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“This visit is important because it gives two important signals: The first signal is continuity,” demonstrating that “the route opened by John Paul II and followed by Benedict XVI is now going forward,” Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, the chief rabbi of Rome, said. The second signal is a recognition of the importance of mutual respect and dialogue at a time of increasing “violence inspired and sustained by distorted visions of religion.”

Interrupted repeatedly with applause at Rome’s main synagogue Jan. 17, the pope said the church “recognizes the irrevocability of the Old Covenant and the constant and faithful love of God for Israel.”

Michael B. Sheedy, executive director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops in Tallahassee, said the conference was “pleased this decision was issued so promptly” on what was the first day of Florida’s 2016 legislative session. “This should compel the Legislature to address the issue immediately,” he said.

Forty-three years into legalized abortion in the United States—the Supreme Court’s landmark decision of Jan. 22, 1973—pro-life advocates say their mission to save babies is broader than preventing abortions. These same advocates from several Minnesota-based organizations have been working to change how pregnancy resource centers operate in the advent of smartphones and other technology, which have created new ways women seek information and obtain abortions.

The dramatic demotion follows a string of Episcopal Church decisions stretching back to 2003, when it elected Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as a bishop of New Hampshire. That decision led dozens of U.S. churches to break away from the Episcopal Church and declare their allegiance to a series of rival groups, including the Anglican Church in North America.

"Nostra Aetate" uprooted previous church teachings and charted a new course for the relationship between Jews and Catholics in a bold, unequivocal, radical way, Rabbi Daniel F. Polish said.The manner and vigor in which the principles of the Second Vatican Council's declaration on relat

Although President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address on Jan. 12 hit a fair amount of key Catholic issues, it did not go into detail on them. The speech focused more on general themes than specific policies, which was not surprising since this is his last term.He emphasized change a

Iraq is in second place on Open Doors’ 2016 World Watch List, a ranking of the top 50 most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian. It’s the first of 35 countries on the list where Islamic extremism “has risen to a level akin to ethnic cleansing.”

Catholic leaders in Luther’s home country of Germany at first balked at the idea of “celebrating” what Lutherans there had already named the “Reformationsjubiläum” (Reformation Jubilee). But detailed talks between the Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican produced a 93-page report titled “From Conflict to Communion” in 2013 that announced they would mark the anniversary together and presented the Reformation as the start of a shared 500-year journey rather than a single and divisive historical event.

A 2002 law decriminalized euthanasia for terminally ill adults and it has the support of a large majority of public opinion and politicians. But opposition in this historically Catholic country has grown as lawmakers extended the practice to including terminally ill children and people with severe psychological problems.