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Tag: Religion

  • Vatican Claims a Holy Year Success With 33 Million Pilgrims

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    VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican on Monday gave a final accounting of its 2025 Holy Year, saying more than 33 million pilgrims had participated and that the only real dispute with the city of Rome concerned the style of fountains built for the event’s main public works project.

    Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday will officially close out the Holy Year and shut the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, capping a rare Jubilee that was opened by one pope and closed by another.

    For the Vatican, a Holy Year is a centuries-old tradition of the faithful making pilgrimages to Rome every 25 years to visit the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and receive indulgences for the forgiveness of their sins.


    Participation grew after Francis’ death

    The Vatican said 33,475,369 pilgrims had participated and Italy, the U.S. and Spain were the top nationalities represented.

    But the Vatican’s Holy Year organizer, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, acknowledged the number was only an estimate and could include double counting. There was no breakdown between Holy Year pilgrims and Rome’s overall tourism numbers.

    The Vatican arrived at the figure by combining the number of people who officially registered for Jubilee events, volunteer crowd counters at Rome-area basilicas and closed-circuit television cameras at St. Peter’s Basilica, which recorded around 25,000 to 30,000 people a day crossing the threshold of the Holy Door.

    Assuming that number every day for the past year, around 10 million pilgrims would have crossed through the Holy Door. Officials said they never envisioned more, given its limited capacity and that pilgrims would have visited Holy Doors at other Rome basilicas.

    The official number exceeded the 31.7 million people originally forecast by a study conducted by the Roma Tre University.

    The Vatican said it recorded a steady increase in participation following the death of Pope Francis in April and the election of Leo, a transition that made this Holy Year only the second in history to be opened by one pope and closed by another. In 1700, Pope Innocent XII opened the Jubilee and Pope Clement XI closed it after Innocent’s death.

    Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said 110 of the 117 public works projects initially associated with the Jubilee had been completed, including the most audacious: a pedestrian piazza at the end of the Via della Conciliazione boulevard, opposite St. Peter’s Basilica, that required the rerouting of traffic to an underground tunnel.

    The design of Piazza Pia, as the square is known, also saw the major point of disagreement between Fisichella and Gualtieri over the two fountains that frame the view along Conciliazione toward the basilica.

    Gualtieri liked the fountains. Fisichella didn’t, but had to put his preferences aside because the piazza is on Italian soil.

    “This was probably the only point on which we had to say, laughing and smiling, that we didn’t completely agree,” Fisichella said. “He liked those two fountains, I liked others, but I had to back down.”

    Fisichella said he didn’t think the contemporary stone fountains suited a piazza that looks toward the baroque splendor of St. Peter’s Basilica and along the fascist-era architecture of Via della Conciliazione, which was itself created by razing a neighborhood for the 1950 Jubilee.

    One year later, Fisichella has gotten used to them but still doesn’t love them.

    “I always thought they looked like foot baths,” he said.


    A long history of Jubilees and public works

    Rome’s relationship with Jubilees dates to 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII inaugurated the first Holy Year in what historians say marked the definitive designation of Rome as the center of Christianity.

    Even then, the number of pilgrims was so significant that Dante referred to them in his “Inferno.”

    Massive public works projects have long accompanied Holy Years, including the creation of the Sistine Chapel, commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV for the Jubilee of 1475, and the big Vatican garage, for the 2000 Jubilee under Pope John Paul II.

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • POPE FRANCIS: THE FIRST with Norah O’Donnell

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    Pope Francis sits down for a global exclusive interview with CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell from the Vatican. In a wide-ranging conversation, Francis speaks about the wars across the world, immigration, climate change, his vision for the Catholic Church and his legacy. Ahead of the Church’s first World Children’s Day, the Pontiff talks about children as hope for the future.

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  • Peruvian Shamans Predict Maduro’s Fall, Continued Global Conflicts in 2026

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    LIMA, Peru (AP) — A group of shamans gathered Monday on a sacred hill overlooking Peru’s capital city to carry out an annual ritual in which they make predictions for the upcoming year.

    Dressed in traditional Andean ponchos and headdresses, the group performed a ceremony atop the treeless San Cristobal hill, and made predictions about the course of international relations, ongoing conflicts and the fate of world leaders.

    In this year’s event, the shamans said that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will be removed from office, and added that global conflicts, like the war in Ukraine will continue.

    “We have asked for Maduro to leave, to retire, for President Donald Trump of the United States to be able to remove him, and we have visualized that next year this will happen,” said shaman Ana María Simeón.

    The group has a mixed record with its annual predictions.

    Last year, they warned a “nuclear war” would break out between Israel and Gaza, where a ceasefire is currently in place.

    But in December 2023, the group correctly predicted that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who had been imprisoned for human rights abuses, would perish within twelve months.

    Fujimori died from cancer in September 2024 at the age of 86.

    Before Monday’s ceremony, the shamans met to drink hallucinogenic concoctions derived from native plants — including Ayahuasca and the San Pedro cactus — which are believed to give them the power to predict the future.

    During the ceremony, they placed blankets with yellow flowers, coca leaves, swords and other objects on San Cristobal hill, asking for positive energy for the new year.

    After dancing in circles and playing ancestral instruments, the shamans asked for peace in the Middle East, an end to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the fall of President Maduro.

    The prayers to the gods, performed amid flowers and incense, as well as dances, are intended to encourage leaders to make good decisions.

    The shamans also predicted natural disasters, such as earthquakes and climatic phenomena.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Freezing Rain Floods Gaza Camps and Leaves Displaced Palestinians in Dire Conditions

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    KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Rain lashed the Gaza Strip over the weekend, flooding makeshift encampments with ankle-deep puddles as Palestinians displaced by the two-year war attempted to stay dry in tents frayed by months of use.

    Muddy water soaked blankets and mattresses in tents in a camp in Khan Younis and fragile shelters were propped up with old pieces of wood. Children wearing flip-flops and light clothing ill-suited for winter waded through the freezing puddles, which turned dirt roads into rivers. Some people used shovels to try to push the water out of their tents.


    Nowhere to escape the rain

    “We drowned last night,” said Majdoleen Tarabein, a woman displaced from Rafah in southern Gaza. “Puddles formed, and there was a bad smell. The tent flew away. We don’t know what to do or where to go.”

    She showed blankets and the remaining contents of the tent, completely soaked and covered in mud, as she and family members tried to wring them dry by hand.

    “When we woke up in the morning, we found that the water had entered the tent,” said Eman Abu Riziq, also displaced in Khan Younis, as she pointed to a puddle just outside. “These are the mattresses — they are all completely soaked. My daughters’ belongings were soaked. The water is entering from here and there,” she said, gesturing toward the ceiling and the corners of the tent. Her family is still reeling from her husband’s recent death, and the constant struggle to stay dry in the winter rains.

    At least 12 people, including a 2-week-old infant, have died since Dec. 13 from hypothermia or weather-related collapses of war-damaged homes, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government.

    Emergency workers warned people not to stay in damaged buildings because they could collapse at any moment. But so much of the territory reduced to rubble, there are few places to escape the rain. In July, the United Nations Satellite Center estimated that almost 80% of the buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged.

    Since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on Oct. 11, 414 people have been killed and 1,142 wounded in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry. The overall Palestinian death toll from the war has risen to at least 71,266. The ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.


    More shelter desperately needed in Gaza as aid falls short

    Aid deliveries into Gaza are falling far short of the amount called for under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, according to an Associated Press analysis of the Israeli military’s figures. The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid said in the past week that 4,200 trucks full of humanitarian aid entered Gaza, plus eight garbage trucks to assist with sanitation, as well as tents and winter clothing as part of the winterization efforts. But it refused to elaborate on the number of tents. Humanitarian aid groups have said the need far outstrips the number of tents that have entered.

    Since the ceasefire began, approximately 72,000 tents and 403,000 tarps have entered, according to the Shelter Cluster, an international coalition of aid providers led by the Norwegian Refugee Council.

    “Harsh winter weather is compounding more than two years of suffering. People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents and among ruins. There is nothing inevitable about this. Aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required,” Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the top U.N. group overseeing aid in Gaza, wrote on X.


    Netanyahu travels to Washington for talks about second stage of ceasefire

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida about the second stage of the ceasefire. Netanyahu is expected to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.

    Though the ceasefire agreement has mostly held over the past 2 1/2 months, its progress has slowed. Israel has said it refuses to move on to the next stage of the ceasefire while the remains of the final hostage killed in the attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war are still in Gaza. Challenges in the next phase of the ceasefire include the deployment of an international stabilization force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.

    Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of truce violations.

    Abou AlJoud reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Jeffrey R. Holland, next in line to lead Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dies at 85

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    SALT LAKE CITY — Jeffrey R. Holland, a high-ranking official in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was next in line to become the faith’s president, has died. He was 85.

    Holland died early Saturday morning from complications associated with kidney disease, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced on its website.

    Holland, who died in Salt Lake City, led a governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which helps set church policy while overseeing the many business interests of what is known widely as the Mormon church.

    He was the next longest-tenured member of the Quorum of the Twelve after President Dallin H. Oaks, making him next in line to lead the church under a long-established succession plan.

    Henry B. Eyring, who is 92 and one of Oaks’ two top counselors, is now next in line for the presidency.

    Holland had been hospitalized during the Christmas holiday for treatment related to ongoing health complications, the church said. Experts on the faith pointed to his declining health in October when Oaks did not select Holland as a counselor. He attended several church events that month in a wheelchair.

    His death leaves a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve that Oaks will fill in coming months, likely by calling a new apostle from a lower-tier leadership council. Apostles are all men in accordance with the church’s all-male priesthood.

    Holland grew up in St. George, Utah, and worked for many years in education administration before his call to join the ranks of church leadership. He served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University, the Utah-based faith’s flagship school, from 1980 to 1989 and was a commissioner of the church’s global education system.

    Under his leadership, the Provo university worked to improve interfaith relations and established a satellite campus in Jerusalem. The Anti-Defamation League later honored Holland with its Torch of Liberty Award for helping foster greater understanding between Christian and Jewish communities.

    Holland is widely remembered for a 2021 speech in which he called on church members to take up metaphorical muskets in defense of the faith’s teachings against same-sex marriage. The talk, known colloquially as “the musket fire speech,” became required reading for BYU freshmen in 2024, raising concern among LGBTQ+ students and advocates.

    Holland was preceded in death by his wife, Patricia Terry Holland. He is survived by their three children, 13 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

    —-

    This story has been corrected to show that Holland was preceded in death by his wife.

    —-

    Associated Press Writer Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.

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  • How TV Shows Like ‘Mo’ and ‘Muslim Matchmaker’ Allow Arab and Muslim Americans to Tell Their Stories

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    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Whether it’s stand-up comedy specials or a dramedy series, when Muslim American Mo Amer sets out to create, he writes what he knows.

    The comedian, writer and actor of Palestinian descent has received critical acclaim for it, too. The second season of Amer’s “Mo” documents Mo Najjar and his family’s tumultuous journey reaching asylum in the United States as Palestinian refugees.

    Amer’s show is part of an ongoing wave of television from Arab American and Muslim American creators who are telling nuanced, complicated stories about identity without falling into stereotypes that Western media has historically portrayed.

    “Whenever you want to make a grounded show that feels very real and authentic to the story and their cultural background, you write to that,” Amer told The Associated Press. “And once you do that, it just feels very natural, and when you accomplish that, other people can see themselves very easily.”

    At the start of its second season, viewers find Najjar running a falafel taco stand in Mexico after he was locked in a van transporting stolen olive trees across the U.S.-Mexico border. Najjar was trying to retrieve the olive trees and return them to the farm where he, his mother and brother are attempting to build an olive oil business.

    Both seasons of “Mo” were smash hits on Netflix. The first season was awarded a Peabody. His third comedy special on Netflix, “Mo Amer: Wild World,” premiered in October.

    Narratively, the second season ends before the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but the series itself doesn’t shy away from addressing Israeli-Palestinian relations, the ongoing conflict in Gaza or what it’s like for asylum seekers detained in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.

    In addition to “Mo,” shows like “Muslim Matchmaker,” hosted by matchmakers Hoda Abrahim and Yasmin Elhady, connect Muslim Americans from around the country with the goal of finding a spouse.

    The animated series, “#1 Happy Family USA,” created by Ramy Youssef, who worked with Amer to create “Mo,” and Pam Brady, follows an Egyptian American Muslim family navigating life in New Jersey after the 9/11 terrorists attack in New York.


    Current events have an influence

    The key to understanding the ways in which Arab or Muslim Americans have been represented on screen is to be aware of the “historical, political, cultural and social contexts” in which the content was created, said Sahar Mohamed Khamis, a University of Maryland professor who studies Arab and Muslim representation in media.

    After the 9/11 attacks, Arabs and Muslims became the villains in many American films and TV shows. The ethnic background of Arabs and the religion of Islam were portrayed as synonymous, too, Khamis said. The villain, Khamis said, is often a man with brown skin with an Arab-sounding name.

    A show like “Muslim Matchmaker” flips this narrative on its head, Elhady said, by showing the ethnic diversity of Muslim Americans.

    “It’s really important to have shows that show us as everyday Americans,” said Elhady, who is Egyptian and Libyan American, “but also as people that live in different places and have kind of sometimes dual realities and a foot in the East and a foot in the West and the reality of really negotiating that context.”

    Before 9/11, people living in the Middle East were often portrayed to Western audiences as exotic beings, living in tents in the desert and riding camels. Women often had little to no agency in these media depictions and were “confined to the harem” — a secluded location for women in a traditional Muslim home.

    This idea, Khamis said, harkens back to the term “orientalism,” which Palestinian American academic, political activist and literary critic Edward Said coined in his 1978 book of the same name.

    Khamis said, pointing to countries like Britain and France, the portrayal in media of people from the region was “created and manufactured, not by the people themselves, but through the gaze of an outsider. The outsiders in this case, he said, were the colonial/imperialist powers that were actually controlling these lands for long periods of time.”

    Among those who study the ways Arabs have been depicted on Western television, a common critique is that the characters are “bombers, billionaires or belly dancers,” she said.


    The limits of representation

    Sanaz Alesafar, executive director of Storyline Partners and an Iranian American, said she has seen some “wins” with regard to Arab representation in Hollywood, noting the success of “Mo,” “Muslim Matchmaker” and “#1 Happy Family USA.” Storyline Partners helps writers, showrunners, executives and creators check the historical and cultural backgrounds of their characters and narratives to assure they’re represented fairly and that one creator’s ideas don’t infringe upon another’s.

    Alesafar argues there is still a need for diverse stories told about people living in the Middle East and the English-speaking diaspora, written and produced by people from those backgrounds.

    “In the popular imagination and popular culture, we’re still siloed in really harmful ways,” she said. “Yes, we’re having these wins and these are incredible, but that decision-making and centers of power still are relegating us to these tropes and these stereotypes.”

    Deana Nassar, an Egyptian American who is head of creative talent at film production company Alamiya Filmed Entertainment, said it’s important for her children to see themselves reflected on screen “for their own self image.” Nassar said she would like to see a diverse group of people in decision-making roles in Hollywood. Without that, it’s “a clear indication that representation is just not going to get us all the way there,” she said.

    Representation can impact audiences’ opinions on public policy, too, according to a recent study by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Results showed that the participants who witnessed positive representation of Muslims were less likely to support anti-democratic and anti-Muslim policies compared to those who viewed negative representations.

    For Amer, limitations to representation come from the decision-makers who greenlight projects, not from creators. He said the success of shows like his and others are a “start,” but he wants to see more industry recognition for his work and the work of others like him.

    “That’s the thing, like just keep writing, that’s all it’s about,” he said. “Just keep creating and keep making and thankfully I have a really deep well for that, so I’m very excited about the next things,” he said.

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Palestinian Man Kills 2 in Car-Ramming and Stabbing Attack in Northern Israel, Police Say

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    JERUSALEM (AP) — A car-ramming and stabbing attack by a Palestinian man left two people dead in northern Israel on Friday, police said.

    Police said the attacker first crashed his vehicle into people in the northern city of Beit Shean, killing one man, and then sped onto a highway, where he fatally stabbed a young woman. Police said that the attacker was heading toward the nearby city of Afula when a civilian bystander intervened and the attacker was shot.

    Both of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, Israel’s rescue services said. A teenage boy was hospitalized with minor wounds sustained in the car-ramming, according to bystanders.

    Police said that the attacker, who was hospitalized with injuries, came from the West Bank.

    The war in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and sparked a surge of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, with a rise in attacks by Palestinian militants as well as Israeli settler violence against Palestinians.

    In September, Palestinian attackers opened fire at a bus stop during the morning rush hour in Jerusalem, killing six people and wounding another 12, according to Israeli officials.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Trump: US struck Islamic State targets in Nigeria

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    In a Christmas night post on his social media site, Trump did not provide details or mention the extent of the damage caused. But the U.S. Africa Command said on X that strikes had been conducted “at the request of Nigerian authorities in Soboto State” and had killed “multiple ISIS terrorists.”

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    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • King Charles III picks Westminster Abbey as the site of his Christmas Day broadcast

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    LONDON — LONDON (AP) — King Charles III led his family to church on foot Thursday, hours before his annual Christmas Day speech to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth was expected to focus on the theme of pilgrimage.

    Charles and Queen Camilla, along with the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, and their children, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte, and extended family walked to St. Mary Magdalene Church on the king’s private Sandringham Estate.

    The location is about 100 miles north of London, where Charles recorded the address from Westminster Abbey, the landmark known for the lavish coronations and royal weddings it has hosted for more than 1,000 years.

    The abbey is also the focus of an annual pilgrimage to the tomb of Edward the Confessor, which lies at the heart of the church. Edward, a monk-like monarch, was canonized as a saint in 1161.

    The monarch’s annual holiday message is watched by millions of people in the U.K. and across the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 56 independent nations, most of which have historic ties to Britain. The prerecorded speech is broadcast at 3 p.m., when many families are enjoying their traditional Christmas lunch.

    The speech is one of the rare occasions when Charles, 77, is able to voice his own views and doesn’t seek guidance from the government. It usually has a strong religious framework, reflects current issues and sometimes draws on the monarch’s personal experiences.

    This year’s address comes just two weeks after Charles made a deeply personal television appearance in which he said “good news” from his doctors meant that he would be able to reduce his treatment for cancer in the new year.

    The king was diagnosed with a still undisclosed form of cancer in early 2024. Buckingham Palace says his treatment is now moving to a “precautionary phase” and his condition will be monitored to ensure his continued recovery.

    Charles recorded last year’s speech at Fitzrovia Chapel, which was once part of the now demolished Middlesex Hospital. During that address, he honored care workers around the country and gave a special thanks to the doctors and nurses who supported him after his cancer diagnosis.

    This year’s Christmas speech will be the fourth since Charles ascended to the throne after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died in September 2022.

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  • 3 Palestinians Arrested on Suspicion of Torching a Christmas Tree at a Catholic Church in West Bank

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    Three Palestinians have been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a Christmas tree and damaging part of a Nativity scene at a Catholic Church in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian Authority police said.

    Police said late Wednesday that the arrests were made after reviewing surveillance footage. Police said they seized tools from the suspects that they believe were used in the attack, and condemned the apparent attempt to incite sectarian and religious tensions in the West Bank.

    The Holy Redeemer Church of Jenin posted photos on social media of the arson, showing the skeleton of a synthetic Christmas tree that had been gutted of the green plastic branches, with red and gold ornaments strewn across the courtyard. The church said that the attack occurred around 3 a.m. Monday and also damaged part of the Nativity scene.

    The church quickly cleaned the burned tree and erected a new Christmas tree a day later, in time for Christmas Mass. The church held a special ceremony with the presence of local Muslim and Christian leaders and politicians. Rev. Amer Jubran, the local priest at the church, said that the torching was an isolated incident and stressed the city’s unity.

    “This occasion reaffirmed that attempts to harm religious symbols will never diminish the spirit of the city nor the faith of its people,” the Holy Redeemer Church said in a statement. The church didn’t respond to additional requests for comment.

    The tiny Christian community in the West Bank is facing growing threats of extremism from multiple sides, including both Israeli settlers and Palestinian extremists, leading them to leave the region in droves.

    Christians account for between 1%-2% of the West Bank’s roughly 3 million residents, the vast majority of them Muslim. Across the wider Middle East, the Christian population has steadily declined as people have fled conflict and attacks.

    Israel, whose founding declaration includes safeguarding freedom of religion and all holy places, sees itself as an island of religious tolerance in a volatile region. But some church authorities and monitoring groups have lamented a recent increase in anti-Christian sentiment and harassment, particularly in Jerusalem’s Old City. Extremist Israeli settlers have also vandalized and torched areas around churches and Christian villages.

    The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in the West Bank, with the Israeli military targeting militants in large-scale operations that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. That has coincided with a rise in settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Palestinian militants have attacked and killed Israelis in Israel and the West Bank.

    Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war. The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in parts of the territory, including Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank known as a militant stronghold.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Pope Leo XIV urges faithful on Christmas to shed indifference to suffering

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    VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV during his first Christmas Day message on Thursday urged the faithful to shed indifference in the face of those who have lost everything, such as in Gaza, those who are impoverished, such as in Yemen, and the many migrants who cross the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent for a better future.

    What You Need To Know

    • Pope Leo XIV, during his first Christmas Day message, has urged the faithful to shed indifference toward those who are suffering

    • The first U.S. pontiff highlighted the suffering in Gaza, Yemen, and that of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent

    • Addressing 26,000 people from St. Peter’s Square, he called for peace, justice, and stability in troubled regions like Lebanon, Ukraine, and Syria

    • The pope emphasized that everyone can contribute to peace through humility and responsibility, and he received especially warm cheers when he made his greetings in his native English and Spanish, the language of his adopted country of Peru, where he served as a missionary and then as archbishop

    The first U.S. pontiff addressed some 26,000 people from the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square for the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” address, Latin for “To the City and to the World,” which serves as a summary of the woes facing the world.

    While the crowd gathered under a steady downpour during the papal Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, the rain had subsided by the time Leo took a brief tour of the square in the popemobile, then spoke to the crowd from the loggia.

    Leo revived the tradition of offering Christmas greetings in multiple languages abandoned by his predecessor, Pope Francis. He received especially warm cheers when he made his greetings in his native English and Spanish, the language of his adopted country of Peru where he served first as a missionary and then as archbishop.

    Someone in the crowd shouted out “Viva il papa!” or ”Long live the pope!” before he retreated into the basilica. Leo took off his glasses for a final wave.

    Pope Leo XIV waves before delivering the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for ‘to the city and to the world’ ) Christmas’ day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

    Leo surveys the world’s distress

    During the traditional address, the pope emphasized that everyone could contribute to peace by acting with humility and responsibility.

    “If he would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change,” the pope said.

    Leo called for “justice, peace and stability” in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Israel and Syria, prayers for “the tormented people of Ukraine,” and “peace and consolation” for victims of wars, injustice, political instability, religious persecution and terrorism, citing Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Congo.

    The pope also urged dialogue to address “numerous challenges” in Latin America, reconciliation in Myanmar, the restoration of “the ancient friendship between Thailand and Cambodia,” and assistance for the suffering of those hit by natural disasters in South Asia and Oceania.

    “In becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent,” the pontiff said.

    He also remembered those who have lost their jobs or are seeking work, especially young people, underpaid workers and those in prison.

    Fithful display an Ukrainian flag as they wait Pope Leo XIV's Urbi et Orbi (Latin for 'to the city and to the world' Christmas' ) day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

    Fithful display an Ukrainian flag as they wait Pope Leo XIV’s Urbi et Orbi (Latin for ‘to the city and to the world’ Christmas’ ) day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

    Peace through dialogue

    Earlier, Leo led the Christmas Day Mass from the central altar beneath the balustrade of St. Peter’s Basilica, adorned with floral garlands and clusters of red poinsettias. White flowers were set at the feet of a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus, whose birth is celebrated on Christmas Day.

    In his homily, Leo underlined that peace can emerge only through dialogue.

    “There will be peace when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other,” he said.

    He remembered the people of Gaza, “exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold” and the fragility of “defenseless populations, tried by so many wars,’’ and of “young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them, and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.’’

    Thousands of people packed the basilica for the pope’s first Christmas Day Mass, holding aloft their smartphones to capture images of the opening procession.

    This Christmas season marks the winding down of the Holy Year celebrations, which will close on Jan. 6, the Catholic Epiphany holiday marking the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.

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  • Emmanuel Episcopal brings world class musicians to La Grange for ‘Messiah’ performance

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    About 250 people became the chorus last week as La Grange’s Emmanuel Episcopal Church brought to life George Frederic Handel’s “Messiah” at the church on Kensington Avenue, backing four soloists in the rendition of the Christmas classic.

    Mary Hopper, emeritus professor of Choral Music at Wheaton College, conducted the performance.

    “This is great and such a great experience,” Hopper said before the performance. “People really enjoyed singing last year and I enjoyed that.”

    Hopper described Handel’s most famous work as one that resonates with the American people.

    “It’s the story of Christmas and the story of the Gospel,” she said. “It’s got music that’s familiar, probably the most familiar piece of classical music that anybody has.”

    During her 43 years at Wheaton College, Hopper directed the Women’s Chorale and the Men’s Glee Club. She has toured nationally and internationally.

    Since 2018, Hopper has been director of the Hinsdale Chorale, several of whose members were dispersed through the crowd at Emmanuel Episcopal for the performance, singing along to the choruses.

    The oratorio, written in only 24 days by the German-born master, is considered among the most recognizable pieces of English language music.

    The Messiah was first performed in Ireland in 1741, and quickly became a favorite of music-lovers of the era. While it originally was considered appropriate for the Easter Holiday, over the years “Messiah” has become a Christmas staple.

    Oratorios are typically large-scale music works for orchestra and voices, focusing on religious themes; “Messiah” is no exception, with lyrics taken from scripture.

    Chicago-based soprano Olivia Doig, who has performed in venues throughout the Midwest, also returned after performing in last year’s rendition in La Grange.

    “Last year I was eight months pregnant and this year I’m not,” Doig said after the performance, “But my children are here this year.”

    Doig is a veteran of venues like the Chicago Opera Theater, Ohio Light Opera, and the Haymarket Opera. She is currently a guest lecturer in voice studies at Wheaton College.

    Other performers included mezzo soprano Janet Mensen Reynolds, who retired after 26 years in the chorus of the Chicago Lyric Opera, made her concert debut at Carnegie Hall, and currently has a private voice studio of 25 students. Baritone Ryan Cox has been a professional member of the Grant Park Chorus and the Chicago Symphony Chorus, and was the baritone soloist in the 2010 recording of Grant Park’s Pulitzer Project. Lyric Opera tenor Joseph Fosselman has been with the Opera since 1992 and has performed many solo roles in Lyric productions.

    The Kaia String Quartet, dedicated to bringing the music of Latin America to the public, provided the instrumentation for the performance. The group has performed at many Chicago-area venues, including the Chicago Jazz Fest, the Studebaker Theatre, the Morton Arboretum, the Chicago Latino Music Festival, and Chamber Music on the Fox.

    But some artists were first-timers for Emmanuel Episcopal Church’s new tradition.

    Harpsichordist Kathy Christian has served on the music faculty of North Central College in Naperville for 26 years. She is the organist and pianist for the First Congregational Church of Western Springs, as well as the accompanist for Hinsdale Chorale.

    Organist Bobby Nguyen, a native of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is the organist at the First United Church of Oak Park. He began his piano studies at Ho Chi Minh Conservatory of Music, continued his education at North Park University and ultimately studied organ at the Juilliard School.

    “At first when Mary contacted me a few months ago, I was a bit worried,” Nguyen said. “The Messiah is a pretty big piece and when I showed up here everything was very casual feeling, a friendly atmosphere, so I said, ‘oh, I can do this.’”

    Dan Mottl, junior warden at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, said bringing the performance back this year was an easy choice.

    “We were pretty confident because of the response from last year,” he said before the performance. “We had a good turnout, the excitement was building and people were saying ‘I hope you do this every year. It was planned to be an annual event and it looks like it’s catching on.”

    Mottl talked about bringing together different artists who normally didn’t work together.

    “We assembled them from all over the neighborhood, some were from La Grange, some from Wheaton, some from Chicago,” he said. “So we assembled the best singers and best musicians that we knew. The Kaia String Quartet was wonderful. So we brought all these people together.

    “Of course Mary Hopper was the key. She knew a lot of the people, but this is independent from anything she had worked on before.”

    After the show, Mottl said “everything was great. It’s probably better than last year.”

    Audience members came away impressed and inspired.

    La Grange resident Nanci Davidson, a member of Emmanuel Episcopal Choir, was also part of the effort to bring the Messiah to the church last year.

    “Oh my gosh this is the best community event this church could be doing,” Nanci said. “It brings everyone together at a very tumultuous time — depending on how you sit — and it sets you off in this wonderful, joyous mood in the holidays.”

    Western Springs resident Janet Helin agreed.

    “It’s just such a thrill,” she said. “Especially when you think of all those who would like to sing it, and especially the text that came up in our sermon this morning. Handel composed this in 24 days. It’s hard to even conceive of this whole thing.”

    Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. 

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  • Thousands Flock to Bethlehem to Revive Christmas Spirit After 2 Years of War in Gaza

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    BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Thousands of people flocked to Bethlehem’s Manger Square on Christmas Eve as families heralded a much-needed boost of holiday spirit. The giant Christmas tree that was absent during the Israel-Hamas war returned on Wednesday, overlooking a parade of scouts playing songs on bagpipes.

    The city where Christians believe Jesus was born cancelled Christmas celebrations for the past two years. Manger Square had instead featured a nativity scene of baby Jesus surrounded by rubble and barbed wire in homage to the situation in Gaza.

    Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the top Catholic leader in the Holy Land, kicked off this year’s celebrations during the traditional procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, calling for “a Christmas full of light.”

    Arriving in Manger Square, Pizzaballa said he came bearing greetings from Gaza’s tiny Christian community, where he held a pre-Christmas Mass on Sunday. Among the devastation, he saw a desire to rebuild.

    “We, all together, we decide to be the light, and the light of Bethlehem is the light of the world,” he told thousands of people, Christian and Muslim.

    Despite the holiday cheer, the impact of the war in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is acute, especially in Bethlehem, where around 80% of the Muslim-majority city’s residents depend upon tourism-related businesses, according to the local government.

    The vast majority of people celebrating were residents, with a handful of foreigners in the crowd. But some residents said they are starting to see signs of change as tourism slowly returns.


    Loss of tourism devastates Bethlehem

    “Today is a day of joy, a day of hope, the beginning of the return of normal life here,” said Bethlehem resident Georgette Jackaman, a tour guide who has not worked in more than two years.

    She and her husband, Michael Jackaman, another guide, are from established Christian Bethlehem families that stretch back generations. This is the first real Christmas celebration for their two children, aged 2 1/2 and 10 months.

    During the war, the Jackamans pivoted to create a website selling Palestinian handicrafts to try to support others who have lost their livelihoods.

    During the Gaza war, the unemployment rate in the city jumped from 14% to 65%, Bethlehem Mayor Maher Nicola Canawati said earlier this month.

    A visitor from France, Mona Riewer, said that “I came because I wanted to better understand what people in Palestine are going through, and you can sense people have been through a very hard time.”

    Although friends and family cautioned her against coming due to the volatile situation, Riewer said being in Bethlehem helped her appreciate the meaning of the holiday.

    “Christmas is like hope in very dark situations, a very vulnerable child experiencing harshness,” she said.

    Despite the Gaza ceasefire that began in October, tensions remain high across much of the West Bank.

    Israel’s military continues to carry out frequent raids in what it says is a crackdown on militants. Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have reached their highest level since the United Nations humanitarian office started collecting data in 2006. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war.

    The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in parts of the territory, including Bethlehem. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to attend midnight Mass for the first time in two years, the mayor said.

    As poverty and unemployment have soared, about 4,000 people have left Bethlehem in search of work, the mayor said. It’s part of a worrying trend for Christians, who are leaving the region in droves.

    Christians account for less than 2% of the West Bank’s roughly 3 million residents. Across the Middle East, the Christian population has steadily declined as people have fled conflict and attacks.


    The beginning of a return to normal life

    Fadi Zoughbi, who previously worked overseeing logistics for tour groups, said his children were ecstatic to see marching bands streaming through Bethlehem’s streets.

    The scouts represent cities and towns across the West Bank, with Palestinian flags and tartan draped on their bagpipes, drummers spinning mallets adorned with pompoms. For the past two years, the scouts marched silently as a protest against the war.

    Irene Kirmiz, who grew up in Bethlehem and now lives in Ramallah, said the scout parade is among her favorite Christmas traditions. Her 15-year-old daughter plays the tenor drum with the Ramallah scouts.

    “It’s very emotional seeing people trying to bounce back, trying to celebrate peace and love,” Kirmiz said.

    The Israeli Ministry of Tourism estimates 130,000 tourists will visit Israel by the end of December, including 40,000 Christians. In 2019, a banner year for tourism before the pandemic, the tourism ministry said 150,000 Christian tourists visited during Christmas week alone.

    During the previous two years, the heads of churches in Jerusalem urged congregations to forgo “any unnecessarily festive activities.” They encouraged priests and the faithful to focus on Christmas’ spiritual meaning and called for “fervent prayers for a just and lasting peace for our beloved Holy Land.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • These influencers are teaching Christianity online — and young people are listening

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    ATLANTA — Millennial and Generation Z Christian influencers are increasingly filling a void in American religion, growing audiences across digital platforms by steering young people to biblical answers to tough questions that aren’t always answered in Sunday sermons.

    “I can be that in-between — Monday to Saturday help — to give you practical things to make you feel like you’re not walking this walk alone,” said Megan Ashley, 35, sitting cross-legged in sweats on the couch where she records her “In Totality” podcast.

    From myriad backgrounds, these influencers talk candidly to their listeners about everything from anxieties and doubts to dating and culture, delving into the Bible’s complexities. Those of faith say Christian influencers are galvanizing young people looking for meaning in a culture that lacks it at a time when years of declining church attendance has slowed.

    “What they’re making accessible is a truth that transforms people,” said Lecrae Moore, a Christian rapper and podcaster. “There’s something that’s happening existentially — supernaturally — that I can’t explain.”

    Ashley and Moore are among a half-dozen popular influencers who described their work for this story. With and without formal theological they training, they describe themselves as churchgoers who don’t want their messages boxed in by denominational labels.

    Some grew up in church; others didn’t, but they commonly describe experiencing a spiritual transformation that came out of hardship or a sense of emptiness they pin on secular lifestyles.

    “We’re like, listen, we’re two mess-ups too. It’s OK,” said Arielle Reitsma, 36, co-host of podcast “Girls Gone Bible,” which gets more than a million listens or streams each month.

    These algorithm-savvy podcasters fit comfortably in a long tradition of Christian celebrities, said Zachary Sheldon, a Baylor University lecturer on media, religion and culture who cited televangelist Billy Graham as an example. Working independently, they can harness audiences more easily than established congregations and media organizations can.

    “Exposing people to the faith and challenging them to ask questions and search for something more” are really good things to do, Sheldon said. But he pointed to “potential dangers in granting them too much authority on the basis of their celebrity and their acumen with social media.”

    These influencers encourage church attendance and describe reaching a variety of people, including those who have been particularly disconnected from religion, which polls show is a growing number of young Americans. Only 41% of people ages 18-35 surveyed in 2023-24 said they believe in God with certainty, down from 65% in 2007, according to the Pew Research Center.

    “People are spiritually hungry, emotionally hungry, and I think for the first time ever … people are encountering Jesus even through online platforms, and they’re realizing, this is true life and fulfillment,” said Angela Halili, 29, Reitsma’s co-host.

    The pair now draws live crowds since starting the podcast more than two years ago. At an event in Atlanta, they warned hundreds of fans against idolizing work or relationships, Bibles in hand, and recounted their days as Hollywood actors battling addiction, heartbreak and mental health disorders. Halili said God brought them “radical healing,” and they want listeners to know that God can perform “miracles” in their lives, too.

    Afterward, they hugged and prayed for people in the audience, where Anna Williams, 17, said she considers both Reitsma and Halili to be “a big sister” in her life.

    Even as they espouse biblical principles as guidance toward true joy, influencers say that being Christian can be hard.

    God “does make everything better, but that doesn’t always come in the way that we think it’s gonna come,” said “In Totality” host Ashley.

    Her current obsession, which she teaches with fervor, is a biblical passage about living as a sacrifice. God asks people to give up certain wants and behaviors so they can grow closer to him, Ashley says. She said her intensity grew after a healing encounter with God’s “severity” as a freshly divorced single mom plagued by suicidal thoughts and depression.

    Bible passages, day-to-day plights and heavier challenges are covered on “With the Perrys,” a podcast led by husband and wife authors and spoken-word artists who also run a streetwear brand.

    “It is the all — how do we do all of this stuff in this weird flesh and weird world?” said Jackie Hill Perry, 36.

    She is an admired speaker who is working towards her seminary degree and wrote a book about leaving behind same-sex relationships. She and husband Preston Perry, 39, started podcasting in 2019. Followers already resonated with Perry’s theological debates and story of growing up around poverty and violence before finding faith and becoming a Christian evangelist.

    “God calls us to ruffle feathers sometimes, to speak to culture,” Perry said.

    In a recent episode, the Perrys urged listeners to be honest with God about struggling to trust him. Through focused prayer, obedience and Bible reading, God brings lasting peace, answers and growth during hard circumstances, they say, but this requires more than quick fixes like scrolling and sex.

    At just 22, Bryce Crawford teaches Bible chapters on his self-named podcast and posts videos of himself talking to people about Christianity at Pride parades, the Burning Man counter-culture festival and a satanic temple.

    Rather than shout “repent,” Crawford’s street evangelism aims to change minds through kindness. His followers say they’re attracted by his empathetic yet bold demeanor while delivering talking points against lifestyles such as same-sex marriage.

    “My issue with ‘repent or burn in hell’ is that people get frustrated because they don’t know why you’re telling them that,” said Crawford, who describes being severely anxious and bitter toward God until God healed him at a Waffle House. “Our tactics have been one-on-one conversations, calmly listening, asking questions because we care about them, and in that explaining our worldview.”

    These influencers acknowledge that online Christianity has its challenges.

    A hyperfocus on online drama and Christianity’s more esoteric beliefs can miss the basics, such as love and Christ’s sacrifice, Hill Perry said. She worries that “simply talking about gentleness or respect or kindness or patience is gonna be boring” to people.

    And the deep political and cultural rifts among Christians emerge online too.

    For example, Halili and Reitsma got pushback for taking the opportunity to pray at a pre-inauguration rally for President Donald Trump. The Perrys have been criticized by conservatives for talking about police brutality and racial injustice, and liberals for expressing opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.

    Some followers say these influencers provide a welcome alternative to the buttoned-up pastors they grew up with who spoke of God as a faraway deity that would reject them for breaking too many rules.

    “I really needed someone who was a younger Black female portraying something that wasn’t super traditional,” said Olivia Singleton, 24. She’s involved with her church and likes her pastor, but feels like these influencers are like “one of the girls … walking out the faith with you.”

    ___

    Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

    ___

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • Israeli Fire Kills at Least 5 Palestinians in Gaza, a Hospital in the Enclave Says

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    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops fired over the ceasefire line in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, killing at least five Palestinians, including a baby, according to a local hospital that received the casualties. The killings came as the tenuous Israel-Hamas truce has stalled in recent weeks.

    The five died in Tuffah, an eastern neighborhood in Gaza City, said Rami Mhanna, managing director of Shifa Hospital.

    Israel’s military said troops identified “a number of suspicious individuals … in command structures west of the Yellow Line,” and fired at them. The incident is under review and the military “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals,” it added.

    The Yellow Line divides the Israeli-held part of Gaza from the rest of the territory, and was drawn under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement that went into effect in October.

    Also Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff was planning to host in Florida top officials from Middle Eastern countries mediating the Gaza ceasefire, according to a U.S. official.

    The talks are an effort to push the ceasefire into its second, much more complex phase.

    The first phase began in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the initial Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people. All but one of the 251 hostages taken that day have been released, alive or dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

    The war in Gaza has killed more than 70,660 Palestinians, roughly half of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

    Though the ceasefire, now in its third month, has mostly held, its progress has slowed amid accusations of violations by both sides.

    The second phase of the deal is supposed to involve even bigger challenges — the deployment of an international stabilization force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Efforts to reconnect Americans face challenges in a lonely time

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    It’s been called an “epidemic” of loneliness and isolation. The “bowling alone” phenomenon.

    By any name, it refers to Americans’ growing social disconnection by many measures.

    Americans are less likely to join civic groups, unions and churches than in recent generations. They have fewer friends, are less trusting of each other and less likely to hang out in a local bar or coffee shop, recent polling indicates. Given all that, it’s not surprising that many feel lonely or isolated much of the time.

    Such trends form the backdrop to this Associated Press report on small groups working to restore community connections.

    They include a ministry pursuing “trauma-informed community development” in Pittsburgh; a cooperative helping small farmers and their communities in Kentucky; an “intentional” community of Baltimore neighbors; and organizations seeking to restore neighborhoods and neighborliness in Akron, Ohio.

    In 2023, then Surgeon General Vivek Murthy reported on an “ epidemic of loneliness and isolation,” similar to his predecessors’ advisories on smoking and obesity.

    Isolation and loneliness aren’t identical — isolation is being socially disconnected, loneliness the distress of lacking human connection. One can be alone but not lonely, or lonely in a crowd.

    But overall, isolation and loneliness are “risk factors for several major health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, dementia, depression, and premature mortality,” the report said.

    Murthy says he’s encouraged by groups working toward social connection through local initiatives ranging from potluck dinners to service projects. His new Together Project, supported by the Knight Foundation, aims to support such efforts.

    “What we have to do now is accelerate that movement,” he said.

    The pandemic temporarily exacerbated social isolation. There’s been some rebound, but often not back to where it was before.

    Scholars and activists have cited various potential causes — and effects — of disconnection. They range from worsening political polarization to destructive economic forces to rat-race schedules to pervasive social media.

    Murthy said for many users, social media has become an endless scroll of performance, provocation and unattainably perfect body types.

    “What began perhaps as an effort to build community has rapidly transformed into something that I worry is actually now actively contributing to loneliness,” he said.

    Harvard’s Robert Putnam, 25 years ago, described the decline in civic engagement in a widely cited 2000 book “Bowling Alone.” It was so named because the decline even affected bowling leagues. The bowling wasn’t the point. It was people spending time together regularly, making friends, finding romantic partners, helping each other in times of need.

    Memberships in many organizations — including service, veterans, scouting, fraternal, religious, parental and civic — have continued their long decline into the 21st century, according to a follow-up analysis in “The Upswing,” a 2020 book by Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett.

    While some organizations have grown in recent years, the authors argue that member participation often tend to be looser — making a contribution, getting a newsletter — than the more intensive groups of the past, with their regular meetings and activities.

    Certainly, some forms of social bonds have earned their mistrust. People have been betrayed by organizations, families and religious groups, which can be harshest on their dissenters.

    But disconnection has its own costs.

    “There’s been such a drive for personal autonomy, but I think we’ve moved so far past wanting not to have any limits on what we can do, what we can believe, that we’ve become allergic to institutions,” said Daniel Cox, the director of the Survey Center on American Life and a senior fellow in polling and public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute.

    “I’m hoping we’re beginning to recognize that unbounded personal autonomy does not make us happier and creates a wealth of social problems,” said Cox, co-author of the 2024 report, “ Disconnected: The Growing Class Divide in American Civic Life.”

      1. About 16% of adults, including around one-quarter of adults under 30, report feeling lonely or isolated all or most of the time, according to a 2024 survey by the Pew Research Center.

      2. Just under half of Americans belonged to a religious congregation in 2023, a low point for Gallup, which has tracking this trend since 1937.

      3. About 10% of workers are in a union, down from 20% four decades ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

      4. Around half of Americans regularly spent time in a public space in their community in 2025, such as a coffee shop, bar, restaurant or park. That’s down from around two-thirds in 2019, according to “America’s Cultural Crossroads,” another study by the Survey Center on American Life.

      5. About two in 10 U.S. adults have no close friends outside of family, according to the “Disconnected” report. In 1990, only 3% said that, according to Gallup. About one-quarter of adults have at least six close friends, down from nearly half in 1990.

      6. About 4 in 10 Americans have at most one person they could depend on to lend them $200, offer a place to stay or help find a job, according to “Disconnected.”

      7. About one-quarter of Americans say most people can be trusted — down from about half in 1972, according to the General Social Survey.

    Some argue that Putnam and others are using too limited a measurement — that people are finding new ways of connecting to replace the old ones, whether online or other newer forms of networking.

    Still, many numbers depict an overall decline in connection.

    This hits hardest on those who are already struggling — who could most use a friend, a job referral or a casserole at the door in hard times.

    Those with lower educations, which generally translates to lower incomes, tend to report having fewer close friends, fewer civic gathering places in their communities and fewer people who could help out in a pinch, according to “Disconnected.”

    Across the country, small organizations and informal groups of people have worked to build community, whether through formal programs or less structured events like potluck dinners.

    Murthy will continue to be visiting such local groups in his “Together Project,” supporting such efforts.

    Another group, Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute, has a searchable database of volunteer opportunities and an online forum for connecting community builders, which it calls “weavers.” It aims to support and train them in community-building skills.

    “Where people are trusting less, where people are getting to know each other less, where people are joining groups less, there are people still in every community who have decided that it’s up to them to bring people together,” said its executive director, Frederick J. Riley.

    ___

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • A Homeless Man’s Death Caught the Pope’s Attention. Now His Likeness Is on Display at the Vatican

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    VATICAN CITY (AP) — In 2018, German artist Michael Triegel asked a homeless man in Rome to pose for a drawing, thinking that he would make an ideal model for St. Peter if he ever needed to paint the first pope.

    Seven years on, the man’s likeness has gone on display in the Vatican, a reunion of sorts that came about by improbable chance.

    This is a story both big and small, of art and faith and a human tragedy that caught the attention of Pope Francis: homeless German man Burkhard Scheffler died from the cold in 2022 on the edge of St. Peter’s Square.

    The saga began in Germany, where Triegel in 2019 won a commission from the Protestant cathedral in the city of Naumburg to create a new central panel for its altar by Renaissance master Lucas Cranach the Elder. The panel would replace an original that was destroyed in 1541 during the Reformation, the upheavals that convulsed parts of Europe as Protestantism emerged in the 16th century.

    Cranach’s two side panels survived. Triegel, a Catholic convert, leapt at the prospect of a “collaboration with Cranach.”

    “They had the idea of completing this altar again, in what I find a beautiful gesture — not to undo these wounds from the 16th century but to mitigate them, to heal them,” he said in an interview in his studio in Leipzig.


    St. Peter finds his place

    Triegel planned out his painting and drew on that encounter he had in 2018 with the homeless man in Rome.

    The man took his place as St. Peter among the saints gathered around Mary and the infant Jesus. Triegel said it was important that his subjects not be idealized archetypes but figures the viewer would feel were people “who could have something to do with me in the here and now, who are not just historic.”

    St. Paul was based on a rabbi Triegel drew in Jerusalem, while Mary was modeled on the artist’s daughter. In the back was Protestant pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an opponent of the Nazis who was executed in 1945.

    Triegel’s St. Peter is bearded, wears a red baseball cap and holds a small key — a reference to the biblical keys of heaven that are often associated with the saint.

    The artist found his saint sitting at the entrance of a Roman church begging. As he was about to give the man money, Triegel recalled, “he looked at me and at that moment I had the feeling, if you ever need a Peter for a picture, he would be your Peter — that flowing beard and those alert eyes.”

    Triegel asked the man in Italian whether he could draw and photograph him, and the man just nodded — “so I had no idea what nation he was from.”

    Unbeknown to Triegel, his St. Peter had a rough time after their 2018 encounter.

    The man, Burkhard Scheffler, had suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under Italy’s harsh lockdowns, fewer and fewer people ventured out to provide handouts and food to those in need.

    Scheffler was arrested in May 2020 after he apparently threatened someone with a knife for refusing to give him change. He was sentenced to three years in prison and released in late 2022.

    Known to many in the Vatican, Scheffler had grown weak in prison. “His hands, which were always warm, had grown cold,” a Vatican journalist, Gudrun Sailer, would later recall.

    On the night of Nov. 25, 2022, Scheffler died from the cold.


    The pope honors the homeless

    His death caught the attention of Francis, who had made a priority of caring for the homeless people around the Vatican. Under Francis’ watch, the Vatican installed showers, a barber shop and clinic in the colonnade of St. Peter’s. Francis’ almsgiver went out on cold nights to distribute sleeping bags.

    Hours after Scheffler died, the Vatican spokesperson issued a statement saying he had been cared for by the Vatican’s charity office but “unfortunately, the rain and cold last night contributed to aggravate his fragile condition.” The spokesperson said Francis remembered in his prayer that day “Burkhard and all those who are forced to live without a home, in Rome and the world.”

    Shortly after, Francis said in his weekly Sunday prayer: “I remember Burkhard Scheffler, who died three days ago under the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square: died of cold.”

    And the pope returned to the theme in his Palm Sunday homily in April 2023. “I think of the German so-called street person, who died under the colonnade, alone and abandoned. He is Jesus for each of us. So many need our closeness, so many are abandoned.”

    Francis asked that Scheffler be buried at the Teutonic cemetery on the grounds of the Vatican, alongside many German-speaking priests, pilgrims and notables. His simple tomb is in the small pilgrim section, in the shadow of St. Peter’s Basilica and just a few yards from the tomb of the real St. Peter.

    Back in Germany, Triegel spent three years working on the altar for the Naumburg Cathedral, but a problem arose.

    There were concerns that the Triegel-Cranach altar could cost the building its place on the UNESCO World Heritage List. UNESCO experts felt that it hindered the overall view of the west chapel, including famous statues. In July, regional authorities said the verdict was that the altar could stay — but would have to be shown elsewhere in the cathedral.

    While that discussion played out, the idea arose of lending the altar to the Catholic chapel of the Teutonic pontifical college at the Vatican, a residence for German-speaking priests adjacent to the cemetery. The chapel has an altar of its own from the period of Cranach’s original.


    Putting the pieces together

    And it was then in the Teutonic chapel that a Vatican-affiliated art expert recognized Triegel’s St. Peter as none other than Scheffler.

    “Someone said, ‘This guy with the red cap, we know him because he was living here at St. Peter’s Square,” said Monsignor Peter Klasvogt, rector of the Campo Santo Teutonico, as the complex is known. “That was a moment you never forget.”

    The altar is now on a two-year loan to the chapel, a stone’s throw from Scheffler’s grave, itself just steps from the tomb of St. Peter.

    When Triegel learned that his altar might end up next to Scheffler’s grave, he recalled thinking, “there can’t be so many coincidences.”

    With the arrival of the painting, “the story gets another outcome and another exit, and this is so wonderful to see,” Klasvogt said. “We honor him with the altar, we honor him with his grave and we pray here in the church for him.”

    After the argument about the altar’s placement in Germany, the coincidence also appeals to the artist.

    “If this whole dispute was necessary for this picture to go to Rome and for this man to be seen again, for him to get a name, for … people to take notice of him and remember him, then this whole Naumburg project was really worth it for me,” Triegel said.

    Geir Moulson and Kerstin Sopke reported from Leipzig, Germany. Pietro De Cristofaro contributed from Leipzig.

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Mass Shooting at Jewish Event on Bondi Beach Follows Rising Antisemitism in Australia

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    Worldwide, Australia and Italy experienced the biggest increase in antisemitic attacks in 2024, according to Uriya Shavit, who oversees an annual report about global antisemitism from Tel Aviv University.

    The numbers in these two countries rose while worldwide there was a slight decline in antisemitic attacks. Australia recorded 1,713 antisemitic incidents.

    Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures.

    “This was really one of the safest communities for Jews in history, characterized by religious tolerance and coexistence, and now Australian Jews are seriously asking whether they have a future in the country,” said Shavit. He cited an increasing legitimization of expressions of hatred toward Jews in the public discourse and the government’s lack of willingness to address the issue.

    Rabbi Eli Schlanger, with Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer of the event where Sunday’s shooting happened, was among the dead, according to Chabad, an international movement of ultra-Orthodox Judaism known for its public candle lightings in communities across the world.

    The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, in a statement, called for government leaders to move beyond words.

    “The time for talking is over. We need decisive leadership and action now to eradicate the scourge of antisemitism from Australia’s public life, for which the Jewish community has long been advocating. Government’s first duty is to keep its citizens safe,” the statement said.

    Antisemitic episodes in Australia’s two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne — home to 85% of the country’s Jewish population — have drawn the highest profile because they’re severe, unusual and public.

    In August, Albanese accused Iran of organizing two antisemitic attacks in Australia and said his country was cutting off diplomatic relations with Tehran in response. It was not immediately clear if Sunday’s attack on the Hanukkah event had any connection to Iran.

    The Australian Security Intelligence Organization concluded that Iran had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company in Sydney, in October 2024, and on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue two months later, Albanese said.

    Sunday’s shooting erupted during a ceremony marking the first night of the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah, which began this year on Dec. 14. In Hebrew, Hanukkah means “dedication,” and the holiday marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C. Traditionally, Jews light a ritual candelabra, or menorah, each night, in honor of the tiny supply of ritually pure oil that they found in the temple that lasted for eight nights instead of just one.

    Chabad has often held a public candle lighting on Bondi Beach for Hanukkah that drew hundreds of people in past years. During Hanukkah, Chabad leaders traditionally place menorahs on car rooftops and host giant menorahs in public settings.

    Chabad is a sect of Judaism, originally based in Brooklyn, New York, which focuses on expanding Jewish observance through dispatching emissaries throughout the world, often in places with little or no Jewish presence. Chabad spokesperson Motti Seligson said there are Chabad synagogues and outreach programs in more than 100 countries and Chabad has been in Australia for decades.

    Husband-and-wife emissaries, known as shluchim, work around the world, especially in areas with a sparse Jewish presence. They are easily recognizable by the traditional dress, including black suits and hats for men and modest dress with head coverings or wigs for women.

    There have been several attacks against Chabad rabbis and synagogues around the world. In 2008, nine people were killed in an attack against a Chabad house in Mumbai, India, and one person was killed and three injured in a 2019 shooting at a Chabad synagogue outside of San Diego.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Converts are finding Eastern Orthodoxy online. The church wants to help them commune face-to-face

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    LOS ANGELES — Often when a potential convert walks through the doors of his church, one of the first things the Very Rev. Andreas Blom encourages them to do is give up the thing that brought them there.

    “You discovered Orthodoxy online. You learned about it online. Now you’re here, the internet is done,” he tells inquirers at Holy Theophany Orthodox Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “Now you have a priest. Now you have people. Now you need to wean yourself off that stuff and enter into this real community of faith.”

    Blom is not a Luddite advising congregants to go off the grid, but is instead responding to the explosion of Eastern Orthodox content online that is, at least in part, driving a surge of converts across the United States. Christian Orthodoxy is an embodied tradition that requires in-person participation, but the internet has given their message a reach not seen in centuries.

    Sometimes called America’s “best kept secret,” Orthodoxy is embraced by about 1% of U.S. adults, according to Pew Research Center. But a heightened online profile has led to two waves of converts since the pandemic, said Matthew Namee, executive director of the Orthodox Studies Institute.

    Young, single men are often cited as the driving force behind this trend. But Namee said preliminary data suggest the most recent influx of converts is more diverse, with many Black and Hispanic people, women and young families joining. Clergy report people coming from a host of religious backgrounds, from Islam to witchcraft, as well as different Christian traditions.

    Blom’s Holy Theophany launched a second church this year because their 250-capacity building was consistently overflowing, with dozens standing outside each week.

    “It’s almost full already,” he said of the new location. “And back at our church, again we have a bunch of people standing outside every Sunday. We just can’t keep up.”

    They’re already in talks to launch a third church.

    While some Orthodox content creators are priests, others have no formal ties to the church. They span ideological and political affiliations, with some leaning far right and others who are conventional religious conservatives on issues like marriage and abortion.

    “By and large, Orthodox Christians are not far right. It’s a minority group within a minority religious tradition,” said Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, who studies religion and politics at Northeastern University.

    Jonathan Pageau, a Canadian icon carver who teaches symbolism courses online, is among the most popular content creators with about 275,000 YouTube subscribers.

    “We have to see it as a kind of irony and something of a paradox. In some ways, you could say we’re using tools that aren’t completely appropriate,” he said of how the internet contrasts with Orthodoxy’s emphasis on in-person liturgy. “At the same time, one of the things that the internet offers is reach. And one of the things Orthodoxy hasn’t had in forever is reach.”

    Pageau, who converted in 2003, says he and other influencers stress the importance of in-person community to their followers.

    “We tell them to go to church,” he said. “You can’t live this in your mind online because it is distorting. When you go to church, you meet all kinds of people, people that are on all sides of the political aisle.”

    Abia Ailleen researched Orthodoxy online for six months before stepping inside Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles. The 28-year-old Latina, who was chrismated — or received into the faith — in April 2024, also sees a disconnect between Orthodoxy online and in the flesh.

    “People who come to Saint Sophia who are very rigid, who want to be perfect and holy based on what they’ve learned on the internet, a lot of the time Saint Sophia isn’t a place that they want to stay,” she said. “We really have cultivated a structure of humility, of making mistakes and of vulnerability.”

    To be sure, devout Orthodox do follow a robust program of prayer, fasting and other disciplines. Justin Braxton, a firefighter who converted a year and a half ago, likens some of Orthodoxy’s “strenuous” demands to exercise.

    “I dreaded leg day, but I would feel amazing afterwards. I feel like that’s the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is when you’re basically fulfilling carnal needs,” he said. “Joy is that feeling after that tough workout and saying, ‘Yeah, I did it.’”

    At the same time, priests often try to temper the yearnings of some converts for rules and structure.

    “They come to Orthodoxy and they find that yes, we have rules and we have structure. But within those rules and structure there’s a lot of fluidity,” said the Very Rev. Thomas Zain, dean of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York, and vicar general of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

    His church has seen an exponential increase in attendance, which began about two years ago. “I’ll get like 50 people at a Bible study or adult education class, where I used to get three or four or five,” he said.

    Zain, a descendant of Syrian immigrants who was born into the faith, is navigating the ideological diversity from which people are joining. “It’s breathed new life into the church, but it’s also challenging because you’re trying to mold them into one community with the old and the new,” he said.

    Part of what’s fueling the perception that only men are converting is that many influencers overlap with the so-called manosphere — content online that caters toward men grappling with their understanding of masculinity. Orthodoxy is often billed as an alternative or supplement to self-help advice for young men.

    “As a theologian, the idea that somehow masculinity — this particular way of thinking about masculinity — is inherent to Orthodox theology and teaching is I think just completely wrong,” said Aristotle Papanikolaou, cofounding director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. “There’s actually no logic to the idea that somehow I need to be masculine in this particular way in order to unite myself with God.”

    Though appealing to some, others believe these influencers distort their idea of Christianity. “It’s just not my cup of tea,” said Aaron Velasco, a 26-year-old filmmaker chrismated last year.

    And while Velasco did take an interest in some content creators, and appreciates Pageau’s demeanor and perspective, he thinks many of them preach an inflammatory version of the faith that doesn’t fit his current understanding of it.

    Many adherents say the broader church is more ideologically diverse than the rigid conservatism often found online.

    “Look at the institutional church. There is this huge hierarchy where women are not present. It’s hard to say that’s not a masculine image,” said Dina Zingaro, who is studying Orthodoxy at Harvard Divinity School and who was raised in the faith. “At the same time, there are so many counter-narratives in Orthodoxy that uproot this idea.”

    Church leaders have made few public responses, however some clergy are beginning to speak more about the magnitude of this influx and its accompanying challenges.

    “There are cases of extremism and fundamentalism,” said Metropolitan Saba, leader of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, during an address last month in Denver. “Many who are coming to the church today are psychologically, emotionally or socially wounded, which requires experienced and mature spiritual fathers and mothers.”

    Zingaro, who preaches regularly and teaches courses for Orthodox women on preaching, hopes church leadership will be more vocal.

    “Our response in my mind has not been strong enough,” Zingaro said. “There’s something that we’re doing that is making people think it’s OK to make these claims about Orthodoxy. We need to lift up the real spirit and the core of Orthodoxy, which is really the opposite of this rule-based male domination version.”

    ___

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • Conservationists connect with chimps in a Ugandan rainforest as they seek a sense of communion

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    KIBALE NATIONAL PARK, Uganda — The man tracking chimpanzee movements in a rainforest is required to follow the primates wherever they go — except up in the trees.

    Onesmas Ainebyona stalks the chimps with such spirtual determination that he’s been able to win the trust of a chimp leader named Jean, who came down a tree one recent morning as Ainebyona lingered nearby.

    It took Ainebyona four years to achieve rapport with Jean, an alpha male that’s become so used to people that he pretends to sleep while tourists make a racket that compels other chimps to leave.

    Wildlife authorities describe the process of making chimps appear comfortable around humans as “habituation,” a term that fails to account for the struggle between man and beast as they try to understand — and tolerate — each other.

    Ainebyona and others involved in chimp conservation in this remote Ugandan rainforest say they aim for the kind of communion that at first irks chimps. Habituating chimps can take several years. The conservation efforts employing men like Ainebyona not only trace the apes’ movements, but also help ensure chimps like Jean don’t die young.

    “The job requires patience,” Ainebyona said. “Passion also. You have to care.”

    Ainebyona doesn’t leave the forest even when it rains. “You accept,” he said. “The rain must beat you, but you can’t desert the chimp.”

    The rainforest in western Uganda is part of Kibale National Park, a protected area described by some as the world’s primate capital. Species range from colobus monkeys to chimpanzees, a major tourist attraction.

    But tourists can’t be taken to track wild chimpanzees, which flee deeper into dense patches of montane forest and are known to be violent during clashes over territory. Instead, rangers lead tourists to one of three groups of habituated chimps, with numbers ranging from dozens to more than 100 in a group. Chimps in Kibale now number at least 1,000, many of them wild.

    Even habituated chimps remain relatively wary of people, and only a few — like Jean of the Kisongi group, which includes about 80 apes — appear to have fully overcome any discomfort around people.

    “Jean is my friend,” Ainebyona declared one recent morning as some tourists gathered nearby. The strong and flamboyant chimp in his 20s lay on his back and put his feet up.

    The connection between Ainebyona and Jean was sealed in July when the chimp showed up one day with a wire snare pressing his hand, an injury that risked severing a finger. Ainebyona was among those who removed the wire, which Jean picked up when he strayed outside the forest to steal sugarcane.

    Ainebyona is among four men working in shifts as chimp habituators with Jean’s group. When the chimps rest, the men crouch in mud nearby. When the primates go hiking, they trek alongside them, sometimes even grunting like them.

    Ainebyona carries binoculars and takes note of what he sees. The goal is to increase the chimp numbers and extract more tourism revenue. At Kibale, a permit to track chimps costs a foreign visitor $250.

    Tourist guide Alex Turyatunga told The Associated Press that the habituation process is enlightening. He and his colleagues have been trying to fully habituate the Kisongi group for more than a decade, he said.

    “We try to learn about these chimpanzees, but they also try to learn about us,” Turyatunga said.

    To succeed, habituators can focus on alphas like Jean, targeting them repeatedly until others in the group notice their comfort around people. One individual can help others “get on board,” Turyatunga said.

    The common chimpanzee is one of two primate species with the closest evolutionary ties to humans. Scientists cite nearly 99% DNA similarity between humans and chimps — similar for bonobos.

    Habituators like Ainebyona must show a willingness to interact closely with chimps, said Ankunda Viola Ariho, Kibale’s tourism warden.

    “We look at the attitude. That’s very important,” she said, speaking of habituators. “You are not going to work doing this job, if you don’t like what you’re doing.”

    Jane Goodall, the world-renowned primatologist who died in October, built strong bonds with the chimps she studied in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. Her work helped shape a sympathetic view of the chimp as an emotionally complex creature. The species is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as endangered, facing threats such as poaching and habitat loss.

    Kibale National Park received enhanced protected status in 1993 after the forest had been encroached upon by hundreds of people who built homes there and felled trees for firewood. The park is now thriving, thanks in part to the habituation efforts that make it possible for tourists to contribute directly to chimp conservation.

    Chimp habituation can open up research opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, and Kibale is home to one of the longest-running field stations in the tropics, said David Morgan, who co-directs the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project in the Republic of Congo.

    “If chimps don’t want to be seen, they’re incredibly good at disappearing,” said Morgan, who also is a chimpanzee and gorilla expert at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

    Chimp habituation and related tourism can improve how the public interacts with the apes, he said.

    “The communities that are habituated, they serve as kind of an emblem of the importance of what we can learn from them and what we stand to gain by protecting them and what we stand to lose by not,” Morgan said.

    Turyatunga takes a walkie-talkie when he ventures into the forest, now and then asking habituators if they have close and clear views of chimps. That’s because chimps, even when habituated, are more likely to be seen up in the trees.

    “You listen for early morning calls when they are getting out of the nests. Then present yourself to the chimps — they see you are there, that’s all,” he said. “Keep with them. If they move, follow them.”

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    Holly Meyer contributed to this report from Nashville, Tennessee.

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    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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