On Monday, December 6, Pope Francis told reporters that “sins of the flesh are not the most serious.” The pope was taking questions from reporters aboard the papal plane during their flight from Cyprus and Greece back to Rome.
A Shiite Muslim from Tyre, Lebanon, posed as a Jewish man and married a Jewish woman from Brooklyn, New York. Eliyah Hawila, a 23-year old Lebanese whose real name is Ali Hassan Hawila, was born and raised as a Muslim, with no Jewish heritage.
On Friday, November 26, Minnesota Democratic House Representative Ilhan Omar called for house leaders in both aisles to take action against Colorado Republican House Representative Lauren Boebert. Over the holidays, Rep. Boebert made incendiary statements where she likened Rep. Omar to a suicide bomber.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) began tracking vandalism and other forms of attacks on Catholic sites across the country. Aaron Weldon of the Office of Religious Liberty of the USCCB said the attacks on the historic Catholic sites were “the impetus for us to start monitoring these sorts of events.”
On Saturday, October 23, the commercial ad for Fem Creme Bleach, a popular whitening product in India, was removed from social media platforms. The takedown came after Narottam Mishra, the Home Minister of Madhya Pradesh, India, threatened to take legal actions because the ad showed objectionable content. The advertisement depicted a same-sex couple celebrating Karwa Chauth, a festival for Hindu women.
Abdullah Rushdy, an Egyptian Muslim preacher, issued a fatwa against bodybuilding and bodybuilding competitions. In an October 11 tweet, Rushdy explained that bodybuilding makes men display their “awrah.” Competitive bodybuilders are “showing intimate parts, which should be covered according to the Sharia,” Rushdy tweeted.
Less than a month after Jesse Duplantis lied about giving out generators during Hurricane Ida, the notorious pastor is in hot water again. In one of the episodes of a 4-day Victorython, Duplantis claimed that Jesus had not returned yet, because people were not donating enough. “Jesus hasn’t come because people are not giving the way God told them to give,” he said.
In an attempt to promote her book about climate change, British actress-turned-activist Lily Cole, came under fire on Instagram. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Cole was wearing a blue burka, and next to it was an image of herself with the burka pulled up, revealing her face.
In 2005, the churches that took part in running and managing the residential schools on behalf of the Canadian government were poised to pay for reparations. The Anglican, Catholic, United, and Presbyterian Churches were all asked to pay, in amounts particular to each church, during the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement of 2005.
On July 20, Archbishop Jose Gomez directed a memo to bishops in the US. In the message, he announced the resignation of Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, the General Secretary of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) since November. Archbishop Gomez added that the monsignor’s resignation is immediate and cited “possible improper behavior,” referencing his presence in gay dating apps.
