Friday, March 14, 2025

This Week in Religion - Pope Francis has a history of speaking about his health

Lead story

A shadowy view of Vatican City where people have gathered to pray for Pope Francis.

Editor's note:

Pope Francis has written and spoken at length about sickness, aging and death. And he has personally directed that his doctors provide the relatively detailed daily updates that have punctuated his own battle with pneumonia during four weeks of hospitalization. The 88-year-old pope is merely responding to the sometimes morbid interest in the health of popes over centuries. As AP Vatican correspondent Nicole Winfield reports, his candor with his own fragility is very much in keeping with a decision he made early on in his papacy to be up front about his health. He granted an unprecedented tell-all interview to an Argentine doctor who published a book in 2021 detailing Francis’ physical and mental health history. 

A portrait of Holly Meyer, Religion News Editor at The Associated Press.
 

Religion News

Ramadan behind bars should be a holy time, Muslim advocates say, not a fight for religious rights

From being forced to break fast outside of the permitted hours to not being able to congregate for Eid al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of the fast, Ramadan is often a period when inmates have to engage in tedious legal battles to ensure their religious rights are respected. By Fiona André/Religion News Service

The torso of a Buddha statue has been found at Cambodia's Angkor temple complex

Archaeologists in Cambodia are celebrating an unexpected find at the country’s centuries-old Angkor temple complex: the torso of a statue of Buddha that matches a head found nearly a century ago at the same site. By Sopheng Cheang/The Associated Press

Algeria is planning to import 1 million sheep ahead of Eid al-Adha to curb rising prices and shortages amid drought and inflation. By The Associated Press

A Salvation Army volunteer was killed when a young dad ran a stop sign. His family responded with mercy.

What happens when a mistake has fatal consequences? Is mercy possible? By Bob Smietana/Religion News Service

A large gathering of Syrian people praying.

A Syrian man barely escaped a wave of sectarian killings. His brothers did not

The recent sectarian violence is Syria threatens to open an endless cycle of vengeance. Over three days, attackers identified as Sunni Muslims rampaged through coastal provinces, targeting members of Syria's minority Alawite sect. By Sarah El Deeb and Bassem Mroue/The Associated Press

 

Commentary and Analysis

The FACE Act was signed by Bill Clinton in 1994 to guarantee access to abortion and reproductive health care protected by the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. By Micki Burdick for The Conversation

Trump wooed them with his promises of the cultural domination they had been seeking since the late 1970s, but the honeymoon may be over. By Marci A. Hamilton/Religion News Service

Despite pressure to cancel Israel performances, Dylan has performed in the country several times. Ever an enigma, he rarely explains his decisions − or views on religion. By Shalom Goldman for The Conversation

Over the past century, Catholic leaders have wrestled with how much to embrace new forms of communication technology. By Heidi A. Campbell for The Conversation

 
Hakeem Jeffries, Maxine Waters, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Derrick Johnson join hands to march together across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, from left, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and NAACP President Derrick Johnson march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

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