Religion

The coffin of former French President Jacques Chirac leaves Invalides monument in Paris, Monday, Sept. 30, 2019. Past and current heads of states are gathering in Paris to pay tribute to former French president Jacques Chirac who died last week at the age of 86. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
September 30, 2019 - 3:02 am

Chirac gets full military honors as France bids him farewell

PARIS (AP) — Former French President Jacques Chirac was given full military honors on Monday as past and current world leaders gathered in Paris to attend his final service. On a mild, sunny morning, French President Emmanuel Macron cut a solemn figure as he presided over the ceremony near the site...
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A firefighting helicopter sprays water on a fire at a train station, in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019. The fire broke out on the line that connects the holy Muslim cities of Mecca and Medina. Police said there were no injuries in the blaze. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
September 29, 2019 - 7:50 am

Fire breaks out at train station in Saudi city of Jiddah

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A fire broke out Sunday at a train station in the Saudi city of Jiddah, with local media saying five people had been injured. Thick black smoke could be seen Sunday afternoon in the sky over Jiddah, a city on the Red Sea. The fire struck a train station on the line that...
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Pope Francis celebrates Mass on the occasion of the Migrant and Refugee World Day, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
September 29, 2019 - 3:54 am

Pope decries world's indifference to migrants and refugees

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday decried "the culture of comfort" that leads to indifference in the face of a global migration and refugee crisis. The pope who has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy spoke during a Mass for the World Day for Migrants and Refugees. "We cannot...
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Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Eduardo Rodriguez Parrilla addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
September 28, 2019 - 9:42 am

The Latest: Cuba blasts US for its travel ban on Raul Castro

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Latest on the U.N. General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders (all times local): 12:20 p.m. Cuba is blasting the Trump administration for its "baseness and rot" as it denounces the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban to the United States on former Cuban...
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In this Aug. 30, 2018 photo, John Delaney shows off his tattoos after speaking about his experience being abused as a child by the priest at his childhood church in Philadelphia, in his Sevierville, Tenn. On Monday, Sept. 30, 2019, victim compensation funds in Philadelphia, Allentown, Scranton and Pittsburgh will close to applications. Delaney said fund administrators offered him $500,000 and told him that it was the highest amount they would offer. He turned it down, he said. Sober for three years and counseling victims of sexual abuse and people struggling with addiction in San Antonio, it was never about the money. It was about justice and getting into court where a judge can force church officials to testify under oath, he said. (Caitie McMekin/The Tennessean via AP)
September 28, 2019 - 6:12 am

New chapter opens in Pennsylvania in fight over suing church

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — When post offices close Monday, the last victim compensation funds at Pennsylvania's Roman Catholic dioceses will also close, hours before lawmakers plunge back into a years-old fight over whether to let long-ago victims of child sexual abuse sue perpetrators and institutions...
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Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodríguez addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Friday, Sept. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)
September 27, 2019 - 5:10 pm

The Latest: 'Happiest moment': UN chief welcomes 'new Sudan'

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Latest on the U.N. General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders (all times local): 7:40 p.m. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a high-level event celebrating "a new Sudan" that it was "the happiest moment" of the many dozens of meetings he has attended...
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Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, right, meets with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
September 27, 2019 - 7:26 am

Egypt police seal off Tahrir Square amid calls for protest

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces sealed off Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the so-called Arab Spring uprising in 2011, to prevent possible protests Friday against the country's president. The closures come amid a harsh security clampdown following rare demonstrations in several cities last...
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September 26, 2019 - 6:21 pm

Judge: Michigan adoption agencies can turn away LGBT couples

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Religious-based adoption agencies that contract with the state of Michigan will be allowed to refuse to place children in LGBT homes under a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge Thursday. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids blocked Democratic state...
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Pope Francis greets nuns during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
September 26, 2019 - 11:16 am

Pontifical university takes up sex abuse of nuns by priests

ROME (AP) — A Togolese nun has successfully defended a first-ever dissertation at a Vatican-sanctioned university on the sexual abuse of nuns by priests in the latest evidence of a problem confronting the Catholic Church in the #MeToo era. Sister Makamatine Lembo was awarded summa cum laude at her...
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September 26, 2019 - 5:57 am

Italian Catholic bishops oppose assisted suicide ruling

MILAN (AP) — The Italian Bishops' Conference is coming out against a constitutional court ruling that assisted suicide is not punishable in cases when a patient in an irreversible condition is suffering unbearable pain. The secretary-general of the bishop's conference, Stefano Russo, says on...
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