The Angel Meloni is no more.

Attacks on Bangladesh’s Hindu minority have surged since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in an uprising in 2024.

Palestinians have gathered at Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt, hoping to pass through after it reopened.

Defense lawyers in the Vatican’s “trial of the century” have argued that Pope Francis violated the fundamental rights of their clients by issuing four secret decrees that gave prosecutors “surreal carte blanche” to investigate.

Independent journalist Don Lemon says about a dozen federal agents came to his Los Angeles hotel to arrest him last week.

Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” is undergoing its first major restoration in three decades.

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from ending temporary protections that have allowed roughly 350,000 Haitians to live and work in the United States.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced two more arrests in the protest at a church in Minnesota against the immigration enforcement crackdown.

Israeli authorities are investigating a group of local officials and businesspeople that investigators suspect siphoned millions of dollars of wartime aid being funneled to help people in the early days of the Israel-Hamas war.

As a teenager in India, Susai Jesu led prayer services in his small Catholic village, helped at Mass and soon began training for the priesthood.

Rabbis and rabbinical students in the United States are more diverse than ever.

A new campaign by Mexico City’s Historic Center Trust aims to encourage Mexicans to rediscover the religious and architectural heritage at the heart of the nation's capital.

Journalist Don Lemon has been released from custody after being charged with federal civil rights crimes in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted services at a Minnesota church.

South Africa has declared Israel’s deputy ambassador persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country within 72 hours.

Two neighboring towns on the Arizona-Utah border that once served as a haven for a polygamous religious sect have entered a new era.

Israel says it will reopen Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt in both directions over the weekend.

Pharrell Williams uses the Recording Academy stage to pray for U.S. leaders.

A man has been arrested after repeatedly crashing his car into the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters in New York City.

Sarah Mullally was confirmed as archbishop of Canterbury on Wednesday, becoming the first woman to lead the Church of England.

Israel is marking the end of a painful chapter after the return of the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza.

People across Europe and beyond are commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Ilana Kantorowicz Shalem was born in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945, and is one of the youngest Holocaust survivors.

Israelis expressed relief as the remains of Ran Gvili, the last hostage taken into Gaza, were recovered Monday.

Israel says the remains of the final hostage in Gaza have been recovered, clearing the way for the next phase of the ceasefire that stopped the Israel-Hamas war.

Priests and priestesses of the Afro-Cuban religion known as Santería have offered gifts to deities and asked for peace as tensions rise between the United States and Cuba and the island braces for more economic difficulties.

Israel says its military is conducting a large-scale operation to locate the last hostage in Gaza.

American religious history is rife with protest movements.

Top U.S. envoys have met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to advance the ceasefire in Gaza.

Syria's government forces have taken control of a prison housing Islamic State group members in the country's north.

Desperate Palestinians at a garbage dump in a Gaza neighborhood are digging with their bare hands for plastic items to burn to keep warm in the cold and damp winter in the enclave, battered by two years of the Israel-Hamas war.

Iraq has asked that Islamic State group prisoners be moved from northeast Syria to its detention centers.

Divisions have emerged over U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace as its ambitions have grown beyond Gaza.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a bombing at a Chinese restaurant in Afghanistan’s capital that killed at least seven people including a Chinese national and wounded more than a dozen others.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has welcomed the Parliament passing anti-hate speech and gun laws following a deadly attack at a Jewish festival in Sydney last month.

Several faith leaders are urgently calling for protecting the rights of worshippers while also expressing compassion for migrants.

Three U.S. Catholic cardinals have urged the Trump administration to use a moral compass in foreign policy.

In a story published Jan. 19, 2026, The Associated Press reported that 77% of Gaza’s population is facing crisis-level food insecurity.

At least eight more countries say the United States has invited them to join President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace overseeing next steps for Gaza.

The Syrian government has announced a ceasefire with the Syrian Democratic Forces, taking almost full control of the country.

Business owners in a Minneapolis Somali mall are feeling the impact of an immigration crackdown.

In Spain, hundreds of people watched horses gallop through flames as part of Las Luminarias, a centuries-old tradition.

A British police force chief has retired following criticism over a decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match against Aston Villa last year.

Pope Leo XIV has met with families of Italian teenagers killed or injured in a fire that engulfed a Swiss ski resort bar during a party on New Year's Eve.

Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed nine people, including three women, following the U.S. announcement of a second phase in the fragile ceasefire.

The Department of Homeland Security is making it easier for visa-holding religious workers to serve U.S. congregations with less disruption.

The U.K.'s home secretary has urged the head of West Midlands Police to resign following a report on the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match against Aston Villa.

The global music industry hit 5.1 trillion streams in 2025.

Strong winds have caused at least four deaths in Gaza as walls collapsed onto tents in the coastal territory.

Organizers of Australia’s largest free literary festival have canceled the weeklong event after most writers withdrew over the removal of an Australian Palestinian writer.

The FBI says that an arson suspect admitted to targeting a historic Mississippi synagogue because it's a Jewish house of worship.

Pope Leo XIV has met with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado at the Vatican.

A Minneapolis church opened its doors for a special Sunday service of ‘Lament and Hope’ amid the ongoing federal immigration crackdown in the city.

Hamas says it will dissolve its government in Gaza once a Palestinian technocratic leadership committee takes over as part of a U.S.-brokered peace plan.

A group of Buddhist monks is getting viral attention with their 2,300-mile Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C. The monks say their aim is to promote mindfulness and healing and finding inner peace.

Pope Leo XIV has baptized 20 babies in the Sistine Chapel, continuing an annual tradition marking the end of the Christmas holiday at the Vatican.

British-born Thomas Paine helped inspire the 13 English colonies to declare independence and form the United States of America.

As Milan prepares to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, the city’s Catholic archdiocese launched a multi-year program that uses sport to promote values such as inclusion and solidarity among children and adolescents.

Pope Leo XIV has denounced how nations are increasingly using force to assert their dominion worldwide.

Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered in Somalia’s capital to protest Israel’s recognition of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland.

Health officials say at least 13 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza as U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce his Board of Peace to oversee the fragile ceasefire.

A massive crowd of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics is joining an annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ in the Philippine capital, with some using the gathering to express outrage over a corruption scandal involving influential legislators.

Investigators say a shooting outside a church in Salt Lake City that killed two people and injured six others grew out of a dispute between people who knew each other and were attending a funeral.

Israel’s prime minister says a former U.N. Mideast envoy, Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, has been chosen to serve as the director-general for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace aimed at overseeing the peace process in Gaza.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a royal commission into antisemitism, weeks after a deadly attack at a Jewish holiday event in Bondi Beach.

Police say a shooting outside a church building in Salt Lake City has killed two people and injured six others.

Faith leaders are urging prayers for peace following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro.

The Noquisiyi Mound in Franklin, North Carolina, is close to being returned to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

The Vatican has given a final accounting of its 2025 Holy Year.

A grandmother and her 5-year-old grandson have burned to death in Gaza when their tent caught fire.

Incoming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is making history not only as the city's first mayor to take the oath of office on a Quran but also as the first Muslim, South Asian, and African-born mayor.

Incoming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will make history as the city's first mayor to take the oath of office on a Quran.

Pope Leo XIV has closed out 2025 with a prayer that the city of Rome might be a welcoming place for foreigners and fragile people young and old.

Eight-time Grammy-nominated gospel singer Richard Smallwood has died at 77.

Israel says it will suspend several humanitarian organizations for failing to meet its new rules to vet international organizations working in Gaza.

Faith leaders across the United States face challenges as they support anxious immigrants.

Police say an investigation that extended to the Philippines of two men accused of killing 15 people at a Sydney Jewish festival has found no evidence they were part of a “broader terrorist cell.”.

Winter rain has lashed the Gaza Strip and flooded camps with ankle-deep puddles as Palestinians displaced by war try to stay dry in fraying tents.

At least four people have been killed and dozens wounded in clashes on Syria’s coast.

Barefoot children played on chilly sand as Gaza’s thousands of displaced people prepared threadbare tents for another round of winter rain.

Jeffrey R.

Comedian Mo Amer is gaining attention for his show “Mo,” which explores the journey of a Palestinian refugee family seeking asylum in the U.S. The series is part of a wave of TV shows by Arab or Muslim American creators that aim to tell authentic stories without relying on stereotypes.

Hundreds of mourners have gathered outside a mosque in Homs, Syria, after a bombing killed eight people and wounded 18.

A U.S. airstrike that targeted an alleged camp of the Islamic State group in Nigeria has caused panic in the village of Jabo, close to where the strike hit.

Police say that two people have been killed and at least two more injured in northern Israel in a car-ramming and stabbing attack by a Palestinian man.

As 2025 wraps up, The Associated Press has curated a list of memorable stories and enjoyable reads published this year.

A bombing at a mosque in Homs, Syria, during Friday prayers has killed at least eight people and wounded 18 others.

Three Palestinians have been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a Christmas tree and damaging a Nativity scene at a Catholic Church in the West Bank city of Jenin.

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

King Charles III has urged people to focus on kindness instead of conflict in his annual Christmas address.

Christian music is growing in popularity while other genres struggle to grow new listenership.

An explosive device has detonated in Gaza and wounded one Israeli soldier, prompting Israel to accuse Hamas of violating the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

On Christmas Eve, thousands of people flocked to Bethlehem's Manger Square and other Holy Land sites, after two years of subdued Christmas celebrations because of the war in Gaza.

Pope Leo XIV says he's “very disappointed” that his home state of Illinois has approved medically assisted suicide.

Gaza’s tiny Palestinian Christian community is trying to capture some of the Christmas spirit under a fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

An Australian state leader says a man accused of killing 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach faced a lengthy gun license delay due to bureaucracy, not suspicion.

Florida's Catholic bishops have appealed to President Donald Trump to pause immigration enforcement during the Christmas holidays.

Christian influencers are reaching hundreds of thousands of young people online.

Israel’s far-right finance minister says the Cabinet has approved 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Thousands of mourners have gathered at Sydney’s Bondi Beach to mark a week since two gunmen targeted a Jewish festival, killing 15 people.

The Australian state of New South Wales is proposing a ban on public displays of Islamic State group flags and extremist symbols.