World News

ECHR rules mixed swimming is obligatory for Swiss Muslim children

Europe's top human rights court rules that Muslim parents in Switzerland cannot refuse to send their daughters to mixed school-run swimming lessons.

10/01/2017

Philippines

Manila mania: why millions hit the streets for the Black Nazarene in The Philippines

Huge crowds have come out on the streets of the Philippine capital Manila to honour an iconic statue known as the Black Nazarene.

09/01/2017

World News

Iran mourns "a great man of the revolution"

Iran has begun three days of national mourning following the death of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani.

09/01/2017

World News

Epiphany is celebrated with services, traditions and a joke

The Vatican Pope Francis celebrated Epiphany with a joke about camels and the more serious offer of food for some 300 homeless people.

06/01/2017

Italy

Pope comforts survivors of Italy's earthquakes

During an audience of 800, the Pope listened attentively to survivor accounts and promised a fresh visit, as the region continues to be battered by aftershocks

05/01/2017

Belgium

Nuns have fun on YouTube

The savvy Belgian Benedictine sisters have launched their own channel and it is already proving to be a holy hit.

05/01/2017

Cult

A beginner's guide to the "Kalachakra" ceremonies

The Dalai Lama has officially launched 13 days of ceremonies and rituals known as the Kalachakra Initiation in Bodh Gaya in India

04/01/2017

Turkey

Was the Reina attack due to a clash of lifestyles?

In Turkey, lifestyle differences are being touted as a motivation for Saturday's massacre in a nightclub in Istanbul.

04/01/2017

Iraq

Opinion: a brief history of so-called Islamic State (ISIL)

For two months, the international coalition in Iraq has battled to reclaim the city of Mosul from so-called Islamic State (ISIL).

03/01/2017

No Comment

Circus delights Pope Francis at Vatican

Pope Francis’s weekly general audience took a rather quirky turn on Wednesday December 28 when a circus was unleashed on the Vatican.

29/12/2016

Germany

Berlin's Jewish community pays tribute to lorry attack victims

The son of an Israeli woman who was killed in last week’s deadly lorry attack in Berlin has lit a giant menorah at the city’s Brandenburg Gate during a ceremony to remember…

27/12/2016

Indonesia

Court rejects dropping of blasphemy charges against Jakarta governor

Basuki Purnama is accused of insulting the Koran in a case that's divided opinion in Muslim-majority Indonesia

27/12/2016

Vatican

Pope Francis honours persecuted Middle East Christians

On the feast of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr, Pope Francis paid tribute to Christians in the Middle East who have clung to their faith during persecution by Islamist…

26/12/2016

Iraq

Iraq: Christmas services held in areas recently retaken from ISIL control

Iraqi Christians gathered for church services in Qaraqosh and Bashiqa, near Mosul in Niveneh province, for church services on 25 December.

25/12/2016

World News

Bethlehem celebrates Christmas

Tourists from around the world join locals to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, the town where Christians say Jesus was born.

25/12/2016

Vatican

Pope Francis says Christmas "taken hostage" by materialism at Christmas Mass

Pope Francis has given his fourth Christmas Mass from St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

25/12/2016

World News

Christmas Eve crowds flock to Bethlehem

Christian pilgrims from around the world have been gathering this Christmas Eve in Bethlehem – revered as the birthplace of Jesus.

24/12/2016

World

No Comment 2016 in review: religious spectacles

These ceremonies are a far cry from Sunday service, with everything from Ice plunging pilgrimages in St Petersburg to flagellation in the Phillipines.

24/12/2016

Iraq

Iraq: Christmas service held in Bartella, recently liberated from ISIL

Bartella: Christmas after ISIL Hundreds of Iraqi Christians gathered in Bartella, near Mosul, for a Christmas Eve service – the first since this area was retaken from the Islamic State group (ISIL) in

24/12/2016

Vatican

Pope spotted popping out for new shoes

It’s not everyday that you bump into the pope buying shoes, but that is exactly what happened to astonished customers in one pharmacy in Rome on Tuesday, when the pontiff picked up a pair near the Hol

21/12/2016