Bell ringing has a rich history, integrated into daily and liturgical life year-round, a tradition being rediscovered and appreciated by anthropologists, academics, musicians and an increasing number of ordinary people.

In the small town of Stilfontein, some 90 miles from the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, hundreds, possibly thousands, of illegal miners have been underground in an abandoned mine shaft for more than a month.

A recent missive from Cardinal Blase Cupich to parishioners in Chicago provoked an unusually vitriolic response after the cardinal addressed issues regarding proper liturgical practice on Communion lines.

When Irish people went to the polls on Nov. 29, there had been concerns that the nation would see a far-right surge in the Dáil, or parliament, in keeping with trends within the rest of Europe. But Ireland continues to be an outlier.

Notre-Dame, and many churches in France, are owned by the state and merely used by the church. That gave the French government, and President Macron, a big voice in the restoration project.

Quebec has played host to a number of cults and alternative religions over the years, from the Ant Hill Kids, the cruelly abused followers of Roch Thériault to the U.F.O. believers of the Raelian Church.