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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 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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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 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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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 5 minute read Preview

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

Charlotte Graham-mclay, The Associated Press 5 minute read 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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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: 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: 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 Updated: Yesterday at 3:57 PM CDT

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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Updated: Yesterday at 3:57 PM CDT

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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 Updated: Yesterday at 2:16 PM CDT

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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Updated: Yesterday at 2:16 PM CDT

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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 Updated: Yesterday at 3:10 PM CDT

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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Updated: Yesterday at 3:10 PM CDT

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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 Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

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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Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

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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 Updated: Yesterday at 9:33 PM CDT

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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Updated: Yesterday at 9:33 PM CDT

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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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This undated photo provided by the Norton Simon Art Foundation on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, shows two oil paintings,

New laws trigger a fresh legal fight over Nazi-looted art in Los Angeles and Auschwitz museums

Deepa Bharath, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

New laws trigger a fresh legal fight over Nazi-looted art in Los Angeles and Auschwitz museums

Deepa Bharath, The Associated Press 7 minute read Saturday, Sep. 19, 2026

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims and their representatives have filed two lawsuits in California staking their claims to Nazi-looted paintings that still hang on the walls of prominent museums in Los Angeles and Auschwitz.

This pair of lawsuits are the first to be filed after the recent passage of laws by California and Congress, which strengthen U.S.-based claims to artwork that were forcibly taken from Jewish families during World War II.

One lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its board chair Daniel Gryczman against Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena for the return of “Adam and Eve.” These are two life-size oil-on-panel masterpieces created by Lucas Carnach the Elder in 1530.

The other lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles the same day by the daughters of the late Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor and California-based animator who was held in Auschwitz. It demanded the return of watercolors of fellow prisoners that the artist was forced to paint for Josef Mengele, a Nazi physician who had earned the nickname the “Angel of Death.”

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Saturday, Sep. 19, 2026

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Oded Balilty / The Associated Press files Israeli youths sit at a junction on a car-free road in 2023 during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Ramat Gan, Israel. Israel comes to an almost complete standstill on Yom Kippur.

Soul candles ritual connects women to the past

Sharon Chisvin 5 minute read Preview

Soul candles ritual connects women to the past

Sharon Chisvin 5 minute read Saturday, Sep. 19, 2026

On one evening every fall during the 10 Days of Awe — the solemn period of reflection and repentance between the Jewish holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — Jane Enkin sits down with a group of women in her Winnipeg home to make candles. The making of the candles is not simply for fun or creative expression — although it serves those purposes as well—but is, rather, an intentional re-enactment of an ancient and little-known High Holiday spiritual ritual.

That ritual is neshome likht, the crafting of ceremonial soul candles.

The making of soul candles during the High Holiday season was common practice among Ashkenazie or Eastern European Jewish women beginning in the 12th century. The candles were made for the souls of both the living and the dead, and often were customized with special wicks made from threads that were used, in another ancient custom, to measure Jewish cemeteries. The measuring of the cemeteries was seen as a way to connect to the deceased in the weeks leading up to Yom Kippur so that those who had already passed might prevail upon God to include their loved ones’ names in the Book of Life.

While the practice of measuring cemeteries has largely fallen by the wayside, the making of soul candles, or the laying of wicks, has managed to survive over the centuries and has enjoyed a significant resurgence in modern times.

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Saturday, Sep. 19, 2026

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John Longhurst photo Father Darrin Gurr (left), shown with his assistant, Aris Magundayao, says the Archdiocese of Winnipeg ‘has experienced malaise at every level.’

City priest takes charge of Together in Mission with aim to ‘awaken and engage’ Catholic laity, clergy

John Longhurst 5 minute read Preview

City priest takes charge of Together in Mission with aim to ‘awaken and engage’ Catholic laity, clergy

John Longhurst 5 minute read Saturday, Sep. 19, 2026

Revitalizing and energizing the Archdiocese of Winnipeg is a big job. But Father Darrin Gurr says he’s up to it.

Gurr, who was parish priest at St. Gianna Beretta Molla Parish in southwest Winnipeg for 22 years, started a new job this summer to lead a new initiative of the archdiocese called Together in Mission.

The goal of the initiative is to “awaken and engage both the laity and clergy of the archdiocese and to build a better and more promising future,” says Gurr, whose title is Episcopal Vicar for Stewardship and Mission. “I want to foster a spirit of renewal in all aspects of our church.”

That spirit of renewal is needed because the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, with its 155,000 members in 88 parishes, “has experienced malaise at every level,” he says.

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Saturday, Sep. 19, 2026

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FILE - A woman shares Jehovah's Witnesses' literature with a passerby in downtown Pittsburgh on Nov. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter Smith, File)

Jehovah’s Witnesses allow blood-derived products but keep ban on whole-blood transfusions

Peter Smith, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Jehovah’s Witnesses allow blood-derived products but keep ban on whole-blood transfusions

Peter Smith, The Associated Press 4 minute read Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have partly eased their longstanding prohibition on the medical use of donated blood, allowing members to receive products derived from blood but maintaining a ban on transfusions of whole blood.

The policy, announced Friday, is the second revision this year in what has long been one of the most controversial and distinctive teachings of the religious organization.

The new policy says that individuals can receive products derived from blood donated by other people. It says they can receive medical treatments that involve the use of the four main components of whole blood: plasma, platelets and red and white blood cells.

“Each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care,” said Geoffrey W. Jackson, a member of the Governing Body of the organization, based in New York State.

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Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

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Goh Khuay Hou applies red paint to a Mei Hua coffin at his family workshop in Muar, Malaysia, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A traditional Chinese coffin maker in Malaysia preserves a fading family craft

Vincent Thian And María Teresa Hernández, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

A traditional Chinese coffin maker in Malaysia preserves a fading family craft

Vincent Thian And María Teresa Hernández, The Associated Press 6 minute read Thursday, Sep. 17, 2026

MUAR, Malaysia (AP) — It’s been 52 years since Goh Khuay Par carved his first Mei Hua coffin.

The traditional Chinese design takes its name from the plum blossom, or “mei hua” in Mandarin, and has been part of his family’s trade in Malaysia for three generations.

“My father was my master,” said Goh, now 69, at the modest workshop he runs with his brother in the town of Muar, about 175 kilometers (110 miles) southeast of Kuala Lumpur. “He taught me for two and a half years.”

Goh no longer recalls details of his first coffin. It was most likely a small, thin piece, like the ones his father had him make when he was just starting out. His products became thicker over time for a more striking appearance.

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Thursday, Sep. 17, 2026

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Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint near the border with Israel in the southern village of Mansouri, Lebanon, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

France hosts Lebanon security talks to discuss post-UN mission plans

Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

France hosts Lebanon security talks to discuss post-UN mission plans

Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press 3 minute read Thursday, Sep. 17, 2026

BEIRUT (AP) — The heads of state of Lebanon, France and Jordan met on Thursday as part of an effort to drum up support for the struggling Lebanese military.

Ahead of the talks in Paris, a statement from the office of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the three leaders would discuss the situation in southern Lebanon and plans for an international presence there after the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL expires at the end of the year.

A donor conference for Lebanon's cash-strapped army was initially set to take place in February, led by France, Saudi Arabia and the United States. However, it was postponed following the eruption of the Iran war and the latest round of the Israel-Hezbollah war.

A new date for the conference was not immediately announced following Thursday's meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Aoun.

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Thursday, Sep. 17, 2026

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