Pope Leo XIV has made a historic apology for the role the Holy See played in legitimizing slavery. Leo’s own family history includes both enslaved people and slave owners. He delivered the apology in his first encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” or Magnificent Humanity which was released on Monday. Past popes have apologized for Christians’ involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. But no pope has ever publicly acknowledged much less apologized for the role that past popes played in giving European kings explicit authority to subjugate and enslave “infidels.” One expert calls this “a truly remarkable moment.”
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A Texas board has suspended the nursing license of Camp Mystic’s co-director in a scathing order that accuses her of not helping children evacuate during last year’s catastrophic floods. The suspension is one of the state’s first actions since the July 4 tragedy against a member of the family that owns and operates Camp Mystic. The predawn flooding along the Guadalupe River killed 25 girls and two teenage counselors at the all-girls Christian camp. Mary Liz Eastland, a registered nurse, served as the camp’s medical officer. Camp Mystic attorney Joshua Fiveson says Eastland rejects the findings and will fight the suspension.
Loud and expressive mourners are common at funerals around the world — but in parts of Kenya, some of them may be paid workers. Professional mourners in western Kenya play an important and common role in funerals, adding a level of intensity to collective grief in support of traditional local beliefs. The role is an unlikely but relatively well-paid job in one of the country’s poorer regions. The increasing trend of paid mourners, which experts say is a function of urbanization, is also a unique example of how Christianity is blended with traditional rites in the region.
AP Wire
Thousands of people have streamed onto the National Mall in Washington for a daylong prayer rally. The event Sunday is billed as a “rededication of our country as One Nation under God.” President Donald Trump read a passage of Scripture in a video shown at the rally, the same footage used in a Bible-reading event last month. Most speakers celebrated Christianity’s ties to American history. It's a blending of ideas that critics flagged in advance of the prayer gathering as supporting Christian nationalism. The event was organized by a public-private partnership backed by the White House. Congressional Democrats see it as a Trump-controlled end run around a commission charted by Congress a decade ago to prepare 250th anniversary events.
President Donald Trump and several top administration officials are joining with a cast of mostly conservative Christian clergy this Sunday for a prayer gathering. The event is scheduled to take place on the National Mall in Washington, and Trump is expected to address the crowd by video. It's billed as a rededication of the United States as "One Nation Under God” upon America’s 250th birthday. Some critics call the event an effort to “hijack” U.S. history with a false, Christian nationalist narrative they say fuses American and Christian identities and threatens a constitutional separation of church and state.
Israel sentences two soldiers to military prison for desecration of Christian statue in Lebanon.
A Tennessee doctor is practicing reproductive medicine aligned with his Christian faith. Dr. John Gordon’s Knoxville clinic limits how many embryos it creates and does not discard viable embryos, genetically test them or donate them to science. His clinic draws patients nationwide who are concerned over the moral issues that surround in vitro fertilization. The IVF debate has been growing since court decisions ended federal abortion rights nationally and designated embryos as children in Alabama. Some Christians and anti-abortion activists who believe IVF is unethical have criticized Gordon. But he says he's still committed to reconciling his work with his faith.
IVF presents challenges for some anti-abortion Christians who believe life begins at fertilization. Dr. John Gordon is a Christian IVF doctor. He grew troubled over moral dilemmas in traditional IVF and now runs a faith-based fertility clinic in Knoxville, Tennessee. Rejoice Fertility clinic does not discard viable embryos, genetically test them, or donate them to science. Instead, it facilitates embryo adoptions and limits the number of embryos it helps create. Gordon’s approach resonates with patients who share his beliefs as debates grow over popular IVF treatments.
President Donald Trump's Religious Liberty Commission is preparing to make recommendations after more than a year of hearings. Commissioners have spoken about their wish lists for what they want to see in the report. They reflect the perspectives of the commission's largely conservative evangelical and Catholic membership. One idea is to increase avenues for religious expression in public schools and other public settings. Another is making public money more available to religious organizations. And there's a push for allowing for religious-based exemptions from regulations and classroom lessons. The commission's chair has repeatedly said "there is no separation of church and state.”
Joni Lamb, who cofounded one of the world's largest Christian TV networks with her late husband, has died. The Daystar Television Network said she died Thursday after suffering from serious health issues. She was 65. The network says its ministry will continue and that Lamb made sure a leadership team was in place. Based in the Dallas area, the Daystar Television Network says it is broadcast in more than 200 countries. Joni Lamb was the network's president and could be seen on the air hosting her signature daily women’s show.