Clemente Lisi, Religion Unplugged

What’s in a name? That’s a question Catholics often ask after a new pope is elected.

One of his first official acts of a new pope is to choose a name. Deeply symbolic, the name often reflects the pope's values or spiritual inspirations.  

Christians in Iran were sentenced to a combined total of over 250 years in prison last year — a sixfold increase compared to 2023, a report released on Monday revealed.

In all, 96 Christians were sentenced to a combined 263 years behind bars in 2024. That’s compared to 22 Christians sentenced to 43½ years in 2023.

In a historic first for the Vatican, Pope Francis on Monday named a woman to head a major Vatican office.

The pope appointed Sister Simona Brambilla, an Italian nun, to become prefect of the department responsible for all the Catholic Church’s religious orders.

The decision marks a major step in the pope’s plan to give women more leadership roles within the male-dominated clergy. Prior to Brambilla’s appointment, never before has a woman been named prefect of a dicastery or congregation in the curia, the governing organ of the Catholic Church.

Three people are dead and nine others injured after a shooting Monday at a private Christian school in Wisconsin, including a child who had unleashed the attack, authorities said.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes offered no details on the victims following the 10:57 a.m. shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, a 28-acre facility that includes a daycare center as well as Kindergarten through 12th grade, in Madison.

"Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever," Barnes said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby — head of the Church of England and leader of the global Anglican Communion — resigned on Tuesday after an investigation found he had failed to notify civil authorities about physical and sexual child abuse when he became aware of it.

On a hilltop overlooking Lake Albano in suburban Rome is a castle that used to be the pope’s summer residence.

Located 16 miles (about 25 kilometres) from Vatican City, the building no longer houses the pope. Instead, it is exclusively used by a group of clerics who double as astronomers.

A dance troupe performing at the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics drew the ire of Christians around the world after they appeared to mock Jesus and the Last Supper.

The ceremony, held on Friday along the Seine River in the French capital, featured the traditional parade of nations. It was the first time in Olympic history the ceremony was held outside a stadium.

The Vatican on Friday excommunicated the outspoken Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, its former ambassador to Washington, finding him guilty of schism after repeatedly questioning Pope Francis’ authority.

The Italian prelate had in recent years become one of Francis’ harshest critics. 

The Holy See’s doctrinal office announced the sanction following a meeting on Thursday. They informed Vigano of their decision the following day. 

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reopened an iconic Byzantine church in Istanbul as a mosque on Monday, four years after his government had designated it an Islamic house of worship.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a once-powerful prelate and close Pope Francis adviser, was found guilty on Saturday by a three-judge Vatican panel of embezzlement and fraud in a high-profile corruption case that rocked the Holy See’s hierarchy.  

Following a marathon trial that began in July 2021, Becciu was convicted — along with eight others — in a courtroom located inside the Vatican Museums. He was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for his crimes.