A life-size depiction of Jesus being laid in the tomb is seen on April 9 in the Stations of the Cross on the grounds of the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Mass. (CNS photo/Octavio Duran)

Faith, News

Why the empty tomb matters

by Mark Pattison - Catholic News Service April 13, 2017

Even the Apostles were skeptical at first.

The Iowa House passed a measure to ban abortions after 20 weeks. (Photo via Wikipedia Commons)

News, Politics & Society

Iowa House passes measure to ban abortions after 20 weeks

by Joanne Fox - Catholic News Service April 13, 2017

If it becomes law, Iowa would join 17 other states in banning almost all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

In this Nov. 15, 2016, file photo, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, the newly-elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaks at a news conference at the USCCB's annual fall meeting in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

News, Politics & Society

Top U.S. Bishop plans to meet Trump

by Michael Graczyk – Associated Press April 13, 2017

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo supports President Trump for his anti-abortion views and for promising to defend religious liberties, but takes issue with his policies on refugees and immigration.

A boy attends afternoon prayer in 2016 at a mosque in Sterling, Va. An update to a 2016 study on Catholic perceptions of Islam shows that three in 10 Catholics admit to having unfavorable views about Muslims. (CNS photo/Carlos Barria, Reuters)

Faith, News

Catholics of all ages have similar negative impressions of Muslims, new data says

by Carol Zimmermann - Catholic News Service April 11, 2017

Three in 10 Catholics admit to having unfavorable views about Muslims, Catholics are less likely than other Americans to know a Muslim personally, and nearly 50 percent of Catholics can’t name any similarities between Catholicism and Islam.

A nun walks through the hallway of the badly damaged convent of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in Qaraqosh, Iraq. (CNS photo/courtesy John E. Kozar, CNEWA)

News, Politics & Society

The next few months will decide Christians’ fate in a scarred Iraq

by Mark Pattison - Catholic News Service April 11, 2017

“ISIS had written really vile things about Jesus and the church. The convent was burned and gutted. Everything was stolen. Anything holy in their mind was burned.”

Coffins arrive for the funeral of those killed in a Palm Sunday church attack in Alexandria Egypt, at the Mar Amina Church, Monday, April 10, 2017. Egyptian Christians buried their dead on Monday, a day after Islamic State suicide bombers killed at least 45 people in coordinated attacks targeting Palm Sunday services in two cities. (AP Photo/Samer Abdallah)

News, Politics & Society

Study: Worldwide restrictions on religion on the rise

by Emily McFarlan Miller - Religion News Service April 11, 2017

A total of 40 percent of surveyed countries registered “high” or “very high” levels of overall restrictions, according to Pew Research Center’s annual study on global restrictions on religion.

Mourning during the funeral for those killed in a Palm Sunday church attack in Alexandria Egypt, at the Mar Amina church, Monday, April 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Samer Abdallah)

News, Politics & Society

After Palm Sunday attack, churches in southern Egypt will not celebrate Easter

by Menna Zaki - Associated Press April 11, 2017

Sunday’s bombings, claimed by the Islamic State group, are the latest escalation by the extremist group — which recently vowed to step up its attacks against Egypt’s embattled Christian minority.