received a majority of Catholic votes in the last election, depending on which poll you look at,” said Andrew Arthur, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies. Younger Catholics are “more in line with law enforcement, generally, and immigration enforcement, in particular.”

Leo’s criticisms of Trump’s policies are “emboldening Catholic efforts to help immigrants” affected by the crackdown, said Reuters. It is meaningful that the pope is “paying close attention to the suffering of migrants and their families here,” said Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich.

The new pope has been expected to run the Vatican in a different way than his predecessor. And Pope Leo XIV is now meeting that expectation with the Catholic Church’s finances, as he rolls back some of the reforms made by Pope Francis.

While Francis was considered one of the most liberal popes in history, his financial reforms created controversy. Some believed they concentrated too much power in the Vatican, which has long generated questions about its economics. Now Leo may be taking the church in a different direction.

What is Leo doing about the Vatican’s finances?

The pope is working to change some of the rules that have caused financial stress within the church. Leo has started “correcting some of Pope Francis’ more questionable financial reforms and decisions,” said The Associated Press. The most notable move is the repealing of a 2022 law that had “concentrated financial power in the Vatican bank.”

This law stated that the Catholic Church’s assets were to be managed by the Institute of Religious Works (IOR), the Vatican’s official bank. But Leo’s decree says the church should “use the IOR, but can turn to non-Vatican banks in other countries” if the church deems it “more efficient or convenient,” said the AP. This marks the “clearest sign yet that Leo is starting to fix some of Francis’ more problematic decisions and is recalibrating the Vatican’s centers of power.”

Francis signing this law was “widely understood to be a response to the financial scandals around the Secretariat of State, and to a mounting liquidity crisis,” said Catholic news outlet The Pillar. But it also took “many in the Vatican by surprise since it appeared to contradict the Holy See’s founding constitution,” said the AP. The “constitution says the patrimony office, APSA, is responsible for administering the Vatican’s real estate and financial holdings,” not the IOR.

How could this affect the Catholic Church?

Leo is trying to shore up some of the “Vatican’s infamously troubled finances,” said Fortune, and hopes that decentralizing all power in the church’s central bank will be the first step toward this. The Catholic Church’s “financial reputation has been tarnished in past decades by its opaque finances and cases of corruption, embezzlement and other crimes,” said Reuters. While the church wanted to make moves to counter this reputation, some officials in the Vatican thought Francis’ law had “given the bank too much power over other Vatican departments, which could not even have investments in banks in nearby Italy.”

Even Francis “realized the problem and had intended to fix it, Vatican officials said, but died in April before he could,” said the AP. And it seems that Leo agrees; while the pope has some similar viewpoints on major church issues to his predecessor, he has also “quietly distanced himself from one of Francis’ more centralizing financial measures,” said The Catholic Herald.

Leo’s choice may signify a significant turning point for the Vatican. Undoing Francis’ law “restores a measure of flexibility, allowing the Vatican Bank to play a more active role and permitting the use of external financial intermediaries when deemed appropriate,” said the Herald. This “marks the first real step in Vatican finances under Leo — but it’s unclear which direction things are headed,” said The Pillar.

“She was just my daughter yesterday, but today she is a goddess.” So said the father of Aryatara Shakya, the two-year-old proclaimed Nepal’s new “living goddess”. Carried by family members from their home to a temple palace in Kathmandu, the toddler was installed as the latest Kumari last week during the country’s most significant Hindu festival, Dashain.

“My wife during pregnancy dreamed that she was a goddess,” Ananta Shakya told The Associated Press, “and we knew she was going to be someone very special.”

The secret life of a Kumari

In a tradition stretching back 300 years, the Kumari is revered by both Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal and parts of India as an embodiment of the divine female energy. Chosen from the Shakya clan, Newari Buddhists indigenous to the Kathmandu valley, the girls are typically aged between two and four, and must meet strict physical criteria: “unblemished skin, hair, eyes and teeth”, said AP. During festivals, the Kumari is “wheeled around on a chariot pulled by devotees”, dressed in red and with a “third eye” painted on her forehead.

“But no one really knows what happens on the induction day,” said the ABC – “not even the Kumari herself, being too young to remember.” The girls spend most of their childhood sequestered within the temple, although traditions have evolved to include some private tutoring. They are rarely allowed outside – beyond the temple walls, their feet are not allowed to touch the ground.

Former Kumari Preeti Shakya held the position for eight years, before “returning to an anonymous suburban life” at the age of 11. During her time inside the Kumari Ghar, her family “visited just once a week”; her only friends were the family of the official Kumari caretakers. “I remember watching TV and seeing modern dresses and I really wanted to wear them,” she told the news site.

During her reign, Preeti blessed the King of Nepal seven times and the prime minister once. “They say they feel some kind of fire, a positive energy around me,” she said. “The people praying to me have actually been blessed, but I don’t feel anything.”

From goddess to mortal

In recent decades , criticisms of the Kumari tradition have been mounting. The girls are considered to become mortals again when they reach puberty, when they are removed from the temple and replaced. Former Kumari “often face difficulties adjusting to normal life”, said DW. In her 1990s memoir, “From Goddess to Mortal”, ex-Kumari Rashmila Shakya described her lack of education and her struggle to re-integrate into society. Since then, the Nepali government has made it mandatory to provide a serving Kumari with an education and introduced a monthly pension of about $165 for former Kumaris, slightly above the minimum wage.

Their former status can impact their personal lives, too. Nepalese folklore also holds that men who marry a former Kumari will “suffer premature death” said The Guardian in 2001. “Few boys are willing to contemplate such a fate, it seems.”

“The Kumari is forced to give up her childhood,” said one of Nepal’s leading human rights lawyers, Sapana Pradhan-Malla. “She has to be a goddess instead. Her rights are being violated.” Nepal is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, she said, which makes it clear that “you can’t exploit children in the name of culture”.

Police have declared a “terrorist incident” after two people were killed and several others injured in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

A man drove a car at members of the public outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue this morning, before getting out and stabbing others. Three of the injured remain in a serious condition, while the suspect has been shot dead by police.

What did the commentators say?

Shortly after the incident, Greater Manchester Police declared “Plato”, which is the “national code word” for the emergency response to a “marauding terror attack”, said Sky News. The streets outside the synagogue were closed, with police cars and vans, sirens blaring, racing down neighbouring roads.

A large number of people were worshipping inside the building at the time of the attack, but have since been evacuated safely. A police spokesperson praised the “quick response” of a witness, which enabled officers to prevent the suspect from entering the synagogue.

An image circulating online shows a bald, bearded man with dark clothes and “white objects around his waist” just outside the synagogue’s perimeter fence, said BBC Verify. It “matches that of a man seen apparently being shot by police at the same location”. A bomb disposal unit has been at the scene.

Keir Starmer, who is flying home early from a summit of European leaders in Denmark to chair an emergency Cobra meeting, said he was “appalled” and “absolutely shocked”. King Charles said he and Queen Camilla were also “deeply shocked and saddened” to hear about the attack, “especially on such a significant day for the Jewish community”. Yom Kippur is a day for Jews to fast, pray and reflect on the past year and atone for their sins.

Other countries have experienced “violent incidents against Jewish people and synagogues” since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, said Kaya Burgess, religious affairs correspondent for The Times. In the UK, there has been a sharp rise in vandalism and antisemitic abuse. And, “with the loss of life in Manchester, this wave of hate has crossed a threshold in Britain”.

What next?

Police are stepping up patrols at synagogues around the country as specialist counter-terror teams investigate the incident. Two arrests have already been made.

While there is still little information about the suspect and victims, “we can say with certainty that this is a dark day for our kingdom”, said Brendan O’Neill in The Spectator. Britain appears to have been “visited by an apocalyptic form of violence that we normally only read about in the history books”.

With forecasts that artificial intelligence will steal our jobs and take over the world, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s playing God – and on some new apps that’s exactly what it’s doing.

A “slew” of religious apps are encouraging “untold millions” to “confess to AI chatbots”, said Futurism, and some of the digital services “claim to be channelling God himself”.

‘Greetings, my child’

Apple’s App Store is “teeming” with religious apps. One of them, called Bible Chat, claims to be the number one faith app in the world, with more than 25 million users. “Hallow, a Catholic app, beat Netflix, Instagram and TikTok for the No. 1 spot in the store at one point last year”, said The New York Times.

Bible Chat’s website insists that its AI was “trained exclusively” and developed with “guidance” from pastors and theologians. But smaller outfits have trained chatbots to go a step further and specifically “respond as if they were a god”, which some people feel is “sacrilegious”.

Patrick Lashinsky, chief executive of one such website, ChatwithGod, said: “The most common question we get, by a lot, is: Is this actually God I am talking to?” When The New York Times writer asked the app if it was, in fact, God, it replied: “Greetings, my child.”

‘Cheap parlour tricks’

Some of these services are “not much more than a cheap parlour trick behind the scenes”, said Futurism. They’re “essentially reshuffling holy texts by using clever statistical modelling”, and AI’s “strong tendency to please the user” could have “unintended consequences”.

Too much faith in AI is a dangerous path, said Paul Kingsnorth in The Wall Street Journal. “We can remember that God, however mysterious, is the ultimate force in the world – or we can continue attempting to replace him. All the old stories … are clear about the consequences of that particular act of hubris.”

But some of these services are “addressing an access problem”, said The New York Times. “For millenniums, people have longed for spiritual guidance”, but they’ve had to “travel, sometimes great distances, to reach spiritual leaders”. By contrast, chatbots are “at a user’s fingertips, always”.

In the US, around 40 million people have left churches in the past few decades, so these apps may “lower the barrier to re-enter spiritual life”. In Britain, “there’s a whole generation of people who have never been to a church or synagogue”, said Rabbi Jonathan Romain, from Maidenhead Synagogue, so spiritual apps can be “their way into faith”.

These chatbots are “generally ‘yes men’”, said Ryan Beck, chief technology officer at Pray.com, but he doesn’t feel this is a problem. “Who doesn’t need a little affirmation in their life?”

With just over a year to go until the 2026 midterm elections, Democrats are looking for new ways to win over voters at the ballot box. One of their strategies is to push a faith-based agenda that’s often more associated with conservatives. This isn’t the first time the Democrats have used religion to their advantage (former President Barack Obama made large gains with religious voters in 2008). But as elections creep ever closer, Democrats are hoping an appeal to religion will help make the contest a referendum against the conservative movement.

How are the Democrats using religion?

The party is testing “whether church-going, Bible-quoting Democrats can connect with voters — and provide an early gauge of whether messages rooted in spirituality will appeal to the party’s base,” said CNN. This is especially noteworthy given the continuing demographic skews among the parties; Democrats are “increasingly secular, while growing shares of those who attend church regularly identify themselves as Republicans.”

These trends “come in part as a reaction to Republicans using religious messages to advance conservative positions on issues like gay rights and abortion," said CNN, but also “reveal deep divides within the Democratic Party over the role of religion in government.” Only 38% of Christians, including just 24% of Evangelicals, identify as Democrats, according to a February 2025 Pew Research Center poll (though the figures are higher among Jews, 66%, and Muslims, 53%).

The push to reverse these slumping trends and bring in more religious voters continues. While former President Joe Biden often touted his Catholic faith, the Democratic pivot toward religion is "signaling that he is no longer the exception to the rule," said The New York Times. Democrats now “see discussion of faith as a way to introduce themselves, explain their values and find common ground.”

Who are some Democratic candidates doing this?

Two notable names include Iowa politician Rob Sand and Texas state Rep. James Talarico, though Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, a pastor, is another high-profile figure. Both Sand and Talarico have tried to use their own faith to generate buzz about their campaigns.

Sand has been the Iowa state auditor since 2019 and is the “only Democrat elected to statewide office in Iowa,” said The Wall Street Journal. He is a candidate in Iowa’s 2026 gubernatorial election and has “mentioned his Lutheran faith” on “numerous occasions.” Despite his religious background, Sand “backs several positions traditionally supported by Democrats, including abortion rights.”

Iowa Republicans have cautioned their party that Sand’s candidacy should be taken seriously. “Churchgoer, gun-toter, state auditor, taxpayers’ watchdog. Sounds a little bit like us, right?” Bob Vander Plaats, a prominent Christian conservative in Iowa, said of Sand earlier this year, calling him a “very real opponent.”

A few states away is Talarico, who has served in the Texas House since 2018. He is a candidate in Texas’ 2026 Senate race and represents a “young, charismatic foe of Christian nationalism, who is himself studying to be a minister,” said Rolling Stone. Talarico is “far from an atheist — so when he speaks out against power-hungry Christians, he does so from his own religious convictions.”

“What you’re seeing is a perversion of Christianity,” Talarico told Rolling Stone. “You can call it Christian fascism or Christian nationalism. Essentially, it’s the worship of power.” Republican extremism is “gonna go down swinging. I just hope it doesn’t hurt too many people on its way down.”

What happened

Pope Leo XIV Sunday elevated to sainthood two young Italians who died eight decades apart, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, during a mass in St. Peter's Square before a crowd of 80,000. Acutis, a computer prodigy known as "God's influencer" due to his meticulous cataloging of miracles online, died at age 15 in 2006, days after being diagnosed with leukemia. He is the Catholic Church's first millennial saint.

Who said what

"Saints Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upward and make them masterpieces," Leo said Sunday, at the first canonization of his papacy. Acutis' "road to sainthood ranks among the fastest in modern history," The Washington Post said. His parents and siblings were in attendance at the ceremony.

Frassati, who died from polio in 1925 at age 24, was known for serving the poor and spreading his faith among his friends. He and Acutis came from prominent, wealthy families, and "in both cases, word of their goodness and faith spread quickly and grew globally," The New York Times said.

What next?

Pope Francis, before he died in April, had "fervently pushed the Acutis sainthood case forward, convinced that the church needed someone like him to attract young Catholics to the faith while addressing the promises and perils of the digital age," The Associated Press said. About a million pilgrims visited Acutis' glass tomb in Assisi last year, and "more people are on track to visit it this year," The Wall Street Journal said.

As it begins its controversial assault on Gaza City with a depleted and demoralised full-time force, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is calling up 60,000 part-time reservists.

Another 20,000 reservists currently serving will have their terms extended to prop up the nation's "exhausted military" for the "takeover and occupation" of the city in northern Gaza, said CNN.

Does the IDF have enough soldiers?

Israel has a "relatively small" standing army of about 169,000, said Middle East analyst Ian Parmeter on The Conversation. The IDF needs another 10,000 to 12,000 full-time soldiers to reach optimal staffing levels, including 7,000 additional combat troops. During times of military need, it relies on more than 400,000 reservists, Israelis who have completed their military service but can be called back if required.

What problems is the IDF facing?

Morale is a growing issue. A recent survey from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, reported in The Times of Israel, found that close to 40% of serving reservists felt slightly or significantly less motivated than they did at the beginning of the conflict. Almost half said they disapproved of the government's handling of the war.

"Draft-dodging" is also depleting numbers. An arrangement made at the founding of the Israeli state exempted the Haredi (or ultra Orthodox) from military service, but that exemption was rescinded last year. However, resistance to conscription remains high and there are currently an estimated 14,600 "refuseniks" in the Haredi community, said Ynetnews.

Relying on reservists brings its own problems, because taking reservists from their normal jobs for long periods has "adverse effects on the economy and harms Israel in the long term", said Parmeter. Even with the reservists, Israel doesn't have enough personnel to deploy its strategy for the entire strip, and it also needs soldiers in the West Bank.

How is the IDF boosting numbers? 

Refusing military service is a criminal offence punishable by jail time in Israel, but the government is offering an amnesty in an attempt to boost enlistment among the haredi community. Dubbed "Starting Anew", it will see draft-dodgers escape punishment if they voluntarily enlist now.

The IDF is also said to be considering swelling its ranks from the international Jewish diaspora. The army is "exploring the possibility" of recruiting approximately 600-700 additional soldiers a year from outside Israel, with a focus on the United States and France, said The Jerusalem Post.

The army is also continuing to move more female soldiers into combat roles to plug gaps on the frontline. Women can serve as infantry troops in mixed battalions, as well as in tank crews, frontline artillery and air defence. Ten years ago, there were just 500 female soldiers in combat roles, said The Jerusalem Post, but there are now more than 5,000, accounting for one in five of the IDF's total combat strength.

Israel's hardline national security minister has sparked outrage across the Muslim world – by flouting a decades-old arrangement aimed at keeping in check religious tensions over Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

On Sunday, Itamar Ben-Gvir prayed at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound that sits atop the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif, as it is known to Muslims. A spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said his visit "crossed all red lines".

What's the history?

"The history of the Temple Mount is one of perpetual friction," said Simon Kupfer in The Times of Israel.

It was the site of King Solomon's temple, destroyed by the Babylonians in 587BC, then rebuilt in 516BC only to be razed again, this time by the Romans, during the Great Jewish Revolt of AD70. It remains the holiest site in Judaism. In the seventh century, the Islamic Caliph Abd al Malik conquered Jerusalem and built the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque there. The site then became the third holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.

Jerusalem changed hands repeatedly times over the next 1000 years, with control of the site often falling to each religion in turn. "After the 1948 Israeli-Arab war, Jordan controlled the Temple Mount and barred Jews from praying there," said Kupfer. Then, in 1967, Israel "stormed East Jerusalem" during the Six Day War and "raised the Israel flag over the Dome of the Rock". The then Israeli government, however, handed "day-to-day control of the temple" to a Jordanian-controlled Islamic trust called the Waqf, and "thus began the status quo that remains in place today".

Under a "delicate, decades-old arrangement" with Muslim authorities, "Jews can visit but may not pray there", said Sky News. "Suggestions that Israel could alter the rules at the compound have sparked outrage in the Muslim world before, and ignited violence in the past."

What's the latest flashpoint?

Last Sunday was Tisha B'Av, a day of mourning and repentance, when Jews reflect on the destruction of Solomon's temples. Ben-Gvir chose that day to lead a group of over 1000 worshippers in prayer, singing and dancing at the foot of the steps of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

The hardline national security minister has been sanctioned by the UK for "repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities" in the occupied West Bank. And on Sunday he called for Israel to "conquer and declare sovereignty" over Gaza and "encourage" Palestinians to leave the enclave.

Since entering government in 2022, Ben-Gvir has "persistently undermined the police's regulations for the Temple Mount and stoked outrage in the Arab and Muslim world", said Amos Harel in Haaretz. He has visited the site on a number of previous occasions but this is the first time he has led a congregation in prayer.

What will it all mean?

Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, have condemned Ben-Gvir's action, with Jordan describing it as a "blatant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, an unacceptable provocation, and a condemned escalation". Hamas said it represented a "grave and escalating crime against the mosque".

The timing of the visit "must be understood in a broader political context", said Haaretz's Harel. With Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu facing growing public pressure to agree a deal with Hamas to secure the release of the remaining hostages and end the war in Gaza, Ben-Gvir has clearly sought to pour "gas on the fire".

Netanyahu's office has been quick to stress that Israel's policy of maintaining the status quo at Al Aqsa "has not changed and will not change". So "either Netanyahu was unconnected to the events on the Temple Mount, or the visit was co-ordinated with Ben-Gvir, with the negotiations on a hostage deal in the background".

"There is, unfortunately, no clear solution" to the religious tensions around the site, said Kupfer in The Times of Israel. "Any attempts to impose rights for Jews to pray there will most likely, if not certainly, be met with yet another violent resistance. Any Israeli withdrawal will embolden Hamas and Hezbollah."

The history of the Mount is "soaked in blood". It's not a question of whether it "will spark another flame that ignites another conflict but, rather, when".

More uncontacted people live in Brazil's Amazon rainforest than anywhere else in the world.

Consisting of about 100 isolated groups, they are aware of the outside world and some have limited trading relationships with neighbours – but most have chosen to live in voluntary isolation. And with good reason: contact has almost always been disastrous for them, from enslavement during the 19th-century rubber boom to more recent land grabs by illegal loggers and cattle ranchers.

But that isolation has been interrupted in unusual fashion, thanks to the efforts of US-backed Christian evangelical groups turning to technological innovations to circumvent the restrictions.

Hi-tech threat

Many missionary groups are active in the Amazon, said Survival International. "Some are comparatively benign or benevolent", and there are many cases of missionaries being "targeted and murdered for standing alongside Indigenous peoples and campaigning for their rights".

However, since 1987, Brazil has banned missionary groups from making contact with the rainforest's isolated Indigenous groups, to protect their culture and their health. Uncontacted people do not have immunity to diseases common elsewhere, and "it is not unusual for 50% of any one group to be wiped out within a year of first contact by diseases such as measles and influenza".

But a joint investigation by The Guardian and the Brazilian newspaper O Globo discovered that "solar-powered devices reciting biblical messages in Portuguese and Spanish" have appeared among members of the isolated and mostly uncontacted Korubo people in the Javari valley, near the Brazil-Peru border. The "yellow and grey mobile phone-sized unit", seen by The Guardian, "recites the Bible and inspirational talks by an American Baptist".

Government agents tasked with policing these regions say they have also spotted seaplanes and drones in the area. "Missionary activity now threatens 13 of the 29 isolated peoples that Brazil officially recognises as definitively confirmed," said The Guardian, citing the federal prosecutor's office.

'Destructive power'

One of the leading missionary organisations operating in the Javari territory is the New Tribes Mission of Brazil, an offshoot of the New Tribes Mission in the US. Established in 1942, it referred to uncontacted Indigenous people as "brown gold", also formerly the name of the organisation's newsletter. Renamed Ethnos360 in 2017, it has an annual budget of about $80 million (£59.5 million).

During the Covid pandemic, it was reported that New Tribes Mission missionaries had been using seaplanes and a helicopter to fly over and map out uncontacted settlements in the Javari reserve.

In 2020, Brazil's highest court prohibited missionaries from entering the reserve, which Indigenous representatives had warned could bring about a "genocide".

The then president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, a vocal vaccine sceptic, publicly sided with Christian evangelists. Earlier that year, he had appointed Ricardo Lopes Dias, a former evangelical missionary, to head the government's department for isolated and recently contacted tribes.

Although the order remains in effect, Nelly Marubo, head of the Javari valley regional coordination office, told The Guardian that missionaries "frequently" visit the group's base in Javari, "arriving directly by aircraft without passing government control posts".

Indigenous organisations and activists say it's crucial to reaffirm the non-contact policy. Technological outreach like audio Bibles might seem inoffensive curiosities, but Marubo said that the infiltration of outside religious and cultural beliefs has a "destructive power" for Indigenous groups. Exposure to "colonising" language and concepts "ends up cutting through the essence of the culture".

If you are a federal employee, you might notice more religious conversations at work. That's because these discussions are now sanctioned by the government. The Trump administration has announced new guidance for religious tolerance in federal workplaces, as part of what it calls an effort to stop religious persecution at job sites. The guidance dictates a series of religious actions that should be allowed without any discipline occurring, and it marks the latest attempt by the White House to increase the role of religion in daily life.

What does this new guidance allow?

The new guidance was established in a memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which runs the country's federal civil services. It provides a guideline for "protecting and enforcing each federal employee's right to engage in religious expression in the federal workplace," the memo said. Federal agencies should "allow personal religious expression by federal employees to the greatest extent possible" unless it would "impose an undue hardship on business operations."

Categories of religious expression that should be allowed include the "display and use of items used for religious purposes or religious icons," said the memo, including the display of religious items such as crosses and mezuzahs on desks. The most notable part of the memo, though, was guidance for religious talk and proselytizing at work. Federal employees "may engage in conversations regarding religious topics with fellow employees, including attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views." These employees can also "encourage others to participate in religious expressions of faith, such as prayer, to the same extent that they would be permitted to encourage co-workers to participate in other personal activities."

What has the response been?

While the OPM has provided religious guidance in prior presidential administrations, the Trump memo "presents a substantial shift in that it encourages employees to express their religious beliefs in the workplace," said Stefanie Camfield, the associate general counsel and director of human resource services at Engage PEO, to The Washington Post. Employers have generally been "advised to keep religious conversation to work at a minimum," as the "more religion is allowed into the workplace, the more likely it is that differences of opinion are raised."

The types of conversations around religion "have a way of turning into arguments," Camfield said to the Post. Sometimes, this "leads to outright hostility, which makes it more likely that an employee will feel singled out and discriminated against for their beliefs."

This is all part of the "latest effort of the six-month-old Republican Trump administration to expand the role of religion in the federal workplace," said Reuters, with President Donald Trump himself decrying 'anti-Christian discrimination.' It is unclear what legal recourse federal employees could have to push back, as "courts have long held that employers cannot suppress all religious expression in the workplace but can lawfully curb conduct that is disruptive or imposes an undue hardship as long as it applies equally to members of any religion."

Critics of the White House have "accused the Trump administration of pursuing policies that corrode the separation of church and state in the U.S., while elevating Christianity over other religions," said Al Jazeera. Other actions taken by the Trump administration include the creation of a Religious Liberty Commission, which included a "fact sheet that only directly referenced Christianity, despite vowing to promote 'America's peaceful religious pluralism.'" Trump has also signed an executive order aimed at "eradicating anti-Christian bias."

A sex scandal has hit Thailand's Buddhist clergy after a woman allegedly had sexual relationships with several monks and then blackmailed them to keep the liaisons quiet.

The scandal has "rocked" Thailand, said The Guardian, and "raised questions" about the money and power "enjoyed" by the country's "orange-robed clergy".

Vows of chastity

Most monks in Thailand belong to the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from even touching women.

They are given a monthly food allowance of between 2,500-34,200 baht (£57-£785), depending on their seniority, but they can also receive private donations that "can prove especially lucrative" for monks of "higher stature", said the broadsheet.

Suspicion that all was not well began last month when an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood. Investigators subsequently found he had apparently been blackmailed by a woman who told him she was pregnant by him and demanded 7.2 million baht (£165,000).

The woman, Wilawan Emsawat, "allegedly enticed several Buddhist monks into sexual relationships, and then blackmailed them with videos and photos of the acts", said Euronews. Thai police believe she had sex with at least nine monks, several of whom transferred significant sums of money after she initiated the romantic relationships, police said.

The size of the payoffs highlights the large donations made to the temples that are "controlled by monks", which contrasts sharply with the "abstemious lives they are supposed to lead under Buddhist precepts". After she was arrested on suspicion of extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods, police investigators found that around 385 million baht (£8.8 million) had been deposited in Emsawat's bank accounts in the past three years alone.

Moral decay

At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and thrown out of the monkhood, said the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau. The Sangha Supreme Council – the governing body for Thai Buddhism – is to form a special committee to review monastic regulations.

Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai has ordered a review of existing laws related to monks and temples, including the transparency of temple finances. The government is pressing for harsher penalties, such as fines and jail time, for monks who breach the monastic code.

The scandal is just "the latest" to "rock" Thailand's "much revered" Buddhist institution, said the BBC, after a raft of allegations of monks engaging in sex offences and drug trafficking in recent years. Wirapol Sukphol, a "jet-setting" monk with a "lavish lifestyle" was charged with sex offences, fraud and money laundering in 2017.

It's also led to a discussion around accountability. Despite several high-profile scandals, "many say there has been little real change in the centuries-old institution". Religious scholar Suraphot Thaweesak told BBC Thai that the strict hierarchy within monastic orders means junior members who witness wrongdoing "do not dare to speak up because it is very easy to be kicked out of the temple".

All too often, when the clergy's "moral decay" is in "full view", it's "the woman who takes the fall" while the monks are "cast as victims", wrote Sanitsuda Ekachai, in the Bangkok Post.

While Grok, the AI chatbot run by Elon Musk's social media platform X, has borne the brunt of recent controversy after churning out a series of antisemitic posts, it is hardly the only AI program to face issues with antisemitism. Several other AI chatbots from large corporations have also been known to exhibit antisemitic tendencies, something that tech experts say could become increasingly problematic as artificial intelligence grows more pervasive.

'Researchers said they are still finding loopholes'

Most AI models have embedded code that makes it difficult to stoke antisemitic views. But "researchers said they are still finding loopholes in internal guardrails," said CNN. AI learns its generative text primarily from open-sourced data online, and these "systems are trained on the grossest parts of the internet," said Maarten Sap, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the head of AI safety at the Allen Institute for AI.

These AI bots or "large language models" (LLMs) train on everything from "high-level academic papers to online forums and social media sites, some of which are cesspools of hateful content," said CNN. While Grok has made headlines for praising Adolf Hitler and referring to itself as "MechaHitler," other AI programs have exhibited similar behavior. In one study of an AI bot, the AI "would often go after Jewish people, even if they were not included in the initial prompt," Ashique KhudaBukhsh, an assistant professor of computer science at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the study's author, told CNN (the AI being studied was not Grok).

Jews were "one of the top three groups that the LLMs actually go after, even in an unprovoked way. Even if we don't start with 'Jews are nice people,' or 'Jews are not nice people,' if we started with some very different group, within the second or third step, it would start attacking the Jews," said KhudaBukhsh to CNN. And it isn't just text; in 2024, it was found that Microsoft's CoPilot AI image generator was "unique in the amount of times it gives life to the worst stereotypes of Jews as greedy or mean," said the tech website Tom's Hardware. A "seemingly neutral prompt such as 'Jewish boss' or 'Jewish banker' can give horrifyingly offensive outputs." This type of AI behavior shows "that all kinds of negative biases against all kinds of groups may be present in the model."

The threat looms

Jews are "obviously not the only people threatened by misaligned AI," but "unregulated AI poses a particular threat to Jews," said the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) newswire. The issue with AI and antisemitism goes back even before the technology was mainstream; in 2016, Tay, a now-defunct chatbot from Microsoft, started "denying the Holocaust after being prodded by users."

Since the internet "already contains plenty of antisemitic content, any large language model trained on the internet needs to be told to steer away from this content," said the JTA. If this does not occur, then AI bots have "plenty of content on which to draw." Because Jews are a "small and unevenly distributed minority" of the U.S., media "plays an oversize role in the public's attitude toward the Jewish people." With AI becoming intertwined with media, and many news organizations now licensing out their content to AI platforms, any "biases it exhibits could be quickly distributed to billions of people."

On Sunday, Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, celebrated his 90th birthday. He has long said that at this point, he would make a decision about his succession plans: according to Tibetan Buddhist belief, the Dalai Lama can choose how to be reincarnated. In the past, he has made a range of suggestions: that he might "emanate" to another person while still alive; or even that the role might die with him.

But last week, he declared from his base in Dharamshala, in northern India, that he expects to reincarnate into a new body after his death. His trust, the Gaden Phodrang Foundation, will designate his successor, he said in a video message, and he stressed that "no one else has any such authority to interfere". This was a clear reference to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which, though ideologically committed to atheism, claims the right to select the Dalai Lama's next reincarnation.

What exactly is the Dalai Lama's role?

He is believed to be the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion – a person who is able to reach nirvana, the end of the cycle of death and rebirth, but delays doing so through compassion for other suffering beings. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th reincarnation in a line founded in the 15th century by Gedun Drupa, an abbot in southern Tibet. The Dalai Lamas – the title means the "ocean teacher" – were not just the leaders of the leading Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, but also, from the fifth Dalai Lama on, the feudal rulers of Tibet.

The current Dalai Lama, who was born in 1935, assumed full political power in 1950. The same year, Mao Zedong's People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet (which had been a Chinese protectorate until 1912, when it gained independence with the collapse of the Qing dynasty). After years of negotiation with the Chinese authorities – he travelled to Beijing in 1954, where Mao told him that "religion is poison" – the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959, while an uprising was being brutally put down by the Chinese.

What has he achieved as a political leader?

He established a government-in-exile in Dharamshala, leading a diaspora, estimated in 2009 at 150,000, mostly in India, Nepal and Bhutan, where it has built schools, monasteries and cultural centres, preserving Tibetan language, religion and heritage.

Initially, the Dalai Lama pushed for Tibet's full independence, but since the 1970s he has adopted the "Middle‑Way Approach": accepting Chinese sovereignty but seeking autonomy for Tibet within China. The Chinese authorities have conceded very little.

However, the Dalai Lama established himself as a global advocate for his cause, and a beacon of moral leadership and non-violent activism. In 1989, months after the Tiananmen Square massacre, he won the Nobel Peace Prize – to China's fury. In 2011, he ceded political authority of Tibet's government-in-exile to democratically elected leaders, but he continues to lead spiritually.

How is the process conducted?

The search for a Dalai Lama's reincarnation begins only upon the incumbent's death, and it can take several years. After the 13th Dalai Lama died in 1933, senior lamas observed mystical indicators – the head of the embalmed Dalai Lama turned to point northeast, and one monk had visions at the sacred Lhamo La-tso Lake of a house in a particular village.

Following these clues, disguised lamas travelled towards Amdo in northeastern Tibet (now Qinghai) and found the young Tenzin Gyatso, son of a poor but devout farmer. They presented him with personal items belonging to the 13th Dalai Lama, such as rosary beads and prayer drums. He correctly identified them, saying, "It's mine, it's mine." He was enthroned in Lhasa in 1940.

How will it be different this time?

In his writings, the Dalai Lama had suggested that his successor would be born in the "free world" – i.e. outside Chinese territory. If it does take place outside Tibet, the reincarnation process will have to be conducted without many of the traditional rituals.

And there will almost certainly be two rival candidates. The Chinese regard the Dalai Lama as a major impediment in their efforts to impose full control over Tibet, and Chinese religious-affairs regulations now require government approval for any high lama's reincarnation; they must be born in Chinese territory, and selected using the Golden Urn lottery, a system imposed by the Qing dynasty to impose imperial oversight over the process, which involves withdrawing names from an urn in the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. All of this happened in the case of the Panchen Lama, a position of spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama.

What happened to the Panchen Lama?

The 10th Panchen Lama died in 1989, shortly after criticising Chinese rule. In 1995, the Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, a six-year-old boy from Lhari in eastern Tibet, as the 11th Panchen Lama. Three days later, the boy and his family were taken into custody by Chinese authorities. He has not been seen publicly since – and has been dubbed the "world's youngest political prisoner". Beijing then installed its own candidate, Gyaincain Norbu, the son of Party members, using the Golden Urn ritual. He is not, though, recognised by most Tibetans.

How will the issue be resolved?

There is likely to be a global divide. China will push its line hard: no British PM has even met the Dalai Lama since David Cameron did so in 2012, causing a diplomatic rift. But the US may push back. In 2020, the US Congress passed a law stating that only Tibetans have the right to choose the Dalai Lama, and threatening sanctions on Chinese officials who interfere in the process. In 2023, the Dalai Lama recognised a boy as a reincarnation of the Bogd, the third-most senior Tibetan lama: he was a Mongolian, who conveniently also had a US passport.

Swedish intelligence services believe that one of the country's Russian Orthodox churches could be a base for spying.

Almost everything about the "onion-domed" church beside Västerås Airport, about an hour from Stockholm, "seems odd", said France 24.

The Church of the Holy Mother of God of Kazan is "spectacular", but there is "something unwelcoming" about its reflective, dark-tinted windows that "make it hard to glimpse inside". Then there is the "high steel fence", security cameras and "no trespassing!" sign. A local told reporters that the church "doesn't seem to host many church activities apart from the two weekly services".

Potential threat

To an increasingly "vocal group of critics", the church is seen as a "potential threat" to Sweden's national security due to its "sensitive location", said Politico. When Sweden's defence forces undertake exercises at the airport, they do so "under possible surveillance from the church", Markus Göransson, a researcher focusing on Russia at the Swedish Defence University, told the outlet.

Almost a neighbour of a strategically important airport, the church is also close to a water treatment works, several energy companies and a major motorway linking Stockholm to Norway.

Neither the Russian Embassy in Stockholm nor the church in Västerås responded to emailed requests for comment.

Active tool

This is far from the first time the Russian Orthodox Church has been accused of acting as the eyes and ears of the Kremlin overseas. It is emerging as a "potential conduit" for Moscow's "covert actions" abroad, said Politico.

In 2022, Ukrainian security forces raided a monastery in Kyiv to disrupt the "intelligence operations" they claimed were based there. The following year, Bulgaria expelled three priests employed by the Russian Orthodox Church, citing national security concerns.

Then, in April of this year, Czech intelligence services claimed a Russian Orthodox church in a small Czech spa town was being used by Russian agents for "covert meetings" and "influence operations" aimed at "destabilising" the EU, said Euractiv.

Authorities in a growing number of countries are turning a "critical eye" toward the presence of the Russian Orthodox Church, said Radio Free Europe. It's suspected that rather than being an "exclusively religious, spiritual organisation", it's an "active tool" of Russian government "soft power".

The Dalai Lama has marked his 90th birthday by revealing the long-awaited plans for his succession. In a video message, the spiritual leader of Tibet's Buddhists said "the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue" after his death, with the spiritual foundation he established in 2015 tasked with identifying his reincarnation. In a nod to brewing political tensions over the role, he added that "no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter".

The choice of his successor is "a matter of riveting interest not only for followers of his religion, but also China, India, and the United States, for strategic reasons", said Reuters.

How is the Dalai Lama chosen?

Finding a new Dalai Lama means "recognising the leader's reincarnated form", a process "shrouded in mysticism and little understood outside closed religious circles", said The Sunday Times.

By Tibetan tradition, after a Dalai Lama's death senior monks begin the search for the infant they believe to be his reincarnation. This process involves "dream interpretation, inference from omens and ancient rituals, and pilgrimages to sacred sites".

The current Dalai Lama, born Tenzin Gyatso, was discovered in 1937 at the age of two after a senior monk saw his house in a vision. The toddler was apparently able to correctly identify artefacts that had belonged to the previous Dalai Lama.

The problem is this search "can take years", said The Diplomat, "often leaving a spiritual and leadership vacuum" for Tibetan Buddhists.

That is why the 14th Dalai Lama is "rewriting the script". He has indicated he may "emanate" to another person while still alive, and that that person could be adult and not necessarily a man.

He has also said that they are likely to have been born outside of Chinese-controlled Tibet, among the roughly 140,000 Tibetan exiles, half of whom live across the border in India.

"Since the purpose of a reincarnation is to carry on the work of the predecessor, the new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world," he wrote in his recent book, "Voice of the Voiceless".

What role could China play?

All this appears "part of an apparent strategy to throw off the Chinese and avoid a vacuum that Beijing can exploit as it seeks to control Tibetan Buddhism", said The New York Times.

"China is determined to shape the narrative around this succession, to prevent the erosion of its grip on Tibet," said Bloomberg, which it annexed in the 1950s. The Chinese Communist Party "wants to win the hearts and minds of Tibetans as well as their political allegiance – which is why choosing the next Dalai Lama is so important".

The CCP is expected to try to hijack the succession, as it did in 1995 when it put up its own candidate for Panchen Lama, the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama's choice, six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was detained by Chinese officials and has not been seen since.

But "there are significant risks for China, too", said The Economist. Despite denouncing the current Dalai Lama as a separatist "wolf in monk's robes”, Beijing has in recent years tried to "revive back-channel talks" and persuade him to return to Tibet. "Without him, the Tibetan movement could fragment and embrace a more radical drive for complete independence." This is "unlikely to succeed in the near term", but "it could still undermine China's image abroad as well as its efforts to enforce ethnic unity at home".

"They're worried," said Penpa Tsering, leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile. "If there's one thing China can't handle, it's unpredictability."

As for Tibetans, the Dalai Lama's succession plan "will illuminate the real challenge ahead: how to preserve their identity after the man who embodies it is gone".

Pope Leo XIV may have broken a historic barrier by becoming the first pontiff from the United States, but his views on the Catholic Church could harken back to more traditional times. There are also some areas of the church's doctrine where he takes a more progressive stance, similar to his predecessor, Pope Francis.

Climate change

When it comes to climate change, Leo will "likely continue Francis' legacy as a steward of the environment," said Time. The new pope has railed against the misuse of environmental resources and as a cardinal he made a speech "calling for the church to take greater action against the destruction of the planet."

Leo has also proven himself informed on modern climate issues like greenhouse gases and electric vehicles. He has criticized the "'harmful' effects of technological development and reaffirmed the Vatican's commitments to protecting the environment," said NPR. He also cited Francis' "installation of solar panels and shift to electric vehicles" as a commitment to a clean-energy church.

LGBTQ+ rights

Leo is less progressive on LGBTQ+ issues than his predecessor, as Francis famously said of gay Catholics, "Who am I to judge?" But Leo has said that "media depictions of the modern family present a major challenge to the Catholic Church," according to The Washington Post.

He has spoken out against what the National Catholic Register has called "disordered sexual practices and ideologies," including same-sex relationships. When he was a bishop in Peru, Leo also "opposed a plan to teach transgenderism in schools." However, while he is more strict about the church's anti-LGBTQ+ stance, Leo has also taken a "somewhat neutral position on Fiducia Supplicans," a 2023 Catholic Church doctrine that "allowed for blessings of people in same-sex couples."

Abortion and women's health

The Catholic Church generally opposes expanded reproductive care, and Leo has "criticized abortion in his homilies, often tying the issue of abortion to euthanasia," said Newsweek. People "cannot build a just society if we discard the weakest — whether the child in the womb or the elderly in their frailty," Leo said in a 2019 speech as a cardinal. He was also a member of his university's anti-abortion club, the Post said.

Regarding other women's health issues like contraception and IVF, Leo "has not made clear his views," said The 19th. This is in line with Francis, who during his time as pope "typically avoided highlighting reproductive health."

Political stance

Leo has "shared posts on X about political issues for years, including criticism of the Trump administration's stances on immigration," said CBS News. This includes reposting an article that "criticized Vice President J.D. Vance's response to a question on immigration." Leo also spoke harshly of the first Trump administration's migrant policy several times as a cardinal.

The pope has previously voted in some Republican primaries in his home state of Illinois. However, he is "not registered as a member of a political party," as Illinois does not have party registrations, and his "voter history does not indicate whom he voted for or why," said ABC News.

Church sex abuse

One of the main criticisms of the new pope is that he reportedly swept allegations of church sexual abuse under the rug. Leo was "accused of 'disregarding allegations' of abuse against two priests in Peru" and has a "history of resisting disclosure of abuse information to the public," the watchdog group BishopAccountability told The Guardian.

As a cardinal, Leo "denounced clergy sexual abuse and urged victims to come forward," said USA Today, and reportedly helped shut down the Catholic movement Sodality of Christian Life following abuse allegations. But "survivors are worried he will not take a tough enough stance to eradicate abuse within the church."

Violence has once again broken out in fractured Syria between forces allied with the new Islamist regime and fighters from one of the country's religious minorities.

Dozens of members of the Druze community were killed in clashes with pro-government forces near Syria's southern border with Israel last week, according to the UK-based war monitoring service, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In response, Israel carried out strikes across Syria, including near the presidential palace in Damascus, saying it aimed to send "a clear message" to the interim government. "We will not allow [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu said. Syria's leadership, however, blamed "outlaw groups" for the violence, and called Israeli strikes a "dangerous escalation".

Who are the Druze?

A religious and ethnic Arab minority, originally an offshoot of Islam. The "unique" group dates back to the 11th century, following a belief system that incorporates elements of Islam, Hinduism and even classical Greek philosophy, said the Pew Research Center.

There are an estimated 700,000 Druze in Syria, making them the country's third-largest religious group; there are also around 230,000 in Lebanon and 25,000 in Jordan. Israel and the Palestinian territories are home to about 150,000 Druze, most of whom hold Israeli citizenship and are subject to its military draft, according to New Lines. Druze make up less than 2% of Israel's population but have "the highest rate of enlistment", with 80% signing up.

The situation is more "complicated" in the Golan Heights, a majority-Druze area annexed from Syria by Israel. There, most have repeatedly refused Israeli citizenship and "consider themselves Syrian".

How did they fare under Assad?

Bashar al-Assad's rule was mainly concentrated in big cities and "the coastal heartland of the Alawite sect" to which he belonged, said the BBC. But other regions were "partially or almost completely out of his control".

During Syria's civil war, the Druze were generally neutral: neither "fully aligned" with the Assad regime, nor "allied to opposition or jihadist groups", said New Lines. Many "refused military conscription" and some leaders even "negotiated local self-defence arrangements" independent of the army. Those militias defended the Druze from jihadists, such as Islamic State; some are still active today.

Why are they being targeted now?

When he appointed himself Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa vowed that religious minorities would be protected. But Syria has been bristling with sectarian tension. The regime has "already begun imposing 'Sunni Islamist' strictures on many aspects of society", said professor of Arab politics Joseph Massad on Middle East Eye. In March, security forces and allied groups reportedly massacred more than 1,700 civilians from the Alawite community.

The most recent clash with Druze fighters was "sparked by a voice recording attributed to a Druze man", said France24. He was "ostensibly cursing the Prophet Mohammed". The clip was widely shared online but Druze leaders say it was "fabricated".

Last week's violence suggested to the Druze that either Al-Sharaa "doesn't have control of all his allies, or that he unleashed them in a deliberate effort to crush a mounting insurgency", said New Lines. Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, the spiritual leader of Syria's Druze, has described the attacks on the community as "genocidal".

Why is Israel getting involved?

From a purely strategic viewpoint, maintaining the stability of the Druze is seen as "critical" for Israel's national security, said the Israeli non-profit Alma Research and Education Center. Weakened minority groups "often become clients of hostile jihadist forces". Israel's "hard-learned lesson" from the 7 October massacre is that "allowing a jihadist monster to grow unchecked at the border is unacceptable".

Israel's motivation is at least partially humanitarian, too. The Druze population in Israel is "deeply integrated into its national and defence fabric" and has "consistently demonstrated loyalty to the state". While the threat of a massacre of Syria's Druze "remains very real", ignoring pleas for help from across the border is "not an option".

But Israel's claims that its strikes will pressure Syrian authorities into protecting the Druze have been "met with cynicism" from Druze leaders, who know Israel "does not want a heavily armed Syria on its border", said Al Jazeera.

There is "mounting suspicion" that Israel is ultimately "angling for control of huge swathes of the south of Syria", said New Lines. Activists accuse Netanyahu of using Druze as "political pawns", leveraging their plight to justify Israel's increasing encroachment into Syria and "stoke internal resentment".

What happened

The College of Cardinals Thursday elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago native, as the Catholic Church's 267th pope. Prevost, 69, took the name Pope Leo XIV. He is the first pope from the U.S. — though he spent decades as a missionary, parish priest and bishop in Peru — and the first from the Augustinian religious order. His predecessor, Pope Francis, was the first pontiff from the Americas and the first Jesuit.

Who said what

"We have to look together how to be a missionary church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving with open arms for everyone," Leo said in his first speech as pope, delivered in Italian and Spanish. "We want to be a synodal church, walking and always seeking peace, charity, closeness, especially to those who are suffering."

Francis made Prevost a cardinal and head of the Vatican's office overseeing bishops in 2023. And given their shared compassion for immigrants and the poor, Leo embodies the spirit of a "second Pope Francis," John Prevost, his older brother, told reporters.

The 133 cardinal electors "apparently wanted to keep moving in Francis' direction but with fewer detours and crashes," The New York Times said, so they picked a "mild-mannered pastor, moderate in tone but resolute in his defense of doctrine, one with deep Roman experience and governing chops" as former head of the centuries-old Order of St. Augustine. "He checked all the boxes," said veteran Vatican analyst John Allen.

Conservative Catholics drew hope from the traditional red garments Leo wore at his introduction and liberals are relieved at his similarities to Francis. Catholics from across the ideological spectrum approved of his name, which the Vatican confirmed was a nod to Pope Leo XIII, the late-19th century pontiff credited with developing Catholic social doctrine, a champion of the working class and the rosary and a critic of Marxism and laissez-faire capitalism.

What next?

Pope Leo is celebrating Mass mass at the Sistine Chapel Friday morning with the cardinals who elected him. He is scheduled to hold his first papal press conference on Monday.

For the first time in history, the one in five US adults who identify as Catholic will have a fellow American as their spiritual leader. Although Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, henceforth to be known as Pope Leo XIV, spent much of his religious career in Peru, he was born and raised in Chicago and holds citizenship of both countries.

President Donald Trump was quick to react to the announcement of the conclave's choice, posting on social media that it was "such an honour to realise that he is the first American Pope".

But many were quick to point out that the new Pope has a history of sharing posts online in support of racial justice and gun control, as well as comments critical of Trump and of his vice president, Catholic convert J.D. Vance, for their crackdown on migrants.

What did the commentators say?

Illinois voter registration data appears to suggest that Prevost voted in the Republican primaries in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2024, said Newsweek – although who he voted for is not public information. That a Catholic Pope would lean conservative is hardly a surprise, but "there's a twist", said Tim Stanley in The Telegraph. On "many bread-and-butter issues, he's probably a progressive".

During his two decades in Peru, Prevost worked with migrants and was "praised" for helping displaced Venezuelans. Even his choice of name is "telling": his 19th-century namesake, Leo XIII, "opposed socialism but supported trade unions", and wrote a "magnificent" text that analysed poverty and injustice. While conservative US Catholics exert "great influence in the judiciary" – six of the nine Supreme Court justices are Catholic – they prefer to "talk about doctrine rather than social action".

Leo is "to the right of his predecessor" on same-sex marriage and transgender rights – but "do not for a minute think he wants to Make America Great Again", said Time. Indeed, he stands to be "an ideological check" on the strain of Maga Catholicism that has been "ascendant in Washington" in recent years.

The election of Prevost "clearly represents a rejection by the Vatican of the intense lobbying from rich Americans to install a pontiff sympathetic" to Trump. There is a "good chance" Trump and Pope Leo will "clash" on immigration, human rights and the environment – especially given the president's "obsession" with an agenda that would "co-opt Christianity in service of his political goals". Within hours of Leo's selection, the Maga-verse "seemed to be gunning" for him. Far-right activist and key Trump ally Laura Loomer posted: "WOKE MARXIST POPE."

To be fair, Leo's criticism of Trump "largely echoes" that of his predecessor, said The New York Times. Pope Francis also openly disagreed with Trump's deportation policies. And so far, the president "doesn't seem to be holding any grudges" against the new Pope. Vance, too, sent his "well wishes".

Leo's first appearance on the balcony of St Peter's will also "reassure more conservative traditional Catholics in the US", said The Irish Times. They will be "similarly reassured" by his views on homosexuality. In 2012 he "lamented that popular culture fostered 'sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel'", referencing the "homosexual lifestyle" as well as "alternative families comprised of same-sex partners". Indicators of "a strong social conscience" won't "warm the cockles of any 'Maga' hearts", but for traditional American Catholics, "order has been restored to their world".

"I think this will make a big difference to Catholics in America," Craig Burwell, of Connecticut, told Politico. "It'll draw them back to the church. It'll give them a stake."

What next?

For all that has been written since his appearance on the balcony of St Peter's, Pope Leo XIV is still "a complete unknown", said The New Yorker. But the world has time to get to know him: at the age of 69, "he may be Pope for the next quarter century".

The "underlying tension" between Leo and Trump will "colour global affairs and domestic politics" for years, said Time. Catholics make up roughly a quarter of the US electorate: "a higher level of civic engagement than other faiths". They are also "politically pliable": Joe Biden, only the second Catholic president, won 52% of the Catholic vote, but Trump won 59% last year.

The world is "suffering from Trump's American populism", Brandon Gallaher, lecturer in theology at the University of Exeter, told The Irish Times. Leo XIV "shows the possibility of another different American vision".

There has never been an American pope, but Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost could change that. He is on some lists of possible candidates to replace Pope Francis when cardinals gather this week to choose a successor.

"Conventional wisdom" says never to bet on an American pope, said The New York Times. But the Chicago-born Prevost "could scrape together enough votes" to be an exception to the rule, partly because he "transcends borders" and has "spent much of his life outside the United States." He was ordained in 1982, then served two decades in Peru as a "missionary, parish priest, teacher and bishop" while obtaining citizenship in that country before rising in the Vatican hierarchy. If not for his American birth, he would "automatically" be a likely candidate for pope, said Vatican-watcher Marco Politi.

What did the commentators say?

Prevost is a "moderate, balanced figure, known for solid judgment," said The Catholic Herald. The cardinals will be looking for someone who can represent the faith well, stand on the "world stage" with global leaders and who has the skills to deal with the Vatican's ongoing financial problems. Prevost "ticks all three boxes." The question is whether that is enough to make him the first "superpower pope."

When picking a new pope, cardinals should keep in mind that America has the "fourth-largest Catholic population" in the world, said Jos Joseph at The Hill. The Catholic Church could choose a leader who "appeals to the largest Christian denomination" in the world's most powerful country. An American pope would have more influence than even John Paul II had in dealing with the Soviet Union. That would give the church "immense reach into a changing political world."

The next pope "should be an American" to address the Catholic Church's ongoing sexual abuse crisis, said Anne Barrett Doyle at National Catholic Reporter. Because of America's free press and civil justice system, the U.S. Catholic Church has been "forced to adopt more prudent policies on abuse" than their coreligionists in other countries. The American church now has zero tolerance and widespread public disclosure policies. The next pope must make those policies "universal in order to protect children."

What next?

There could be "pushback" to Prevost's candidacy, said The Pillar. Advocates say his handling of abuse cases in Chicago and Peru "should disqualify him from office." What the cardinals think about that "remains to be seen," however. Some cardinals think no former diocesan bishop would be "exempt" from such criticism.

Prevost is not the only American whose name has been mentioned. President Donald Trump supports Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, said Time. But it is "very doubtful that any cardinals will view Trump's endorsement favorably," said Oxford University historian Miles Pattenden. And the odds of any American leading the Vatican are fairly long, said The Chicago Sun-Times. America has immense "political, economic, military power," said Cardinal Blase Cupich. That makes the likelihood of a U.S.-born pope "a stretch."

The Catholic Church's conclave to select the next pope will begin May 7, with some wondering if the church will continue down the path of non-European pontiffs by electing an African pope. This speculation opens up new questions of how a pope from Africa could change the continent.

The church has never elected an African pope in its modern history. If it did, it would likely indicate a continuing trend of increased focus on African and Asian church members, who make up a large percentage of the world's Catholics. But it could affect Africa in larger ways, too.

What did the commentators say?

The "question of how Africa's rising Catholic population might shape the next papacy and the church's future has become more timely than ever," said The New York Times. The recently deceased Pope Francis was the first non-European pope in over 1,000 years. The election of an African pope could "usher in an era of conservatism, in line with the traditional views of many African Catholics."

About 280 million Africans, or a fifth of the continent's population, are Catholic, making up 20% of the world's Catholics. The "elevation of an African pope would be not only symbolic but also reflective of the church's evolving global demographic footprint," said Newsweek. It could also help to change perceptions of Africa and African people, as a Black pope would "revive the Christian faith in Africa and change people's views of Africa, by showing that an African can hold this office," said Charles Yapi, a Catholic priest in the Ivory Coast, to Reuters.

But even in a mostly conservative continent, the "elevation of an African cardinal to the papal throne would be widely interpreted as a continuation of Francis' track record of standing up for the poor and oppressed, migrants and civilians fleeing war," said Reuters. However, Vatican analysts are "skeptical that any of them have a realistic chance of becoming pope, partly because none have been subjected to the same level of public scrutiny as most Western cardinals."

Even if the next pope isn't African, as the continent "fast becomes a main population centre for the church," African Catholics will be expecting more "frequent visits" and "speeches from their new leader," said Tafi Mhaka at Al Jazeera. The Catholic Church has "inflicted unimaginable horrors on Africans," and the next pope "must address the role the Catholic Church played in the transatlantic slave trade and the colonization of the continent."

What next?

Some of the African candidates considered potential popes are Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana; Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea; and Cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo, the archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Turkson holds mostly liberal views, while Besungu, Sarah and Dogbo are mostly conservative.

But conclaves are hard to predict, so it's unclear if any of these candidates have a real chance. Pope Francis' focus on "advancing and choosing more and more people from Asia and Africa" does "feed these distinct probabilities or possibilities," said Bruce Morrill, the chair of Roman Catholic studies and a professor of theology at Vanderbilt University, to ABC News. But "there really is no way to make any solid prediction."

Pope Francis I, who has died aged 88, was the first Pope from the Americas, and the first from outside Europe for 1,200 years. He was also the first to live at the Vatican around the corner from his predecessor, said The Daily Telegraph, having been elected following the shock resignation of Benedict XVI – and the first Jesuit to lead the Roman Catholic Church.

Known for his belief in social justice, he marked himself out with his informal style. "Buonasera," he famously greeted the crowds gathered in St Peter's Square following his election, aged 76. He dressed simply, eschewing the red shoes and ermine-trimmed cape Benedict had worn. Instead of moving into the papal apartments, he remained in the Vatican guest house; and was soon seen driving around in an old Renault 4. "My people are poor, and I am one of them," he said. He believed that clericalism – the idea that priests stand above the people they serve – was an "evil" at the root of many of the Church's ills, including its failure to tackle clerical abuse.

On the first birthday he celebrated as Pope, he invited three men who lived on the streets near the Vatican to join him for breakfast. And on Maundy Thursday that year, when priests traditionally wash men's feet, Pope Francis washed the feet of the young inmates of a detention centre – two of whom were female, and one Muslim. "As he dried each one, he bent over and kissed it."

His first pastoral visit outside Rome was to the island of Lampedusa, where he met asylum seekers from Africa and condemned the "global indifference" to their fate and that of others like them. He wanted, he said, to bring the Gospel to the "peripheries", to society's margins. He travelled widely, visiting hot spots including Myanmar and Iraq, and appointed 20 cardinals from countries including Rwanda and Tonga that had never previously had them. In his encyclicals, he sought to move the Church on from arguments about sexual morality, and to focus its mission on fighting climate change and global poverty.

Many Catholics adored him, said The Times. Some who had left the Church returned; others looked at it with fresh eyes. But mainstream conservatives were angered by many of his reforms (including his restrictions on the Tridentine Latin Mass beloved by traditionalists). In the US in particular, they objected to his attacks on the excesses of capitalism ("greed looking for easy gain"); and they were "alarmed" by the ambiguity of his statements on moral issues. "Who am I to judge?" he told a journalist in 2013, when asked about gay priests. Though welcomed by progressives, this remark did not signal the start of radical reforms. He opposed gay marriage and gay adoption, and he was steadfast on the sanctity of human life. But he urged priests to welcome gay parishioners; he expressed support for same-sex civil unions; and he said that priests could give same-sex couples spontaneous "non-liturgical" blessings, and that trans people could serve as godparents.

For some Catholics, he often seemed to go too far; for others, not far enough, said The New York Times. A "tough administrator", he reformed the constitution of the Roman Curia, so that he could appoint women to senior positions previously held by clerics, and he opened up synods to lay delegates including women; but he opposed the ordination of women as deacons. The upshot was that conservatives, led often by the likes of the American cardinal Raymond Burke, kept rallying against him, and successfully pushed back on some of his proposals (such as to allow married men to become priests in the Amazon, where there was a severe shortage of clerics); while some liberals felt let down that the revolution had never come. In Germany, there was even talk of a schism. Still, he did not stifle views he disagreed with. He believed in a patient process, of listening and talking before going forward. "Bosses cannot always do what they want," he said. "They have to convince."

Jorge Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires in 1936 into an Italian immigrant family. His parents, who were middle class, though not well-off, spoke Spanish at home, but Jorge learnt Italian from his grandparents. At school, he excelled at chemistry. Outside it, he loved football and the tango. His mother hoped he would become a doctor; but aged 16, he walked into a church and realised, he said, that God was waiting for him there. At 21, he suffered severe pneumonia and had to have part of his lung removed. Soon afterwards, he entered a Jesuit seminary, and after 11 years of training he was ordained.

In 1973, he was appointed to lead the Jesuits in Argentina; three years later, the brutal military junta took over. Two of his priests were arrested while working in a slum area, and tortured during five months of detention. His enemies would later spread rumours that he'd abandoned the pair, said The Guardian. In fact, he had petitioned the military leaders to release them; he'd also helped others to flee Argentina. However, his failure to denounce the junta, or embrace radical liberation theology, alienated him from his order, as did his authoritarian leadership style. As a result, he was sent into a form of internal exile; he emerged with a more compassionate, more consultative approach. In 1992, he was made auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires, in which role he affirmed his commitment to the poor. In 1998, he became archbishop.

He was relieved not to be made Pope in 2005 (he said that a faction had backed him, in a bid to block Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict); but when Ratzinger stood down, he was deemed the right man to restore a Church reeling from a series of crises, including the clerical-abuse scandal. In that regard, he committed some serious errors – such as defending a Chilean bishop who had been accused of covering up a priest's abuse. Following a backlash, he admitted to having made a "grave mistake", and reached out to the abuse victims he had accused of slander. He gave survivors of clerical abuse access to documents from Church proceedings for use in lay courts; and he brought in rules obliging Church officials to report evidence of abuse or its cover-up – but only to Church authorities, not civil ones.

His advancing age did not hold him back: one of his last visits, in 2023, was to South Sudan and DR Congo; nor did ill health stop his political interventions. In February, he wrote a letter criticising Donald Trump's plans for the mass deportation of undocumented migrants. "All I am trying to do is advance the Gospel," he once said. "But imperfectly, because sometimes I make mistakes."

Pope Benedict was an ardent defender of Catholic traditions. Pope Francis, who died Monday, chose a more liberal direction. Which way will the church, famously resistant to change, move under his successor?

"Papal successions are not like presidential transitions," said Anthony Faiola and Michelle Boorstein at The Washington Post. New popes do not "openly set about undoing the legacy" of their predecessors. But much can change in "style, emphasis, guidance and law." Francis backed away from the Latin Mass, allowed priestly blessings of same-sex couples and moved to decentralize the power of the church. But those changes didn't come without controversy, and could be reversed. "These innovations have been contested and rejected by many Catholics," said Rev. Gerald Murray. The next pope could "restate perennial Catholic doctrine."

Leading a church in decline

Francis "bent but did not break doctrinal orthodoxy," said Ed Kilgore at New York magazine. Those who hoped to see "full acceptance of gay or divorced Catholics" or the embrace of women in the clergy were disappointed, but the late pontiff "may have opened doors once firmly closed to future consideration." Francis reshaped the College of Cardinals that will choose his successor, making it more diverse, but he was "less concerned about doctrinal conformity" in his choices, putting both progressives and traditionalists in key positions. Everything is in play: The new pope could "be a protege of Francis, or someone inclined to turn back clocks."

Another challenge is that there is a "declining number of Catholics worldwide," said Axios, with many Latinos shifting instead to Charismatic Pentecostalism. One of the "greatest failures" of Francis is that "he didn't focus on evangelism," said Andrew Chesnut, the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. The next pope will likely "put some focus on appealing to evangelicals," said Axios.

'The de-Westernization of the church'

The selection of a new pope is "as much political balancing act as spiritual exercise," said Katherine Kelaidis at Vox. The conversation usually focuses on "progressive" and "traditionalist" factions in the "global culture wars" and will likely dominate the conclave that chooses the new pontiff. But there are other factors. "What the average Christian looks like and where the average Christian lives" is quickly changing. The church is in decline in North America and Europe, but rising in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Despite that, the church's "power centers have stayed firmly in the West." With Pope Francis' successor, that could begin to change.

Pope Francis "was not considered a radical" when he was chosen by the conclave in 2013, Molly Olmstead said at Slate. It is doubtful the cardinals "knew what they were ushering in." So there is no guarantee the next conclave will choose a successor "who shares Francis' more progressive ideals." Indeed, the "geographically and linguistically diverse cardinals" whom he put in place "barely know each other," increasing the unpredictability of the process. But Francis' key legacy — a church pivot to the "Global South" and away from Europe — is likely to stick. Whoever comes next, it will be difficult for him to "walk back the de-Westernization of the church."

What happened

Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pontiff and first pope from Latin America, died Monday morning. He was 88 and had been in poor health since an extended hospital stay for double pneumonia.

Who said what

"At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father," after a life "dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his church," said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, or de facto administrator of the Holy See after a pope's death. "For Pope Francis, it was always to extend the arms of the church to embrace all people, not to exclude anyone." The pope had appeared in public Sunday to bless tens of thousands of people gathered to celebrate Easter Sunday.

During his 12-year papacy, Francis "charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change" and his incremental elevation of women in the church and embrace of LGBTQ+ Catholics, The Associated Press said. He shook up the Catholic Church "without changing its core doctrine," shifting its focus to be a "refuge for everyone."

What next?

Pope Francis' death "will set off mourning around the world and deliberations and machinations to choose a successor" through a "chain of rituals and procedures, many of which have remained unchanged for centuries," The New York Times said. The College of Cardinals will have to decide "whether to choose a new pope who will follow his welcoming, global approach or to restore the more doctrinaire path" forged over "more than three decades of conservative papacies." Francis named 111 of the 136 voting cardinals, The Washington Post said, "making sure the conclave that would pick his successor was more diverse and less dominated by Europeans."

"If you're looking for your own personal Jesus this Easter", said Steve Rose in The Guardian, then "you've never had it so good," because Christian television content is enjoying its own resurrection.

With shows like "House of David", "The Chosen" and "Jesus Revolution" drawing high ratings, production houses and streaming platforms are taking advantage of the fact that "the copyright" on biblical intellectual property "expired 2,000 years ago".

Christian fervour

Jesus' "viewing figures", much like Christ himself, "have risen", said The Economist – "The Chosen" has been watched by around 280 million people worldwide.

Christian dramas have "proved profitable" because they're "relatively cheap and simple to make", they don't need big-name celebrities as Jesus "offers name recognition enough" and because they can tap into the 2.4 billion people who "identify as Christian".

Although some reviews of the shows have been a bit "unchristian", this critical negativity hasn't particularly dented their appeal because "in entertainment, as in history", some "persecution seems only to deepen Christian fervour".

But it's not just Christians watching, noted Hanna Seariac in the Deseret News, because the content "treats faith as part of people's lives" rather than preaching about it. "Taking this tack" makes the shows and films "accessible to wider audiences".

Bingeable drama

In a space "somewhere between faith-based entertainment and completely secular entertainment", the producers have "diligently carved out" a place where they "portray people of faith" like they "portray everyone else".

The filmmakers are "seeking to retell the story of Christ" as a "bingeable long‑form drama", rather than "the usual earnest myth‑making", said Rose. They want "high production values, down-to-earth characters, historical context" and a "seven-season arc" that's willing to "embellish scripture".

"The Chosen" "feels more like a workplace comedy-drama", or "The West Wing" that's "set in Galilee", rather than "the direct evangelism" of Christian dramas of past decades, said Annie Aguiar in The New York Times, while "House of David" is "reminiscent of the courtly intrigue" of "glossy dramas like 'The Tudors'".

But there are still sensitivities, because creating a TV show "based on a religious text" presents a "different task" to "adapting a book series that is considered sacred only by its most avowed fans".

A "lasting religious revival in Hollywood is unlikely," Diane Winston, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies religion in media, told the broadsheet, because of the "cyclical nature of faith in entertainment".

But this sort of "outreach" could still be a "savvy financial move" for a "secular business looking to spiritual audiences". So, in the meantime, said The Economist, "let there be lights, camera, action!"

The Catholic Church is experiencing a mini revival in Britain, driven by a new generation of converts.

While the average Briton is more likely than ever to be a non-believer, new research reveals that among Generation Z and younger millennials, Catholics now outnumber Anglicans by more than two to one.

'The Quiet Revival'

According to a YouGov survey of more than 13,000 people commissioned by the Bible Society, 41% of churchgoers aged 18 to 35 in England and Wales identify as Catholic, while 20% belonged to the Church of England and 18% identified as Pentecostal. The trend is particularly pronounced among young men. Overall, Catholics now make up 31% of all churchgoers, compared to 23% last time a similar survey was carried out in 2018.

Dr Rhiannon McAleer, co-author of the survey entitled "The Quiet Revival" , said these are "striking findings that completely reverse the widely held assumption that the Church in England and Wales is in terminal decline".

After decades of steadily dwindling congregations, the findings show that the number of young people aged 18-24 attending church has risen from just 4% in 2018 to 16% in 2024. Young adults are among those newly drawn to Christian beliefs, "with renewed interest not only in being part of a church but also in prayer, reading the Bible and social activism based on faith", said The Tablet.

Search for 'clarity and certainty'

"One reason for the increase in popularity of both Catholicism and Pentecostalism in England and Wales might be the growth of ethnic minorities," said The Tablet. It pointed out that "many migrants from countries such as Poland, Ukraine and South America are Catholic".

It is true that Catholicism "benefits from a steady stream of churchgoing immigrants to a much greater degree" than other major Christian churches, Stephen Bullivant, a professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St Mary's University, London, told The Times.

"But something else is happening too," said The Telegraph: "conversions". Young people are looking for "clarity and certainty", said Archbishop Mark O’Toole of Cardiff, and many of the Catholic-curious "have surfed the net" before finding answers in the Church. "They are not extremist or fundamentalist, but they have been looking for something and the words they use a lot about the Catholic Church is coherence and consistency."

For Gen Z, "the dawn of social media has heralded a new age of Christian influencers who preach to and convert their followers through the white light of a phone screen" instead of through "ornate cathedrals, Latin Mass and rigid orthodoxy", said Premier Christianity. "Just as their own parents raged against the machine, many Gen Z-ers are rejecting the looseness and moral flexibility of modern society."

Raised "against a backdrop of perma-conflict" and "an increasingly secular landscape, where conservative social values are shunned in favour of hyper-individualism and progressive political doctrine, it appears that traditional Catholicism has become a beacon of cultural defiance".

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What happened

Pope Francis made his first public appearance in more than five weeks Sunday, waving to well-wishers from his balcony at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic hospital before being discharged and driven back home to the Vatican to convalesce. The pope had entered the hospital on Feb. 14 with worsening bronchitis, and his subsequent battle against double pneumonia included "two very critical episodes" where his "life was in danger," said Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the head of the pope's hospital medical team.

Who said what

"Thank you, everyone," Pope Francis said from the hospital balcony, his "wisp of a voice" thin and "raspy" from his lung infections, according to The New York Times. The 88-year-old pope looked "frail" and wore nasal oxygen tubes during the drive home, The Associated Press said, but his exit from the hospital "brought tangible relief to the Vatican and Catholic faithful who have been anxiously following 38 days of medical ups and downs and wondering if Francis would make it."

What next?

Doctors have instructed the pope, "who had kept up a grueling schedule before his illness," to "take it easy for at least two months" and avoid large groups and small children due to infection concerns, the Times said.

The death of a pope, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, propels the Holy Roman Church into "its most dramatic moment of flux", said The New York Times.

For that very reason, the period between a pontiff's death and the election of a successor is marked by a series of "carefully choreographed" rituals and moments of "pageantry", designed to communicate order and continuity.

What happens when a pope dies?

The protocol had been "refined over centuries and hundreds of dead popes", said Politico. Firstly, the death is confirmed by the camerlengo, a senior Vatican position currently held by Irish-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell. While doctors will have made a medical confirmation of death, the camerlengo's role is a ceremonial one, in which he calls out the pope's name and receives no response.

The pontiff's body, in a simple white cassock, is taken to his private chapel, where he is robed in red vestments and then placed in a zinc-lined wooden coffin with his symbols of office, the mitre and pallium, beside him, said The New York Times.

Then the camerlengo drafts a document authenticating the pope's death, and the pontiff's private papers are gathered, his apartments sealed off and his "fisherman's ring", used to seal papal documents, is defaced or destroyed with a ceremonial hammer.

What happens between the pope's death and the funeral?

The pope's death will automatically trigger a nine-day mourning period known as the Novendiale. Daily prayers and requiem masses will be held both in the Vatican and throughout the Catholic world.

Since the 13th century, the embalmed body of the deceased pope has been taken, in procession, to lie in state, on a raised pedestal, in St. Peter's Basilica. However, in 2024, Pope Francis "decided to highlight humility over glorification", and rewrote the protocol to do away with the raised platform, Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, a church historian, told The New York Times.

What is a papal funeral like?

The pope's funeral would be usually be held in St. Peter's Square between four and six days after his death, with "mourners packing into the Vatican for the service", said Politico.

His face covered by a white silk veil, the pope is buried with a bag containing coins minted during his reign, and a canister with a "rogito", or deed, summarising his life and papacy.

Until a successor is chosen, the Vatican will be in a transitional period called sede vacante ("vacant seat"), in which power is temporarily vested in the College of Cardinals – although any major decisions will be delayed until the next pope is installed.

The worst measles outbreak in Texas in 30 years has been linked to an isolated Mennonite community. Last week authorities announced that an unvaccinated six-year-old had become the first casualty of the outbreak and the first measles-related death in the US since 2015. The death of the "otherwise healthy" child "starkly illustrates the stakes of slipping immunisation rates", said The Washington Post.

The child was from Gaines County, a rural area in West Texas at the "epicentre" of the wave. Infections have quickly spread within the county's Mennonites, a "diverse religious sect of thousands". The origins of the outbreak are unclear, but a Texas Health Department spokesperson said that the "close-knit and under-vaccinated" nature of the Mennonite community was likely a key factor in its spread.

What are Mennonites?

Named for an early leader, Menno Simons, Mennonites are descended from the Anabaptist Christian movement, which emerged in the 1500s as "the radical wing" of Europe's Protestant Reformation. Today, there are more than two million baptised members of Anabaptist sects in 86 countries, according to the Mennonite World Conference. About 30% live in North America.

Anabaptists suffered persecution under both Catholic and Protestant rulers, a legacy that "still influences some groups today in their suspicion of governmental authorities", said The Independent, including "sometimes strained" relations with public health officials.

Mennonites believe in "non-violence, unconditional forgiveness, adult baptism, church discipline, and a refusal to bear arms or swear oaths". But believers "vary widely in practice". Some have "largely assimilated into mainstream culture"; others are more similar to the Amish, with "tight-knit, separatist communities" marked by limited technology and traditional clothes.

Are they being scapegoated?

The spotlight on Mennonites has "bred resentment in the community that they are being unfairly blamed" for the outbreak, said The Washington Post.

Health officials have said they weren't trying to do so. "The real issue is that there's a lot of people in that area – Mennonites and people who are not Mennonites – who are not vaccinated," said the Texas Health Department spokesperson.

All 50 US states require children to be vaccinated before they can attend school, but most states – including Texas – allow exemptions for religious or personal beliefs. Across the US, the proportion of exempted children has risen to an all-time high, according to federal data from last year.

And Gaines County has a "disproportionately high level" of exemptions, said The New York Times. A "whopping" 47.9% of students from one of the county's three public school districts claimed them in the 2023-24 school year.

As is the case with most major religions, the Mennonite movement does not have a formal anti-vaccination position. "Historically and theologically, there has not been any religious teaching against immunisation in Mennonite circles," Steven Nolt, professor of history and Anabaptist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, told The Associated Press. "There's no religious prohibition, no body of religious writing on it at all."

Jake Fehr, the pastor at Seminole's Mennonite Evangelical Church in Gaines County, said there was a "misconception" that Mennonites weren't vaccinated. "We have not been out there teaching against vaccinations or for people not to obey the government," Fehr told The Houston Chronicle. Fehr is "one of many Mennonites" in the county who refused the Covid-19 vaccine, said the paper.

Nevertheless, the measles outbreak has already started to spread to other under-vaccinated communities in the region, said FirstPost. "Experts warn that low immunisation rates in these communities create conditions for measles to spread rapidly."

What happened

Pope Francis was back on "noninvasive mechanical ventilation" after two episodes of acute respiratory failure Monday, the Vatican said. It was the latest setback in the pope's 18-day battle against double pneumonia at a Roman hospital.

Francis, 88, remained "alert, oriented and cooperative" as "copious" amounts of mucus were extracted from his lungs during two bronchoscopies, where a camera-equipped suction tube was sent down into his airways, the Vatican said.

Who said what

This was the pope's "third serious downturn" since he was admitted to Gemelli Polyclinic hospital with a complex respiratory infection on Feb. 14, the BBC said. The Vatican said laboratory tests suggested the mucus was a response to Francis' original pneumonia, not a new infection.

Monday's episodes were more worrisome than Friday's complication involving vomit the pope inhaled during a coughing fit, Dr. John Coleman, a pulmonary critical care doctor at Chicago's Northwestern Medicine, told The Associated Press. The need to manually extract mucus "means that he is not clearing the secretions on his own," he said. "He's taking little steps forward and then steps back."

What next?

The pontiff's return to a mask forcing air into his lungs shows he "is still in danger," a Vatican official told The Washington Post. It's good news that the infection doesn't appear to be growing, but it's "premature" to discuss when the pope might be discharged. Catholics are holding nightly vigils in St. Peter's Square as the Holy See prepares for Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent without Pope Francis there to lead the liturgical rituals.

What happened

Pope Francis, hospitalized Friday with bronchitis, has a "polymicrobial respiratory tract infection," the Vatican said Monday, and his "complex clinical picture" will "require an appropriate hospital stay" in Rome's A. Gemelli Polyclinic.

Who said what

The diagnosis essentially "means there's a mix of bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites growing" in the his lungs, The Associated Press aid, and "for someone with the pope's medical history — he lost part of his right lung decades ago and has previously had pneumonia — it's worrying that he's been hospitalized." The Vatican said Monday that Francis was "in good spirits," in stable condition with no fever and had resumed "some work activities."

The 88-year-old pope's "medical challenges have become more numerous with age," including the removal of part of his colon, seasonal respiratory infections and knee problems and sciatica that have "caused a severe limp" and "often required him to use a wheelchair, walker or cane," The New York Times said.

What next?

The Vatican gave no estimate for how long the "workaholic" pope would stay hospitalized, the AP said, but his general audience on Wednesday was canceled and the official Vatican calendar has "no more papal appointments or activities" listed until March 5, Ash Wednesday.

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What happened

The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world's 15 million Ismaili Muslims and one of the world's wealthiest hereditary heirs, died Tuesday in Portugal. He was 88 and had led the Shiite branch — with large communities in South and Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and East Africa — for nearly seven decades

Who said what

Prince Karim Al-Hussaini became the Aga Khan IV and 49th hereditary iman in his family's 1,300-year-old dynasty when he was a 20-year-old student at Harvard. His grandfather, the Aga Khan III, unexpectedly bequeathed him the title upon his death in 1957, bypassing his playboy son Prince Aly Khan, Prince Karim's father. Queen Elizabeth II granted the Aga Khan IV the nonhereditary title "His Highness" two weeks later, reflecting the "close ties between the two dynasties, bonded in a shared fascination with fine horses," The New York Times said.

The Aga Khan "evolved into a business magnate and a philanthropist, moving between the spiritual and the worldly with ease," The Associated Press said. "Urbane, cosmopolitan and often media-averse," the Times said, he drew his fortune — estimated at between $1 billion and $13 billion — from an "eclectic" array of business ventures, a "lucrative equestrian empire" inherited from his father and "a kind of Quranic tithe levied on his followers." His philanthropy funded hospitals, housing, schools and development projects in some of the world's poorest places.

What next?

The Aga Khan will be buried in Lisbon. His handpicked successor will be named publicly after his will is read for family and religious leaders.

An unholy war is brewing in the Catholic Church, said Paola Totaro in The Australian (Sydney). While "Conclave", a film about the "murky web of curial politics", is getting Oscar-season buzz, in the real-world Vatican "a series of events has unfolded behind the Leonine Walls in past months that are just as intriguing". With only one lung, the fragile 88-year-old Pope Francis sparks alarm with "every cough or hospital admission". Around him, the vultures circle – devising strategies to ensure their preferred candidate becomes the next leader of the Catholic Church and its 1.4 billion faithful.

On one side are Francis's progressives, who want to modernise the Church; on the other, conservative traditionalists who fear "a shift too far on issues of capitalism, homosexuality, abortion and the role of women". This week, an unabashed Pope Francis appointed an Italian nun, Sister Raffaella Petrini, to run the Vatican City State – the first time a woman has ever been given the role. Women make better managers than men, said the Pope, adding: "Women have been running things since the Garden of Eden."

It's all part of Francis's restructuring of Vatican affairs, said Mikael Corre in La Croix (Paris). Under his leadership, some 20 women have been appointed to senior positions in the Holy See, "from the governing board of the Financial Information Authority to the Secretariat of State, the Vatican Library and the Museums". The ultimate aim, Francis says, is to incorporate women into every part of ecclesiastical life.

But in doing so, said the Catholic Herald, he risks stirring up an already febrile atmosphere in Rome. A Vatican employee, identified only by the initials G.F., claims the Argentinian Pope has "surrounded himself with Spanish-speaking favourites with progressive agendas", and that the Vatican is in the grip of two distinct lobbies: a powerful gay clique on the one hand, and the left-wing Santa Marta club on the other. To join the latter, says G.F., "you have to be green, pro-migrant and above all pro-Palestinian. For them, Nicolás Maduro is a saint and Donald Trump is a devil."

Francis should "brace" himself for a battle, said John Kenneth White in The Hill (Washington DC), particularly in the US, where a "conservative wave" has flooded the Church. More than half of the country's 3,500 priests described themselves as "conservative/orthodox" or "very conservative/orthodox" in a recent survey; not one priest ordained after 2020 described himself as "very progressive". Meanwhile, President Trump has launched his own "frontal assault on the papacy" by appointing Brian Burch – a firebrand anti-Francis "agitator" – as his US ambassador to the Vatican.

It makes for a dramatic final chapter of a pontificate, said Damian Thompson on UnHerd (London). The next conclave "can't be far off", but for now Francis remains, combative and compulsively secretive. The Cardinals wait patiently, "sharpening their knives".

Churches have long served as sanctuary to those fleeing the long arm of the government. No more. A new directive from President Donald Trump's administration will allow federal agents to enter places of worship to seek and capture undocumented migrants.

The move ends decade-old rules that kept immigration agents from "carrying out immigration enforcement in sensitive locations," said The Associated Press. Authorities can now make arrests at churches (as well as schools) as part of the Trump administration's efforts to carry out mass deportations. Migrants will "no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

Some religious leaders are pushing back. Faith communities have an "executive order from God, not from politicians," said Guillermo Torres of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice to the Los Angeles Times. The concept of sanctuary is "deeply rooted in Christian tradition," said the Times. But other pastors expect to be more accommodating. Undocumented migrants are the "equivalent of anybody else who's breaking the law," said Rev. Lorenzo Sewell of 180 Church in Detroit.

What did the commentators say?

The Catholic Church in America has "long made caring for immigrants a hallmark of its ministry," said William K. Reilly at The New York Times. And Catholic clergy along the U.S.-Mexico border are "gearing up to help parishioners facing deportation." That's why the church "must be fully engaged and vigorously oppose" Trump's plans for mass deportations. So far, though, church officials have been "muted on the national stage." It is time they became more vocal, Reilly adds. The new administration's deportations are a matter of "profound moral significance that should engage us all."

The Trump administration has a "Catholic problem," said Christopher Hale, formerly of Catholics for Harris, at Newsweek. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has "rightly condemned the new policy as a violation of sacred spaces" that would erode trust between churches and the communities they serve. Republicans and conservative Catholics have aligned on issues "like abortion and religious liberty," but the administration's decision to target "sacred spaces" for arrests suggests a "stark contrast with Catholic values."

What next?

The administration's order isn't popular. About 57% of respondents in a recent poll said they are "strongly or somewhat" opposed to making deportation arrests in churches, said The Hill. Just 20% said they supported the new rule.

At least one religious group is taking the matter to court. A group of Quaker congregations has sued the Trump administration, said Bloomberg. The threat of immigration arrests "deters congregants, especially immigrants, from attending services," the churches said in their complaint. And that, they added, violates the First Amendment and federal law by "burdening the rights of congregants to exercise their religion without a compelling reason."

Hindu devotees from across India flocked to the northern city of Prayagraj yesterday as the world's largest religious festival began.

Over the coming 45 days, an estimated 400 million Hindus are expected to come together for Maha Kumbh Mela. The festival is held every 12 years but the "Maha" or grand Kumbh Mela takes place only every 144 years, "marking the 12th Kumbh Mela and a special celestial alignment of the sun, moon and Jupiter", said The Guardian.

'Spiritual purification'

It is one of the most sacred pilgrimages for Hindus. It has its roots in a Hindu legend that holds that the god Vishnu seized a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality from demons, with a few drops falling in the cities of Prayagraj, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.

The Maha Kumbh Mela represents a "symbolic journey of self-realisation, purification and spiritual enlightenment", said Sky News. Its "ritualistic dip" in the "sacred rivers" serves as a "spiritual purification" and a "symbolic cleansing of the body and soul" which "renews the connection with the divine".

Pilgrims believe that the ritual baths can ultimately help them "achieve Hindu philosophy's ultimate goal: the release from the cycle of rebirth", said The Associated Press.

Herculean task

Many pilgrims stay for the entire festival, "observing austerity, giving alms and bathing at sunrise every day", said the AP news agency, which means the authorities face a "herculean" task to manage such a large gathering, said The Times.

State authorities in Uttar Pradesh have "put in place state-of-the-art security measures", including drones, 268 AI-powered systems, and more than 2,750 CCTV cameras, said the Times of India. There are also 700 marked boats with life-saving buoys along the riverbanks.

A "vast ground" has been converted into a "sprawling tent city" complete with more than 3,000 kitchens and 150,000 toilets, said AP. It spreads over 15 square miles and has housing, roads, electricity and water, communication towers and 11 hospitals.

Hindu nationalism

In the past, India's leaders have "capitalised" on the festival to "strengthen their relationship with the country's Hindus", who make up nearly 80% of the more than 1.4 billion people.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the festival has "become an integral part" of his "advocacy of Hindu nationalism" as, for him, Indian civilisation is "inseparable from Hinduism".

This is the first Maha Kumbh Mela to be held under his party's rule after it changed the town's earlier Muslim name of Allahabad to the Hindu Prayagraj in 2018. So a "successful" Maha Kumbh is expected to "burnish" his project of "reclaiming India's cultural symbols" for his "Hindu base" after he "suffered a humiliating setback" at last year's election, losing his party's parliamentary majority.

But for the pilgrims flocking to the festival, it remains a spiritual, rather than political, experience. This year, it is "extra special", Hindu seer Mahant Ravindra Puri told the BBC, because "the current alignment of planets and stars" is "identical to what existed at the moment of the spill", and "such perfection" is "being observed after 12 Kumbh festivals or 144 years".

What happened

President Joe Biden on Saturday awarded Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, the highest U.S. civilian honor. Biden handed out Medals of Freedom to 19 people earlier this month, including Hillary Clinton, Michael J. Fox, Denzel Washington, Magic Johnson, designer Ralph Lauren, George Soros, Lionel Messi, philanthropic chef José Andrés and U2's Bono, but the pope is the only person upon whom Biden has bestowed the honor "with distinction."

Who said what

Francis is "the People's Pope — a light of faith, hope and love that shines brightly across the world," the White House said. "His mission of serving the poor has never ceased. A loving pastor, he joyfully answers children's questions about God. A challenging teacher, he commands us to fight for peace and protect the planet. A welcoming leader, he reaches out to different faiths. The first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, Pope Francis is unlike any who came before."

Biden had planned to present the pope with the medal on a visit to Rome, but he canceled the trip to oversee the federal response to the Los Angeles wildfires. Instead, he bestowed the honor during a phone call. Biden was the sole recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction under President Barack Obama.

What next?

Biden, the second Catholic president, leaves office Jan. 20. The Italy trip was to have been his final presidential trip abroad.