Faith – Winnipeg Free Press

Nigeria says US will deliver outstanding military equipment purchased over the past 5 years

Dyepkazah Shibayan, The Associated Press 2 minute read 6:47 AM CST

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's government said Friday that the U.S. has pledged to deliver outstanding military equipment purchased by the country over the past five years.

The matériel include drones, helicopters, platforms, spare parts and support systems.

“We want Nigerians to know that this partnership (with the U.S.) is working," Information Minister Ibrahim Idris said following a meeting between a U.S. delegation and Nigerian National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu in Abuja.

The meeting is the third high-level discussion between officials of the two countries since November, Idris said.

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Syrian forces take control of prison housing IS members after Kurdish fighters evacuate

Ghaith Alsayed, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Syrian forces take control of prison housing IS members after Kurdish fighters evacuate

Ghaith Alsayed, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: 9:07 AM CST

RAQQA, Syria (AP) — Syrian government forces took control Friday of a prison housing members of the Islamic State group in the north of the country, after hundreds of Kurdish fighters who were guarding the facility evacuated the area as part of a recent deal.

Syria’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that the government’s prisons authority is now in charge of al-Aqtan prison, north of the northern city of Raqqa, and that the files of the detainees are being reviewed.

Al-Aqtan is the second prison to come under government control after being abandoned by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. Syrian troops entered Shaddadeh prison on Monday near the border with Iraq, from where 120 IS detainees managed to flee amid the chaos. Most of them have been recaptured, state media said.

Syria's interim government signed an agreement last March with the SDF for it to hand over territory and to eventually merge its fighters with government forces. In early January, a new round of talks failed to make progress over the merger, leading to renewed fighting between the two sides. A new version of the accord was signed over the weekend, and a four-day ceasefire declared on Tuesday.

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Updated: 9:07 AM CST

Syrian government forces stand guard outside Al-Aqtan prison on the outskirts of Raqqa, northeastern Syria, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, as negotiations are underway between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces over a withdrawal from the prison. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Iran’s top prosecutor says Trump’s claim that Tehran halted execution of 800 protest prisoners ‘is completely false’

The Associated Press 1 minute read 3:29 AM CST

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s top prosecutor says Trump's claim that Tehran halted execution of 800 protest prisoners ‘is completely false’.

Nigeria church attackers demand ransoms as search intensifies for over 150 hostages

Dyepkazah Shibayan, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Nigeria church attackers demand ransoms as search intensifies for over 150 hostages

Dyepkazah Shibayan, The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 12:44 PM CST

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen who abducted more than 150 church worshippers in Nigeria's conflict-hit northwest are demanding 17 motorcycles as ransom from families of hostages, residents told The Associated Press on Thursday.

In one of the largest mass abductions targeting religious worship centers in the West African nation in recent months, the attackers on Sunday raided three different churches in Kaduna state’s Kajuru council area, seizing 177 people before 11 managed to escape.

Nigerian security forces have deployed tactical teams in search of the kidnappers, believed to be among the rogue gangs who often carry out kidnappings for ransoms in remote communities with limited state and security presence.

In interviews on Thursday, residents said the attackers contacted families demanding 17 motorcycles — estimated at around $1,000 each or $17,000 in total — to begin negotiations for their release.

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Updated: Yesterday at 12:44 PM CST

In this photo released by the Kaduna State government, people react during a meeting with Kaduna state Governor. Uba Sani, after gunmen attack in Kurmin Wali, northwest Nigeria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Kaduna State Government via AP)

The decision to move IS prisoners from Syria to Iraq came at the request of Baghdad, officials say

Qassim Abdul-zahra And Abby Sewell, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

The decision to move IS prisoners from Syria to Iraq came at the request of Baghdad, officials say

Qassim Abdul-zahra And Abby Sewell, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 5:08 PM CST

BAGHDAD (AP) — The decision to move prisoners of the Islamic State group from northeast Syria to detention centers in Iraq came after a request by officials in Baghdad that was welcomed by the U.S.-led coalition and the Syrian government, officials said Thursday.

American and Iraqi officials told The Associated Press about the Iraqi request, a day after the U.S. military said that it started transferring some of the 9,000 IS detainees held in more than a dozen detention centers in northeast Syria controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, in northeast Syria.

The move to start transferring the detainees came after Syrian government forces took control of the sprawling al-Hol camp — which houses thousands of mostly women and children — from the SDF, which withdrew as part of a ceasefire. Troops on Monday seized a prison in the northeastern town of Shaddadeh, where some IS detainees escaped and many were recaptured, state media reported.

The SDF said on Thursday that government forces shelled al-Aqtan prison near the northern Syrian city of Raqqa with heavy weapons, while simultaneously imposing a siege around the prison using tanks and deploying fighters.

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Updated: Yesterday at 5:08 PM CST

Local youth play atop of a damaged armored vehicle belonging to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) at the site of clashes with Syrian government forces in the village of al-Hol in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Kentucky cathedral called ‘America’s Notre Dame’ gets a rehab, gargoyles and all

Peter Smith, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

A Kentucky cathedral called ‘America’s Notre Dame’ gets a rehab, gargoyles and all

Peter Smith, The Associated Press 6 minute read Yesterday at 6:02 AM CST

COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Gargoyles have watched over this small Kentucky city for more than a century from their lofty perches on a cathedral known as “America’s Notre Dame.” A new renovation will ensure they keep their posts for years to come on the meticulously restored facade of the towering stone sanctuary.

Workers in recent weeks have been installing new terra cotta gargoyles as one of the final steps of a major, two-year restoration of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption. The Catholic cathedral's nickname stems from how its exterior was modeled on the larger Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris — from the pointed arches and flying buttresses to the gargoyles and chimeras with their reptilian grins and piercing, canine eyes.

Unlike the Paris landmark, which recently underwent a massive renovation because of a sudden and devastating fire, the Covington cathedral needed a rehab due to the slow deterioration of old stone, metal and terra cotta after 125 years of exposure to the elements in its Ohio River city across from Cincinnati.

“We consider ourselves blessed to be able to ensure the cathedral is taken care of for coming generations,” said Assumption’s rector, the Very Rev. Ryan Maher.

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Yesterday at 6:02 AM CST

A general view of gargoyles on the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Covington, Kentucky. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Catholicism shrinks in Latin America while more are religiously unaffiliated, Pew surveys find

Luis Andres Henao, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Catholicism shrinks in Latin America while more are religiously unaffiliated, Pew surveys find

Luis Andres Henao, The Associated Press 4 minute read Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026

Catholicism in Latin American countries has shrunk over the last decade, while a growing percentage of adults identify as religiously unaffiliated, describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.”

Those are among the key findings in a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center based on surveys conducted in early 2024 of adults in six of the region's most populous countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

“Our analysis found that the Catholic share of the population in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru — which collectively make up about 75% of Latin America’s population — has significantly declined since 2013-14, while a growing share of adults in the region are religiously unaffiliated,” said Kirsten Lesage, a Pew research associate and the lead author of the report.

Most Latin Americans are Christian, and Catholicism remains the dominant religion. But the exodus from the church continues in a region that was once a stronghold for the Catholic faith and has close ties to Pope Leo XIV, who served for decades in Peru before being elected in 2025, and his Argentina-born predecessor, Pope Francis.

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Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026

Pope Leo XIV greets people during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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Trump’s Board of Peace is dividing countries in Europe and the Middle East

Julia Frankel And Samy Magdy, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Trump’s Board of Peace is dividing countries in Europe and the Middle East

Julia Frankel And Samy Magdy, The Associated Press 4 minute read Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026

JERUSALEM (AP) — Divisions emerged Wednesday over U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace as its ambitions have grown beyond Gaza, with some Western European countries declining to join, others remaining noncommittal and a group of Muslim countries agreeing to sign on.

The developments underscored European concerns over the expanded and divisive scope of the project — which some say may seek to rival the U.N. Security Council's role in mediating global conflicts. Trump is looking to form the board officially this week on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Norway and Sweden said they won’t accept their invitations, after France also said no, while a bloc of Muslim-majority nations — Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — said in a joint statement that their leaders would join.

It was not immediately clear how many countries would accept. A White House official said about 30 countries were expected to join, and about 50 had been invited. Two other U.S. officials, who similiarly spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal plans not yet made public, said roughly 60 countries had been invited but only 18 had so far confirmed their participation.

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Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens during a news conference with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Rossbrook House celebrates 50 years of ‘unconditional love’ for youth

John Longhurst 3 minute read Preview

Rossbrook House celebrates 50 years of ‘unconditional love’ for youth

John Longhurst 3 minute read Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026

Fifty years ago, three members of the order of the Roman Catholic Sisters of the Holy names of Jesus and Mary decided no child in Winnipeg’s inner city should ever have to be alone.

The three women were Sisters Geraldine MacNamara, Marylyn Gibney, and Lesley Sacouman. Together, they founded Rossbrook House, a drop-in centre for youth who had nowhere else to go.

On Tuesday, 50 years to the day Rossbrook House opened in 1976, the organization held a celebration to mark the work of the three founders and the many staff and volunteers who followed in their footsteps.

Sister Lesley Sacouman told the gathering about the early days of Rossbrook House.

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Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Sister Lesley Sacouman chats with people at Rossbrook House’s 50th anniversary birthday luncheon on Tuesday.

Australia’s Parliament passes gun restrictions and anti-hate speech law after Bondi shooting

Rod Mcguirk, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Australia’s Parliament passes gun restrictions and anti-hate speech law after Bondi shooting

Rod Mcguirk, The Associated Press 4 minute read Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday welcomed Parliament's passing of anti-hate speech and gun laws in response to two shooters killing 15 people at a Jewish festival in Sydney last month. Authorities say the attack was inspired by the Islamic State group.

“At Bondi, the terrorists had hate in their hearts, but they had guns in their hands,” Albanese told reporters, referring to the father and son gunmen accused of attacking Jewish worshippers during Hanukkah celebrations at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14.

“We said we wanted to deal with that with urgency and with unity and we acted to deliver both,” Albanese added.

The government had initially planned a single bill, but separated the issues of hate speech and gun laws into two bills introduced to the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

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Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026

Workers gather floral tributes, messages of support and items left as a memorial is dismantled in Sydney, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, a week after an attack on a Jewish festival that left 15 dead. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Manitoba offers security funds for places of worship following hate symbol attacks

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press 1 minute read Preview

Manitoba offers security funds for places of worship following hate symbol attacks

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press 1 minute read Monday, Jan. 19, 2026

WINNIPEG - The Manitoba government is promising up to $1 million to help boost security at places of worship following recent cases of vandalism with hate symbols.

The province says the money can help pay for security equipment, such as alarms and cameras, and follows a similar program launched by the federal government.

Premier Wab Kinew says the province will also provide places of worship with security advice and expertise from Dave Dalal, a former Winnipeg police officer.

Police arrested a man earlier this month after swastikas and other material were spray-painted on a mosque, a synagogue, a high school and other structures in Winnipeg.

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Monday, Jan. 19, 2026

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew speaks at the Assembly of First Nations Annual General Assembly in Winnipeg, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

Christian leaders urge protecting worshippers’ rights after protesters interrupt service

Giovanna Dell'orto, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Christian leaders urge protecting worshippers’ rights after protesters interrupt service

Giovanna Dell'orto, The Associated Press 6 minute read Monday, Jan. 19, 2026

Several faith leaders called urgently for protecting the rights of worshippers while also expressing compassion for migrants after anti-immigration enforcement protesters disrupted a service at a Southern Baptist church in Minnesota.

About three dozen protesters entered the Cities Church in St. Paul during Sunday service, some walking right up to the pulpit, others loudly chanting “ICE out” and “Renee Good,” referring to a woman who was fatally shot on Jan. 7 by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.

One of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, leads the local ICE field office, and one of the leaders of the protest and prominent local activist Nekima Levy Armstrong said she’s also an ordained pastor.

The Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention called what happened “an unacceptable trauma,” saying the service was ”forced to end prematurely" as protesters shouted “insults and accusations at youth, children, and families.”

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Monday, Jan. 19, 2026

Gunmen abduct over 150 worshippers from 3 churches in Nigeria

Dyepkazah Shibayan, The Associated Press 2 minute read Monday, Jan. 19, 2026

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen abducted more than 150 worshippers in simultaneous attacks on three separate churches in northwest Nigeria, a state lawmaker told The Associated Press on Monday.

The attack occurred on Sunday in Kurmin Wali, a community in the Kajuru area of Kaduna state, while services and a Mass were underway at the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), another church belonging to the denomination Cherubim and Seraphim, and a Catholic church, according to Usman Danlami Stingo, a lawmaker representing the area at the state parliament.

“As of yesterday, 177 people were missing, and 11 came back. So we have 168 still missing,” he said.

Police in Kaduna state have not commented.

Ethiopian Orthodox Christians celebrate Epiphany to mark baptism of Jesus

Samuel Getachew And Amanuel Gebremedhin Birhane, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Ethiopian Orthodox Christians celebrate Epiphany to mark baptism of Jesus

Samuel Getachew And Amanuel Gebremedhin Birhane, The Associated Press 2 minute read Monday, Jan. 19, 2026

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Millions of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians gathered on Monday at celebrations for Epiphany, locally known as Timkat, which commemorates the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist.

In Batu, a town on the western shore of Lake Dambal (Hora-Dambal) in the Oromia Region, thousands of pilgrims entered the lake waters after priests blessed them, symbolically reenacting baptism and embracing the festival’s themes of purification, renewal, and faith.

In the capital, Addis Ababa, many waited for the tabots, which are symbols of the Ark of the Covenant meant to contain the 10 commandments and are used to consecrate churches. Tabots were ritually carried to nearby public spaces for overnight prayers before being returned to their home churches the next day, surrounded by millions of the faithful in spectacular displays of reverence.

Similar celebrations were held across the country, including inside the 17th century Fasilides Fortress in Gondar, located in the war-torn Amhara region.

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Monday, Jan. 19, 2026

High priests ride in a boat as faithful celebrate Timket, the Ethiopian Epiphany, on lake Dembel, in Batu, Ethiopia, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Amanuel Sileshi)

US Catholic cardinals urge Trump administration to embrace a moral compass in foreign policy

Nicole Winfield And Giovanna Dell'orto, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

US Catholic cardinals urge Trump administration to embrace a moral compass in foreign policy

Nicole Winfield And Giovanna Dell'orto, The Associated Press 5 minute read Monday, Jan. 19, 2026

ROME (AP) — Three U.S. Catholic cardinals urged the Trump administration on Monday to use a moral compass in pursuing its foreign policy, saying U.S. military action in Venezuela, threats of acquiring Greenland and cuts in foreign aid risk bringing vast suffering instead of promoting peace.

In a joint statement, Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of Washington and Joseph Tobin of Newark, N.J., warned that without a moral vision, the current debate over Washington's foreign policy was mired in “polarization, partisanship, and narrow economic and social interests.”

“Most of the United States and the world are adrift morally in terms of foreign policy,” McElroy told The Associated Press. “I still believe the United States has a tremendous impact upon the world."

The statement was unusual and marked the second time in as many months that members of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy have asserted their voice against a Trump administration many believe isn't upholding the basic tenets of human dignity. In November, the entire U.S. conference of Catholic bishops condemned the administration's mass deportation of migrants and “vilification” of them in the public discourse.

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Monday, Jan. 19, 2026

This combo shows, from left, cardinal Robert McElroy, cardinal Joseph Tobin and cardinal Blase Cupich. (AP Photo/File)

Trump’s Board of Peace has several invited leaders trying to figure out how it’ll work

Samy Magdy And Julia Frankel, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

Trump’s Board of Peace has several invited leaders trying to figure out how it’ll work

Samy Magdy And Julia Frankel, The Associated Press 7 minute read Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026

Israel has been asked to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace that will supervise the next phase of the Gaza peace plan, an Israeli official said Monday, while France is holding off accepting for now.

It’s not known whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the offer, said the Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a behind-the-scenes diplomatic matter.

Russia, Belarus, Slovenia, Thailand and the European Union’s executive arm also were among the latest to receive invitations.

It’s unclear how many leaders have been asked to join the board, and the large number of invitations being sent out, including to countries that don’t get along, has raised questions about the board’s mandate and decision-making processes. Also unknown is Israel’s potential role on a board in charge of implementing the ceasefire agreement that directly involves them.

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Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026

January 23, 2026

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