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Bullet holes are pictured in the side of a pickup truck near the scene of a shooting that took place late Sunday evening near Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ont., on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ian MacAlpine

Defence minister says it’s concerning that synagogue shooting suspect was ex-soldier

Canadian Press Staff, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Updated: 4:59 PM CDT

Defence Minister David McGuinty says it's very concerning that the suspect in Sunday's shooting outside a Belleville, Ont., synagogue was a former soldier. 

Sean Ward, who died in hospital after a shootout with police outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue, was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces for about five years before he was released in June 2022.

Citing anonymous military and National Defence sources, the Globe and Mail and Global News both reported that Ward was released from the army after refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

One of the sources also told Global News that the shooting suspect voiced antisemitic conspiracies. 

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Pope Leo XIV arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope praises US radio and TV preacher Fulton Sheen as an inspiration ahead of his beatification

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Pope praises US radio and TV preacher Fulton Sheen as an inspiration ahead of his beatification

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 3 minute read 7:00 AM CDT

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV, who grew up listening to popular American television preacher Archbishop Fulton Sheen, praised his fellow Illinois clergyman as an inspiration on Wednesday on the eve of Sheen's beatification.

The American pope urged English-speaking pilgrims attending his general audience St. Peter’s Square to use Sheen’s example and find new ways of spreading the Christian faith “with joyful enthusiasm.”

Sheen, who died in 1979, was an enormously effective evangelist who in some ways pioneered televangelism with his 1950s television series, “Life is Worth Living.” Dressed in a cassock, cape and skullcap, he stood at a chalkboard and delivered moral and religious lessons into millions of U.S. households.

According to Catholic University of America, where he studied and taught before he was made a bishop, Sheen won an Emmy Award, was featured on the cover of Time Magazine “and became one of the most influential Catholics of the 20th century.”

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7:00 AM CDT

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Deb Robertson looks towards trees outside her home near a park where her ashes will be buried next to a tree, in Lombard, Ill., on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)

Takeaways from AP’s report on expanded medical aid-in-dying laws

Luis Andres Henao, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Takeaways from AP’s report on expanded medical aid-in-dying laws

Luis Andres Henao, The Associated Press 6 minute read 5:15 AM CDT

The practice of allowing a doctor to help terminally ill patients end their lives with medication has been legalized in recent years in several countries across the world.

In the U.S., New York and Illinois recently became the latest of 13 states to join an accelerating pace of legislation with this goal.

Pope Leo XIV has said he’s “very disappointed” that his home state of Illinois approved the law that’s condemned by the Catholic Church.

The issue remains contested, with opposition by many religious groups, lawmakers and disability advocates. Polls show that most Americans generally think medical aid in dying is either morally acceptable or not a moral issue, although opinions vary across different faiths and political lines.

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5:15 AM CDT

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Deb Robertson, a leading advocate for a medical aid-in-dying law named after her in Illinois, pauses during an interview in her home in Lombard, Ill., on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)

She lived to see ‘Deb’s law’ take effect. Now she can choose how she dies

Luis Andres Henao, The Associated Press 10 minute read Preview

She lived to see ‘Deb’s law’ take effect. Now she can choose how she dies

Luis Andres Henao, The Associated Press 10 minute read 5:14 AM CDT

CHICAGO (AP) — Deb Robertson counted the days, hoping she’d live long enough for a new Illinois law to go into effect that allows terminally ill people like her to use a lethal prescription to end their lives.

A diagnosis of a rare, aggressive form of cancer had forced her into retirement after three decades of working with homeless youth. As the disease quickly spread through her body, she felt “like a walking time bomb.” But she found a new purpose, becoming a public face of a movement in favor of life-ending options.

She shared her story publicly and traveled from her home near Chicago to Springfield, the state capital, to convince lawmakers it was vital to legalize medically assisted death.

The day came on Sept. 12. She celebrated at home with friends and family as “Deb’s law,” named after her, took effect. Illinois became the first Midwestern state and the 13th state overall (plus the District of Columbia) to authorize the option.

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5:14 AM CDT

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Australian man is accused of being Islamic State group propagandist who shared 10,000 files online

Charlotte Graham-mclay, The Associated Press 3 minute read 2:36 AM CDT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A man in the Australian city of Melbourne is accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and spreading thousands of pieces of extremist propaganda online over a period of years, the authorities said on Wednesday.

He was the seventh man to be arrested in Victoria state since May over allegations of possessing or distributing IS content online. Australia's federal police didn't link the latest arrest to the other six and wouldn't say if they believed the man's case was connected.

The 65-year-old Australian citizen, whose name hasn't been released, was due to appear in a Melbourne court later on Wednesday. He's charged with being a member of a terrorist organization and with transmitting violent extremist material in an encrypted messaging app the authorities didn't name.

The maximum penalty for the offenses is 10 years in prison.

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The text of the French Constitution is on display at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

How France handles its strict secularism as it prepares for a papal visit

Sylvie Corbet, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

How France handles its strict secularism as it prepares for a papal visit

Sylvie Corbet, The Associated Press 4 minute read 1:19 AM CDT

PARIS (AP) — A four-day visit by Pope Leo XIV beginning Friday that will feature large public gatherings, popemobile parades and an open-air Mass in Paris presents France with a balancing act under its strict approach to secularism, known as laïcité.

“France is an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic,” the country’s Constitution states.

Secularism guarantees the freedom to believe or not to believe, as well as the freedom to practice a religion as long as it does not disturb public order. It also requires the state to remain neutral toward all religions.

Here is a look at France’s distinctive model of secularism, known as laïcité (pronounced lah-ee-see-TAY).

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1:19 AM CDT

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Activists fighting child abuse stage a protest near the home of a former Catholic priest suspected of sexually assaulting dozens of children, in Etrechy, outside Paris, Wednesday, Sept 16, 2026, Placards read from the left: '330,000 victims of child sexual abuse, never again' and Delfosse, the church knew'. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

About 2,000 church sex abuse victims have come forward for reparations in France

Sylvie Corbet, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

About 2,000 church sex abuse victims have come forward for reparations in France

Sylvie Corbet, The Associated Press 4 minute read Yesterday at 12:36 PM CDT

PARIS (AP) — About 2,000 people who reported being sexually abused by priests or other church representatives have sought reparations from a French independent body created to address decades of abuse, the organization said Tuesday as it prepares to end its five-year mission.

The Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation, or INIRR, said its work extended beyond financial compensation to include psychological support.

INIRR's report comes ahead of Pope Leo XIV's four-day visit to France, beginning Friday, during which he is expected to meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel.

France’s Catholic bishops’ conference agreed to provide reparations after a 2021 report estimated some 330,000 children were sexually abused over 70 years by priests or other church-related figures in France. The report described a “systemic” cover-up by church officials and urged the French Catholic Church to respect the rule of law in France.

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Yesterday at 12:36 PM CDT

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Priests from various countries, members of the

Priests, nuns march to Vatican to demand end to ‘genocide’ in Gaza

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Priests, nuns march to Vatican to demand end to ‘genocide’ in Gaza

The Associated Press 2 minute read Yesterday at 12:17 PM CDT

ROME (AP) — Some 150 Catholic priests and friars, a bishop and nuns from around the world marched to the Vatican and prayed Tuesday in front of St. Peter’s Basilica to call for an end to what they called the “genocide” in Gaza.

The protesters carried a banner down the main boulevard leading to the Vatican bearing the names of 300 children who died during Israel’s war in Gaza and southern Lebanon. The marchers didn’t enter Vatican territory and had an Italian police escort.

The “Priests Against Genocide” network was born in August 2025 and currently includes over 2,500 priests and bishops from five continents, organizers said. Among those marching Tuesday was the bishop of Manfredonia, Italy, Franco Moscone.

After praying near the Vatican, the protesters moved to the Palestinian and Lebanese embassies, and then onto the Rome headquarters of Italian defense manufacturer Leonardo SpA. It was a significantly larger turnout than the march the group held last year.

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Yesterday at 12:17 PM CDT

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A building is shown at the Gloriavale community near Haupiri, New Zealand, Feb. 24, 2023. (Joanne Naish/Stuff via AP)

New Zealand commune’s funding trust loses charity status over child labor and other misconduct

Charlotte Graham-mclay, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

New Zealand commune’s funding trust loses charity status over child labor and other misconduct

Charlotte Graham-mclay, The Associated Press 4 minute read Yesterday at 1:53 AM CDT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The charity arm of a cloistered New Zealand commune was stripped of its tax-exempt status Tuesday after an investigation found the trust’s funds enabled “serious wrongdoing” by the religious group, including the use of child labor and failing to report sexual crime.

Gloriavale, a conservative Christian sect, is based on a sprawling ranch on New Zealand’s South Island, where about 600 people live on land owned by the Christian Church Community Trust and work as volunteers at the trust’s businesses.

The government’s Charities Registration Board said Tuesday that the group’s charitable status will be revoked for three years beginning Sept. 23.

Funds provided by Gloriavale’s trust allowed the group “to operate in ways found to be unlawful and inconsistent with the wellbeing of trust beneficiaries,” the charities board said in a statement.

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Yesterday at 1:53 AM CDT

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Activists fighting child abuse stage a protest near the home of a former Catholic priest suspected of sexually assaulting dozens of children, in Etrechy, outside Paris, Wednesday, Sept 16, 2026, Placards read from the left: '330,000 victims of child sexual abuse, never again' and Delfosse, the church knew'. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Pope Leo XIV will meet with the French abuse survivors as critics demand action

Sylvie Corbet, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Pope Leo XIV will meet with the French abuse survivors as critics demand action

Sylvie Corbet, The Associated Press 6 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 10:22 AM CDT

PARIS (AP) — Pope Leo XIV, during his four-day visit to France beginning Friday, will meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel. The outcome will be closely watched by critics who say the church hasn't done enough to confront the problem.

The meeting is scheduled for Sunday in Lourdes, one of Catholicism’s most important pilgrimage sites. Some survivors’ groups have criticized the decision to select individuals rather than representatives of established organizations.

The seven survivors said in a joint statement last week that they don't claim to represent all survivors.

“Engaging in dialogue does not mean endorsing,” they said. “Being received does not mean abandoning our demands.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 10:22 AM CDT

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FILE - People gather as police vehicles are parked outside of the Islamic Center of San Diego, the day after a shooting, May 19, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Lawyer says prosecutors haven’t offered details of teen’s alleged ties to San Diego mosque shooters

Allen G. Breed, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Lawyer says prosecutors haven’t offered details of teen’s alleged ties to San Diego mosque shooters

Allen G. Breed, The Associated Press 4 minute read Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — The attorney for a North Carolina girl accused of helping two teens who carried out a deadly attack on a San Diego mosque says prosecutors haven’t provided enough information to allow him to defend his client.

Sarah Santiago, 17, is charged as an adult with three counts of murder by aiding and abetting and one count of conspiracy. Prosecutors say she helped California teens Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez, who shot and killed three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18 before killing themselves.

Prosecutors in North Carolina allege Santiago agreed in advance to record and distribute a livestream of the attack made by the shooters and to disseminate their white-supremacist writings. She is also accused of buying a patch bearing a white-supremacist symbol and sending it to one of the gunmen to wear during the attack.

But prosecutors have yet to provide information about how or on what dates Santiago allegedly communicated with the shooters, or give details about the alleged agreement to record and disseminate the livestream, her attorney, Alan Doorasamy, said during a court hearing Monday.

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Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

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Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus noon prayer in St. Peter' s Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope will retrace his missionary footsteps in Peru and finally visit Argentina in November

Nicole Winfield, Isabel Debre And Franklin Briceño, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Pope will retrace his missionary footsteps in Peru and finally visit Argentina in November

Nicole Winfield, Isabel Debre And Franklin Briceño, The Associated Press 5 minute read Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will retrace his steps as a missionary priest when he returns to Peru in November in his longest trip to date that will also take him to Uruguay and Argentina, where his Argentine predecessor Pope Francis never returned.

The Vatican on Monday published the detailed itinerary for Leo’s first visit to Latin America as pope. The Nov. 6-17 trip will be a homecoming for the U.S.-born pontiff who also has Peruvian citizenship and spent two decades there as a priest and bishop.

As he showed during his four-nation Africa trip in April, the 71-year-old Leo has no qualms about covering vast distances and working late into the night when he’s on the road. In all, he’ll clock just over 31,000 kilometers (19,000 miles) of flight time during the trip, nearly double the 17,000 km (10,000 miles) he traveled in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.

The visit begins in Uruguay, whose secular identity is so deeply rooted that Christmas is officially Family Day and Holy Week is Tourism Week. His itinerary includes a stop at a parish in Casavalle, a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital plagued by drug trafficking and gang violence.

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Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

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A Special Investigations Unit logo is seen on a truck in Mississauga, Ont., on Thursday, April 24, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey

Up to 30 shots fired near Belleville, Ont., synagogue as police faced gunman: SIU

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Up to 30 shots fired near Belleville, Ont., synagogue as police faced gunman: SIU

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

BELLEVILLE - A man armed with a shotgun allegedly opened fire at a police officer stationed outside a synagogue in Belleville, Ont., on Sunday night, triggering a shootout that left him and the officer seriously injured, Ontario's police watchdog said Monday.

The shooting took place at the start of Yom Kippur as people gathered inside the Sons of Jacob synagogue to observe the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, prompting police in other Canadian cities to increase patrols around synagogues and other places of worship.

Kristy Denette, a spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit, said dozens of shots were exchanged, leaving nearby vehicles and homes riddled with holes. There was no forensic confirmation Monday morning as to whether the synagogue was hit, she said.

The suspect came within about half a block of the synagogue, Denette said at a news conference.

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Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

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BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS David Balzer, 60, has converted his Triple E Surfside camper trailer called Chatterbox into a mobile recording studio in which he records people’s stories of gratitude and belonging. The associate professor of communications and media at Canadian Mennonite University was at the Elim Mennonite Church in Grunthal, Man., to record stories from varous church members on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. Pictured: Chatterbox producer David Balzer wife, Kathryn Balzer standing outside their Triple E Surfside camper trailer called Chatterbox.

CMU instructor uses camper audio studio to capture stories of human connection in a time of isolation, alienation

Josiah Neufeld 7 minute read Preview

CMU instructor uses camper audio studio to capture stories of human connection in a time of isolation, alienation

Josiah Neufeld 7 minute read Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

GRUNTHAL — Last Sunday, David Balzer parked his vintage 1978 Triple E Surfside camper trailer on a church lot in town and, like an itinerant priest with a mobile confessional, prepared to hear people’s stories.

It was a crisp sunny morning. Inside the trailer were a pair of yellow mugs that matched the trailer’s egg yolk trim. On a table were two microphones.

Outside the trailer stood a sandwich board with an invitation: “Step in.”

Balzer doesn’t actually hear confessions, but he does perform what some might consider a priestly duty: helping people share their stories.

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Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

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FILE - Pope Leo XIV celebrates a mass at the Basilica Sanctuary of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, central Italy, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Pope Leo XIV in France will find a secular country at odds with Catholic teaching on life

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

Pope Leo XIV in France will find a secular country at odds with Catholic teaching on life

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 7 minute read Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

VATICAN CITY (AP) — When an ailing Pope John Paul II visited the French shrine at Lourdes in 2004, on his last foreign trip, he delivered a forceful condemnation of abortion and euthanasia as he gasped for air during Mass.

Pope Leo XIV is expected to make a similar appeal to protect life when he visits France this weekend and also prays at Lourdes. One of Christianity’s most-visited pilgrimage destinations is especially popular for sick people because of its association with miraculous cures.

Leo’s message will likely land differently, since France’s National Assembly in 2024 enshrined abortion as a constitutional right and recently gave final approval to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication. It was the culmination of years of debate over end-of-life care in France and comes as other countries in Europe and the Americas have increasingly legalized assisted dying, though British lawmakers recently voted down a bill allowing it.

Catholic teaching holds that life must be defended from conception until natural death. It insists that chronically ill patients, including those in vegetative states, must receive “ordinary” care such as hydration and nutrition, but that “extraordinary” or disproportionate care can be suspended if it is only prolonging a precarious and painful life.

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Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

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Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attends at Fenix, the FdI youth festival, in Rome, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (Valentina Stefanelli/LaPresse via AP)

Meloni plans to ban burqas and niqabs in Italian schools, and cap foreign students in classrooms

Maria Grazia Murru, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Meloni plans to ban burqas and niqabs in Italian schools, and cap foreign students in classrooms

Maria Grazia Murru, The Associated Press 2 minute read Sunday, Sep. 20, 2026

ROME (AP) — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Sunday she’ll soon introduce a measure to her government that would cap the number of foreign students in classrooms and ban the wearing of burqas and niqabs in schools.

Meloni told the youth wing of her nationalist conservative Brothers of Italy party that the measure would also make Italian language lessons compulsory for parents of foreign students having “serious difficulties integrating into the school system.”

“For us, anyone who comes to Italy and wants to build their future here must learn our language, understand our culture, and respect our rules,” she said to a standing ovation at the Gioventù Nazionale national festival in Rome. “It is the only serious way to welcome them.”

Meloni specifically referred to a ban on the burqa, an all-covering dress worn by some Muslim women, and the niqab, the veil worn by the most conservative Muslim women, in which, at most, only the eyes show. But Meloni didn't mention the hijab, the headscarf worn by some Muslim women.

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Sunday, Sep. 20, 2026

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