The Columbian

Churches & Religion

The angel Moroni statue sits atop the Salt Lake Temple, at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' new temple in Moses Lake is open to the public through Aug. 19.

New LDS temple in Moses Lake opens to public

August 12, 2023, 6:02am Churches & Religion

When Judy Miller moved from Boise to Washington in the 1970s, she still had to drive to Idaho Falls to participate in Latter-day Saint temple ceremonies. Read story

The Reverend Pauli Murray Quarter is the 11th coin in the American Women Quarters Program.

U.S. quarter to honor civil rights activist

August 12, 2023, 5:43am Churches & Religion

Pauli Murray, a Baltimore native and the first Black woman to become an Episcopal priest in the United States, is one of five women selected to be honored on the reverse side of a U.S. quarter in 2024. Read story

Open House Ministries plans block party, fair

August 8, 2023, 5:57am Churches & Religion Free

Open House Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit, will host its annual Community Block Party and Resource fair on Thursday. Read story

Pilgrims attend a mass presided by the Pope Francis at the Parque Tejo in Lisbon celebrating the 37th World Youth Day on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023. An estimated 1.5 million young people filled the parque on Saturday for Pope Francis' World Youth Day vigil, braving scorching heat to secure a spot for the evening prayer and to camp out overnight for his final farewell Mass on Sunday morning.

Pope discusses health, his ditched peace prayer in Fatima and LGBTQ+ Catholics in airborne briefing

August 7, 2023, 8:13am Churches & Religion

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Sunday his recovery from his latest abdominal surgery is going well and stressed that he ditched speeches during his five-day trip to Portugal and spoke off-the-cuff not because he was tired or feeling unwell, but to better communicate with young people. Read story

Worshippers attend a Mass July 9 in the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, Spain. With tourism reaching or surpassing pre-pandemic levels across southern Europe this summer, iconic sacred sites struggle to find ways to accommodate both the faithful who come to pray and millions of increasingly secular visitors attracted by art and architecture.

Churches struggle to balance worship, tourism

August 5, 2023, 6:05am Churches & Religion

A recent Saturday evening Mass at Sagrada Familia parish had all the hallmarks of a neighborhood worship service, from prayers for ill and deceased members to name-day wishes for two congregants in the pews. Read story

Chaldean nuns attend a service in the Mar Youssef Cathedral in Irbil, Iraq, on Sunday, July 30, 2023. Today, the number of Christians in Iraq is 150,000, compared to 1.5 million in 2003.

A feud between a patriarch and a militia leader adds to the woes of Iraqi Christians

August 4, 2023, 1:58pm Churches & Religion

Iraqi Christians have struggled since the Nineveh plains, their historic homeland of rolling hills dotted with wheat and barley fields, were wrested back from Islamic State extremists six years ago. Read story

Pope Francis is helped with a microphone by Scholas Occurrentes' President Jose Maria del Corral, left, as he makes remarks about a painting depicting the parable of the 'good Samaritan' during a meeting with members of the Scholas Occurrentes community of young people, an International educational movement created by Pope Francis himself, in Cascais, 25 kilometers south of Lisbon, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023. Francis gave the final brushstroke to the 3 km mural that the community has been working on and that is the result of the work of more than two thousand people.

Pope Francis blasts scandal of clergy sex abuse in Portugal and meets with survivors

August 3, 2023, 8:02am Churches & Religion

Pope Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal on Wednesday and blasted members of the country’s Catholic hierarchy for their response to the long-ignored scandal, which he said had marred the Catholic Church and helped drive the faithful away. Read story

Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he arrives for a meeting with the Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis arrived Wednesday in Lisbon to attend the international World Youth Day on Sunday that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Portugal. (Miguel A.

Pope Francis urges Europe to work for peace as he lands in Portugal for World Youth Day

August 2, 2023, 8:20am Churches & Religion

Pope Francis challenged Europe to retake its role as a peacemaker and bridgebuilder as he arrived Wednesday in Portugal to open World Youth Day, hoping to inspire the next generation of Catholics to work together to combat conflicts, climate change and other problems facing the world. Read story

Father Crespo, in the background, calls the numbers while World Youth Day volunteers play bingo with residents of a parish center in Lisbon, Thursday, July 27, 2023. When Pope Francis attends the international World Youth Day in Lisbon he will pay a visit to the parish center that cares for hundreds of residents of the impoverished neighborhood of Serafina.

As the pope heads to Portugal, he’s laying the groundwork for the church’s future and his own legacy

July 31, 2023, 8:34am Churches & Religion

When Pope Francis made the first foreign trip of his papacy, to Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day in 2013, he urged young people to make a “mess” in their local churches, to shake things up even if it ruffled the feathers of their bishops. Read story