The cardinals met Tuesday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10.

The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. U.S. President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump plan to attend, and Argentine President Javier Milei is also expected.

The Argentine pope died Monday at age 88 after a stroke put him in a coma and led his heart to fail. He had been recovering in his apartment after being hospitalized for five weeks with pneumonia. He made his last public appearance Sunday, delivering an Easter blessing and greeting followers from his popemobile, looping around St. Peter’s Square.

His Easter appearance from the same loggia where he was introduced to the world as the first pope from the Americas on March 13, 2013, was a fitting bookend to a 12-year papacy that sought to shake up the church and return it to its Gospel-mandated mission of caring for the poorest.

Vatican Officials Remember Francis

“He truly gave everything he had, up to the end,” said Sister Nathalie Becquart, one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican.

While the ordinary faithful will have an opportunity to pay their respects beginning Wednesday, Vatican officials were allowed to say their goodbyes starting Monday evening. Speaking to reporters after she paid her respects, Becquart marveled at Francis’ final Easter salute to his flock. “He really walked with his people,” she said.

Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi said it was specifically Francis’ effort to promote the role of women in the church that will be one of his greatest legacies. Ravasi noted that Francis chose to be buried near his favorite icon of the Madonna, in a basilica across town, and not in the grottoes underneath St. Peter’s, as is typical for popes.

“He wanted to be buried under the shadow of a woman, in this case Maria,” said Ravasi, the Vatican’s former culture minister as he arrived for Tuesday’s first meeting of cardinals. “That is significant, his desire for the church to do more for women.”

The first images of Francis’ body were released Tuesday, showing him in red vestments and his bishop’s miter in a wooden casket, with the Vatican secretary of state praying over him in the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta hotel where he lived and died.

In his final will, Francis said he wanted to be buried at St. Mary Major Basilica, which is home to the Salus Populi Romani icon of Mary. Before and after every foreign trip, Francis would go to the basilica to pray before the Byzantine-style painting that features an image of Mary, draped in a blue robe, holding the infant Jesus, who in turn holds a jeweled golden book.

Francis stopped by the basilica on his way home from the Gemelli hospital on March 23, after his 38-day stay, to deliver flowers to be placed before the icon. He returned April 12 to pray before it one last time.

The World Reacts

Bells tolled in chapels, churches and cathedrals around the world and flags flew at half-staff in Italy, India, Taiwan and the U.S. after Francis’ death was announced by the camerlengo, who takes charge of the Vatican after a pope’s death. Soccer matches in Italy and Argentina were suspended in honor of the pope who was a lifelong fan of the San Lorenzo soccer club.

World leaders praised Francis for his moral leadership and compassion, while ordinary faithful remembered his simplicity and humanity.

“Like every Argentine, I think he was a rebel,” said 23-year-old Catalina Favaro, who had come to pay her respects in the Buenos Aires church where Francis discovered his priestly vocation. “He may have been contradictory, but that was nice, too.”

In East Timor, where Francis’ final outdoor Mass drew nearly half of the population last September, President Jose Ramos-Horta praised Francis’ courage. “Pope Francis was a brave man who was not afraid to speak out against the rulers of the world who seek war, but do not want to seek peace,” Ramos-Horta said.

“He challenged the powerful to act with justice, called nations to welcome the stranger, and reminded us that our common home — this Earth — is a gift we must protect for future generations,” said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who is Muslim. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and has around 30 million Catholics, representing about 14% of the population.

Viewing the Pope’s Coffin

The pope’s formal apartments in the Apostolic Palace and in the Santa Marta hotel were sealed Monday evening, following a centuries-old ritual. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who as camerlengo had the task of announcing the death and confirming it once the cause was determined, presided over the rituals.

Francis chose not to live in the palace, but in a two-room suite in Santa Marta on the other side of Vatican City. He died there and his body was transferred to the hotel chapel in the lobby, where the private viewing was underway Tuesday for Vatican officials and members of the pontifical household.

In changes made by Francis last year, his body was not placed in three wooden coffins, as it had been for previous popes. Rather, Francis was placed in a simplified wooden coffin with a zinc coffin inside.

Once in St. Peter’s, his casket will not be put on an elevated bier — as was the case with past popes — but will just be be placed simply facing the pews, with the Paschal candle nearby.

“He was a pope who didn’t change his path when it came to getting (his hands) dirty,” Francis’ vicar for Rome, Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, said in a Mass in his honor. “For him, poor people and migrants were the sacrament of Jesus.”

Choosing the Next Pope

After the funeral, there are nine days of official mourning, known as the “novendiali.” During this period, cardinals arrive in Rome and meet privately before the conclave.

To give everyone time to assemble, the conclave must begin 15 to 20 days after the “sede vacante” — the “vacant See” — is declared, although it can start sooner if the cardinals agree.

Once the conclave begins, cardinals vote in secret sessions in the Sistine Chapel. After voting sessions, the ballots are burned in a special stove. Black smoke indicates that no pope has been elected, while white smoke indicates that the cardinals have chosen the next head of the Catholic Church.

The one who has secured two-thirds of the votes wins. If he accepts, his election is announced by a cardinal from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica who tells the world: “Habemus Papam” — Latin for “We have a pope.”

Associated Press reporters Paolo Santalucia and Silvia Stellacci contributed. Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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He was 88, and had suffered a serious bout of double pneumonia this year, but his death came as a shock after he had been driven around St. Peter’s Square in an open-air popemobile to greet cheering crowds on Easter Sunday.

“Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on the Vatican’s TV channel.

“At 7:35 (0535 GMT) this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.”

Farrell will preside over a rite at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Monday when the pope’s body will be placed into a casket, part of the formalities that will culminate in a funeral at a date to be confirmed.

The Vatican said a ceremony planned for Sunday, April 27, when Carlo Acutis was to become the first Catholic saint of the millennial generation, had been postponed.

Francis had on Sunday made his first prolonged public appearance since being discharged on March 23 from a 38-day hospital stay for pneumonia.

In an Easter Sunday message read aloud by an aide as the pope looked on from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the pontiff had reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

At the Vatican, locals, tourists and pilgrims visiting for Easter expressed their shock and grief.

“This is something that really hits you hard,” said Emanuela Tinari, from Rome. “He was a pope who brought so many people closer to the church. He was not appreciated by everyone. But he definitely was by ordinary people.”

Final Meetings

Doctors had prescribed two months of rest when the pope left hospital last month but he appeared on a number of occasions and met Britain’s King Charles in April and had a brief meeting on Sunday with visiting U.S. Vice-President JD Vance.

“My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him,” Vance said on X.

Other world leaders were reacting to the pope’s death with praise for his efforts to reform the worldwide church and offering condolences to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni mourned the departure of “a great man, a great shepherd”.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “He inspired millions, far beyond the Catholic Church, with his humility and love so pure for the less fortunate.”

Jose Ramos-Horta, the president of East Timor, where Francis visited in September 2024 as part of the longest foreign trip of his papacy, said the pope “leaves behind a profound legacy of humanity, of justice, of human fraternity”.

12-Year Papacy

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope on March 13, 2013, surprising many Church watchers who had seen the Argentine cleric, known for his concern for the poor, as an outsider.

He sought to project simplicity into the grand role and never took possession of the ornate papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace used by his predecessors, saying he preferred to live in a community setting for his “psychological health”.

He initiated changes within the Vatican, emphasizing transparency, accountability and financial reform, and appointed more women to senior posts in its hierarchy. However, he was also viewed as a haphazard leader, often blindsiding Vatican officials with his off-the-cuff comments.

He struggled to get a grip on the Church’s crisis over sexual abuse by clerics and he inherited a Church torn by infighting in the Vatican bureaucracy, and was elected with a clear mandate to restore order.

But as his papacy progressed, he faced criticism from conservatives, who accused him of trashing cherished traditions. He also drew the ire of progressives, who felt he should have done much more to reshape the 2,000-year-old Church.

While he struggled with internal dissent, Francis became a global superstar, drawing huge crowds on his many foreign travels as he tirelessly promoted interfaith dialogue and peace, taking the side of the marginalised, such as migrants.

Unique in modern times, there were two men wearing white in the Vatican for much of Francis’ rule, with his predecessor Benedict opting to continue to live in the Holy See after his shock resignation in 2013. Benedict, a hero of the conservative cause, died in December 2022.

Francis appointed nearly 80% of the cardinal electors who will choose the next pope, increasing the possibility that his successor will continue his progressive policies, despite the strong pushback from traditionalists.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Additional reporting by Angelo Amante and Crispian Balmer; Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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On Sundays, I used to stand in front of my Mormon congregation and declare that it all was true.

I’d climb the stairs to the pulpit and smooth my long skirt. I’d smile and share my “testimony,” as the church calls it. I’d say I knew God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, prayer, spirits and miracles were all real. I’d express gratitude for my family and for my ancestors who had left lives in Britain, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway to pull wagons across America and build a Zion on the plains. When I had finished, I’d bask in the affirmation of the congregation’s “Amen.”

In that small chapel by a freeway in Arkansas, I knew the potency of believing, really believing, that I had a certain place in the cosmos. That I was eternally loved. That life made sense. Or that it would, one day, for sure.

I had that, and I left it all.

I never really wanted to leave my faith. I wasn’t interested in exile — familial, cultural or spiritual. But my curiosity pulled me away from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and toward a secular university. There, I tried to be both religious and cool, believing but discerning. I didn’t see any incompatibility between those things. But America’s intense ideological polarity made me feel as if I had to pick.

My story maps onto America’s relationship to religion over the past 30 years. I was born in the mid-1990s, the moment that researchers say the country began a mass exodus from Christianity. About 40 million Americans have left churches over the past few decades, and about 30% of the population now identifies as having no religion. People worked to build rich, fulfilling lives outside of faith.

That’s what I did, too. I spent my 20s worshipping at the altar of work and, in my free time, testing secular ideas for how to live well. I built a community. I volunteered. I cared for my nieces and nephews. I pursued wellness. I paid for workout classes on Sunday mornings, practiced mindfulness, went to therapy, visited saunas and subscribed to meditation apps. I tried book clubs and running clubs. I cobbled together moral instruction from books on philosophy and whatever happened to move me on Instagram. Nothing has felt quite like that chapel in Arkansas.

America’s secularization was an immense social transformation. Has it left us better off? People are unhappier than they’ve ever been, and the country is in an epidemic of loneliness. It’s not just secularism that’s to blame, but those without religious affiliation in particular rank lower on key metrics of well-being. They feel less connected to others, less spiritually at peace, and they experience less awe and gratitude regularly.

Now, the country seems to be revisiting the role of religion. Secularization is on pause in America, a study from Pew found this year. This is a major, generational shift. People are no longer leaving Christianity; other major religions are growing. Almost all Americans — 92% of adults, both inside and outside of religion — say they hold some form of spiritual belief, in a god, human souls or spirits, an afterlife or something “beyond the natural world.”

In Washington, religious conservatives are ascendant. President Donald Trump claims God saved him from a bullet so he could make America great again. The Supreme Court has the most pro-religion justices since at least the 1950s. Nearly half of Americans believe the United States should be a Christian nation. And singer Grimes recently said, “I think killing God was a mistake.”

The Rise of the ‘Nones’

I remember the first time I saw Richard Dawkins’ book “The God Delusion.” I was in middle school, at a Barnes & Noble in a strip mall down the street from my church. I stopped in front of the shelves, confronted with an astonishing possibility: It was an option not to believe.

Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, intended to provoke. He was one of the patriarchs of New Atheism, a movement that began around the turn of the century. Disruptive forces — technological change, globalization and 9/11 — invited people to question both their relationship to faith and the role of religion in society. The New Atheists’ ideas helped make that interrogation permissible.

Religion was no longer sacrosanct, but potentially suspect. By 2021, about 30% of America identified as “nones” — people who have no religious affiliation.

But even as people left religion, mysticism persisted. More people began identifying as “spiritual but not religious.” In 2015, researchers at Harvard University began studying where these Americans were turning to express their spirituality. Reporters did, too. The answers included: yoga, CrossFit, SoulCycle, supper clubs and meditation.

“Secularization in the West was not about the segregation of belief from the world, but the promiscuous opening of belief to the world,” said Ethan H. Shagan, a historian of religion at the University of California, Berkeley.

Related Story: Trump Tells Prayer Breakfast He Wants to Root Out ‘Anti-Christian Bias’ and Urges ‘Bring God Back’

Happier, Healthier, More Fulfilled

Religion provides what sociologists call the “three B’s”: belief, belonging and behaviors. It offers beliefs that supply answers to the tough questions of life. It gives people a place they feel they belong, a community where they are known. And it tells them how to behave, or at least what tenets should guide their action. Religious institutions have spent millennia getting really good at offering these benefits to people.

“There is overwhelming empirical support for the value of being at a house of worship on a regular basis on all kinds of metrics — mental health, physical health, having more friends, being less lonely,” said Ryan Burge, a former pastor and a leading researcher on religious trends.

Pew’s findings corroborate that idea: Actively religious people tend to report they are happier than people who don’t practice religion. Religious Americans are healthier, too. They are significantly less likely to be depressed or to die by suicide, alcoholism, cancer, cardiovascular illness or other causes.

Answering Hard Questions

In a country where most people are pessimistic about the future and don’t trust the government, where hope is hard to come by, people are longing to believe in something. Religion can offer beliefs, belonging and behaviors all in one place; it can enchant life; most important, it tells people that their lives have a purpose.

People also want to belong to richer, more robust communities, ones that wrestle with hard questions about how to live. They’re looking to heady concepts — confession, atonement, forgiveness, grace and redemption — for answers.

Erin Germaine Mahoney, a 37-year-old in New York City, was an evangelical Christian for most of her life. She left her church in part because she disagreed with its views on women but said she has struggled to find something to fill the void. She wants a place to express her spirituality that aligns with her values.

She hesitated before saying, “I haven’t found satisfaction.”

“That scares me,” she added, “because I don’t want that to be true.”

Like Mahoney and many other “nones,” I, too, feel stuck. I miss what I had. In leaving the church, I lost access to a community that cut across age and class. I lost opportunities to support that community in ways that are inconvenient and extraordinary. I lost answers about planets, galaxies, eternity.

But I don’t feel I can go back. My life has changed: I enjoy the small vices (tea, wine, buying flowers on the Sabbath) that were once off-limits to me. Most important, though, my beliefs have changed. I’ve been steeped in secularism for a decade, and I can no longer access the propulsive, uncritical belief I once felt. I also see too clearly the constraints and even dangers of religion. I have written about Latter-day Saints who were excommunicated for criticizing sexual abuse, about the struggles faced by gay people who want to stay in the church.

I recognize, though, that my spiritual longing persists — and it hasn’t been sated by secularism. I want a god. I live an ocean away from that small Arkansas chapel, but I still remember the bliss of finding the sublime in the mundane. I still want it all to be true: miracles, souls, some sort of cosmic alchemy that makes sense of the chaos.

For years, I haven’t been able to say that publicly. But it feels like something is changing. That maybe the culture is shifting. That maybe we’re starting to recognize that it’s possible to be both believing and discerning after all.

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Lauren Jackson/Haiyun Jiang
c. 2025 The New York Times Company

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For generations, people of the Upper Rio Grande Valley and beyond have walked to reach El Santuario de Chimayó to commemorate Good Friday.

Pilgrims, some walking for days, were on track to arrive Friday amid a forecast of cool temperatures and sprinkles of rain.

Some travelers are lured by an indoor well of dirt believed to have curative powers. Throughout the year, they leave behind crutches, braces and canes in acts of prayer for infirm children and others, and as evidence that miracles happen.

Easter week visitors file through an adobe archway and narrow indoor passages to find a crucified Nuestro Señor de Esquipulas at the main altar. According to local lore, the crucifix was found on the site in the early 1800s, a continent away from its analog at a basilica in the Guatemalan town of Esquipulas.

A Spiritual Place

Chimayó, known for its artisan weavings and chile crops, rests high above the Rio Grande Valley and opposite the national defense laboratory at Los Alamos that sprang up in the race to develop the first atomic weapon.

The iconic adobe church at Chimayó was cast from local mud at the sunset of Spanish rule in the Americas in the early 1800s, on a site already held sacred by Native Americans.

Set amid narrow streets, curio shops and brooks that flow quickly in spring, El Santuario de Chimayó has been designated as a National Historic Landmark that includes examples of 19th century Hispanic folk art, religious frescoes and saints carved from wood known as bultos.

One votive room is filled with notes of thanks from those who say they had ailments cured.

A separate chapel is dedicated to the Santo Niño de Atocha, a patron saint of children, travelers and those seeking liberation and a fitting figure of devotion for Chimayó pilgrims on the go.

Hundreds of children’s shoes have been left in a prayer room there by the faithful in tribute to the holy child who wears out footwear on miraculous errands. There are even tiny boots tacked to the ceiling.

Pueblo people who inhabited the Chimayó area long before Spanish settlers believed healing spirits could be found in the form of hot springs. Those springs ultimately dried up, leaving behind earth attributed with healing powers.

A Way of Life

Photographer Miguel Gandert grew up in the Española valley below Chimayó and made the pilgrimage as a boy with his parents.

“Everybody went to Chimayó. You didn’t have to be Catholic,” said Gandert, who was among those who photographed the 1996 pilgrimage through a federal grant. “People just went there because it was a powerful, spiritual place.”

Scenes from that pilgrimage — on display at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe — include children eating snow cones to keep cool, men shouldering large wooden crosses, infants swaddled in blankets, bikers in leather and weary pedestrians resting on highway guardrails to smoke.

A generation later, Good Friday pilgrims still haul crosses on the road to Chimayó, as families leave behind cars, push strollers and allow time for older hikers. Throngs of visitors often wait hours for a turn to file into the Santuario de Chimayó to commemorate the crucifixion.

It’s just one of hundreds of adobe churches anchoring a uniquely New Mexican way of life for their communities. Many are at risk of crumbling into the ground in disrepair as congregations and traditions fade.

A Journey on Foot

Pilgrims from nearby towns set out for Chimayó in the predawn hours. Some have walked 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Santa Fe, while others traveled for days from Albuquerque and elsewhere.

Vendors sell religious trinkets, coffee and treats. State transportation workers, law enforcement agencies and other volunteers are stationed along the roadway to ensure safety from oncoming traffic, the outdoor elements and exhaustion.

Pilgrims traverse an arid landscape speckled with juniper and piñon trees and cholla cactus that finally give way to lush cottonwood trees and green pastures on the final descent into Chimayó.

The magnitude of the religious pilgrimage has few if any rivals in the U.S. Many participants say their thoughts dwell not only on Jesus Christ but on the suffering of family, friends and neighbors with prayers for relief.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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The “Birkat Cohanim,” or Cohen’s blessing, is a ritual dating back over 2,500 years to when King Solomon’s Temple stood on the same site. The blessing is performed by male Jews who can trace their lineage back to the priestly caste, and takes place three times a year during Judaism’s major holidays. Jews are currently observing the week-long holiday of Passover.

The prayer was led by many of the country’s top rabbis as well as Eliya Cohen, a former hostage who was released from Gaza in February, and relatives of other hostages still being held in Gaza. After the traditional blessing, the rabbis recited a prayer for the 59 hostages still held in captivity in Gaza.

Many worshippers said the prayer had special meaning this year, given the ongoing war, which has stretched on for more than 18 months. “It’s hard for us to believe that we still have hostages that are not able to come home and come and be here and join us with this,” said Shandey Fuchs, who said she tries to attend the ceremony every year. She added that she hopes the prayer brings unity and lasting peace across Israel.

Passover Pilgrimage

The blessing is recited in Hebrew while religious men cover their heads with prayer shawls, creating a sea of white at the Western Wall Plaza. The paved prayer area in front of the wall is the last remnant of the second Jewish Temple destroyed in the 1st century. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which runs the site, said more than 200,000 people have visited the site during the Passover holiday, one of three Jewish holidays where ancient Jews traditionally made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

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This year, the celebrations again occur amid anxieties and divisions among many Jews related to the unresolved Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and the specter of widespread antisemitism.

When Is Passover This Year?

Passover — known as Pesach in Hebrew — begins at sunset on Saturday, April 12, and ends after nightfall on Sunday, April 20. By tradition, it will be celebrated for seven days in Israel and for eight days by some Jews in the rest of the world.

What Are Key Passover Rituals and Traditions?

For many Jews, Passover is a time to reunite with family and recount the exodus from Egypt at a meal called the Seder. Observant Jews avoid various grains known as chametz, a reminder of the unleavened bread the Israelites ate when they fled Egypt quickly with no time for dough to rise. Cracker-like matzo is OK to eat; most breads, pastas, cereals, cakes and cookies are off-limits.

What’s Different This Year?

A year ago, for many Jews, any celebratory mood was muted by the scores of hostages captured by Hamas in Israel and held in Gaza. Many Seder tables, in Israel and elsewhere, had empty seats, representing those killed or taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023.

Even after the recent release of some hostages, others remain held. Hopes for a formal end to conflict have been dampened by the collapse of a ceasefire and resumption of fighting.

As was the case last year, there also is intense concern in some countries about a high level of antisemitic incidents.

More than 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the United States were reported between Oct. 7, 2023, and Sept. 24, 2024 — the most ever recorded by the Anti-Defamation League.

The Secure Community Network, which provides security and safety resources to hundreds of Jewish organizations and institutions across North America, has been issuing frequent advisories ahead of Passover.

Specifically, the group has warned of possible threats from white extremist groups, including some organizing along the U.S.-Canada border. SCN said key extremist anniversaries, including Hitler’s birthday on April 20, coincide with the holiday, raising concerns about the risk of violence targeting Jewish communities.

One notable change this year: Pro-Palestinian protests that roiled many college campuses in spring 2024 have been fewer and less disruptive, in part because of Trump administration pressure.

“Since January there has been a marked change in the seriousness with which hate on campus is being dealt by the federal government as they set out clear consequences to the previous inaction of university leaders,” said Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union.

However, some Jewish leaders have been dismayed by the Trump administration’s threats and funding curbs directed at universities it considered too tolerant of antisemitism.

“None of this is about fighting antisemitism,” Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said in a social media post. “It’s about gutting our education institutions and democracy under the guise of fighting antisemitism. And it ultimately makes Jews less safe.”

What Special Events Are Taking Place?

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the city’s Museum of Tolerance are hosting a special Seder for interfaith leaders and community members directly affected by recent wildfires. Organizers invited various first responders, civic leaders and elected officials, seeking to honor “the spirit of community resilience and the enduring strength of togetherness.”

The fires destroyed or damaged dozens of houses of worship and other faith-based facilities.

Interfaith Seders have been organized in many other cities, including Houston, Dallas, New York, Phoenix, and Milwaukee.

“We understand that now more than ever, Jewish communities across North America must open their doors to forge stronger friendships,” said Rabbi Joshua Stanton, Jewish Federations associate vice president of interfaith and intergroup initiatives.

The New York-based Met Council, a Jewish nonprofit operating various anti-poverty programs, says it has delivered free kosher-for-Passover food to more than 250,000 Jewish Americans burdened by skyrocketing grocery costs. The packages, distributed at 185 sites in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida, included traditional Passover essentials such as matzo, kosher chicken, gefilte fish, tuna, and grape juice.

Chabad-Lubavitch, a global Hassidic Jewish organization, plans a parade of more than 100 converted RVs known as “Mitzvah Tanks” through New York City’s streets. The aim, says Chabad, is “to spread kindness and celebrate Jewish heritage,” as well as distributing traditional matzo.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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Nicholas Kristof
Opinion
Apr 9, 2025

“We have no greater friends than Christian supporters of Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once told the conference of Christians United for Israel, which with 10 million members is twice the size of the much better known American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Evangelical leaders have been calling on the White House to “reject all efforts” to constrain Israeli control over the West Bank, in the words of a group called American Christian Leaders for Israel. These evangelicals often cite God and the Bible as authorities for their position that Israel should annex Palestinian lands.

Evangelical Support for Israeli Annexation

I couldn’t reach God for comment, but I suspect that the divine press office would have referred me to the Eighth Commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.”

Trump’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas, has favored Israel’s annexing the West Bank and has said, “There is really no such thing as a Palestinian.”

In the face of this American Christian enthusiasm for crushing Palestinians while saying it is God’s will, I wondered what Palestinian Christians thought. So I visited Bethlehem and asked them.

Experiences of Palestinian Christians

“Do we feel betrayed?” mused Mitri Raheb, a Lutheran Palestinian pastor who is president of Dar Al-Kalima University and, like many Palestinian Christians, against annexation. “Yes, to some extent. Unfortunately, this is not new for us.”

Fewer than 2% of West Bank Palestinians today are Christian, but they are an influential minority who endure the same land grabs and hardships as the majority Muslim population. In the Makhrour Valley near Bethlehem, I met Alice Kisiya, 30, a member of an old Christian family, on an overlook where we could see her family property — from which her family has been barred.

Kisiya said that she was physically attacked by Israeli settlers, that her family restaurant was torn down four times and that she had been finally forced off her land last year by the Israeli government. She also pointed to where she said the Israeli authorities had knocked down a wooden church her family had built.

So what does she think of these American Christian leaders?

“Let them come and live here so they can maybe deal with the settlers,” Kisiya said.

Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian Christian writer and the author of the new book “State of Palestine NOW,” said that far-right American Christians have embarrassed the Christians who actually live in the Holy Land.

A Call for Understanding

“When the Bible is used to justify land theft and war crimes against civilians, it puts the faithful in an awkward position,” he said.

The far-right Christian-Jewish alliance would seem a little awkward for Netanyahu himself, because some evangelicals base their support for hard-line Israeli policies on the idea that they are advancing the biblical end of days, when they will go to paradise — but in their view, Jews risk being dispatched to hell.

One group in the West Bank where biblical themes of love and justice do prevail is Tent of Nations, a Christian community that promotes nonviolence and declares, “We refuse to be enemies.” It operates on the farm of an old Palestinian Christian family, the Nassars, who have used their property to hold youth camps and advocate peace toward all.

That attitude has not been reciprocated. The Nassars have documented their woes: assaults by settlers, destruction of their olive trees, efforts to push them off land they have occupied for a century and denial by Israel of access to running water and the electrical grid.

American Christian leaders have done an excellent job championing religious freedom around the world, from China to Azerbaijan — but Daoud Nassar, as he showed me around the family farm, spoke of his sadness that these leaders are quiet about the repression of their fellow Christians in the Holy Land.

“Persecution is happening,” he said, noting for example that some Christians and Muslims alike have difficulties getting permission to pray at religious sites in Jerusalem. American Christians can easily visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Jesus is said to have been crucified, but it’s harder for West Bank Christians to get permission to worship there.

“We were the first followers of Christ,” Nassar said. And yet, he added, Christian leaders seem indifferent as families like his (along with Muslims) are driven off their lands by settler attacks, endless checkpoints, demolitions of buildings and second-class status.

Christians are of course as varied in their views as Jews and Muslims are: The most striking differences are not among religions but rather between moderates and zealots of all faiths. Some American and European Christians regularly volunteer at Tent of Nations, partly to deter violence by settlers. On my visit, a Dutch Christian volunteer, Riet Bons-Storm, a retired theology professor, was staying in a cave on the farm (the Nassars are not allowed to build new structures) and celebrating her 92nd birthday.

“We are like human shields,” she explained. Maybe I looked skeptical that Bons-Storm, a frail Dutch nonagenarian, constituted much of a shield, for she quickly added that it would look bad if settlers or soldiers killed her.

Nassar joined a party of volunteers celebrating Bons-Storm’s birthday and then told me he wished that more American Christians would visit and see for themselves the inequalities of West Bank life.

“We need the U.S. Christians to understand what is happening,” he said. He sighed and added, “We are also people.”

—

Contact Nick Kristof at Facebook.com/Kristof, Twitter.com/NickKristof or by mail at The New York Times, 620 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10018.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Nicholas Kristof/Samar Hazboun
c. 2025 The New York Times Company

The post Why Palestinian Christians Feel Betrayed by American Christians appeared first on GV Wire.

Victor A. Patton

The Merced FOCUS

Last month the city received an application to fly a flag in recognition of “Unveiling Day,” an official holiday of The Satanic Temple that is recognized annually by the group’s adherents on July 25.

The application is among the latest developments in the ongoing discussion by city leaders about how they approach choosing which flags can be flown in Bob Hart Square and at city facilities.

Just last month, the city began taking initial steps to update its flag policy – section C-7 of the city’s administrative policies and procedures – amid concerns from Councilmember Shane Smith the city could face a free speech lawsuit if it’s not revised.

Flag Request Process Under Scrutiny

Until recently, the city offered a form on its website, allowing applicants from the community to make requests to display commemorative flags in the square, alongside the American and state flags.

That request was removed from the city’s website after Smith brought forth his concerns. At that point, the city council had already given initial application approvals for flags to fly in the square honoring Black History Month, Pride Month and a Christian flag in recognition of Easter.

The request for the Satanic flag was filed on Feb. 18 by Henry Hickman. His application included a brief narrative that cited Unveiling Day as a religious holiday and The Satanic Temple as a recognized religious organization.

The application states that flying the flag will “help bring together Merced and show the public’s support for secularism and the separation of church and state. It will be a time to come together as a community and grow and listen and help each other with our needs.”

Efforts by The Merced FOCUS to reach Hickman about the flag application were unsuccessful.

Thus far, there has been no confirmation The Satanic Temple itself as an organization had any involvement in Hickman’s filing of the application.

The organization, which has numerous chapters nationwide, has been involved in legal actions challenging government entities on issues of separation of church and state. In that regard, the group has also challenged the display of Christian symbols at government buildings.

The Merced FOCUS emailed a request for an interview to The Satanic Temple’s media account, but so far that message has not been returned.

Related Story: Merced Kicks Off $3.5 Million Bob Hart Square Renovation

City’s Response to Satanic Flag Request

Although the Merced City Council has approved several flag requests for other groups this year, the Satanic flag application won’t make it to the council for consideration.

Jennifer Flachman, city of Merced spokesperson, said city staff have already denied that application, on the basis it was filed in an untimely manner. Flachman said Hickman’s application was filed a month after the city had already received all the flag applications that would be considered for 2025.

All of the flag requests approved by the city for this year were received before the end of January.

Merced Mayor Matt Serratto told The Merced FOCUS he had heard about the application for the Satanic flag. He questioned its origin and whether it was filed by someone from outside the Merced community.

“All of the other (flags) we’ve approved, you know there is certainly plenty of controversy surrounding all of them. But these are groups that are very much rooted in Merced, doing good work for a long time in Merced,” Serratto said.

“Some of them are at odds, such as the Pride groups and the religious groups, but both of those groups have a lot of people who do incredible work for our community.”

Serratto said it’s “an unfortunate reality” that some will try to test the limits of local government. “Part of me is surprised that we’ve gone this long without any major issues,” Serratto said, referring to the city’s practice of allowing commemorative flags.

Smith told The Merced FOCUS he’s not surprised someone filed an application for a Satanic flag – given the concerns he’s raised about the flag practice potentially making the city a target for litigation.

“I am just glad we were able to correct the issue in a nick of time,” Smith said. “This kind of additional request just speaks to the danger that I talked about at the council meeting on (February) 18th.”

Related Story: Merced Police Bust Illegal Gambling Operation at Local Business

What’s at Stake?

The language of the city’s C-7 flag policy doesn’t specifically mention allowing third parties to fill out applications to fly commemorative flags.

The city began using the application, called the Request for Display of Commemorative Flag Form, back in 2021 at the direction of city council, according to an administrative staff report.

The move came after the city council directed staff to create a flag policy, following its May 3, 2021 approval of allowing the LGBTQ+ Pride Progress Flag to fly in Bob Hart Square in June of that year.

“Administration at that time set up an application process to assist City Councilmembers to propose various commemorative flags for the entire body to consider,” Flachman, the city’s spokesperson, said in an email to The Merced FOCUS.

At the Feb. 18 council meeting this year, Smith argued the city’s practice in the past few years of allowing third party requests from the community to display certain flags – via the flag form application on the city’s website – had made the city flagpole in Bob Hart Square a public forum.

He felt allowing that practice to continue wouldn’t prevent any third party from displaying their chosen commemorative flag, regardless of whether city leaders agreed with the viewpoint. That could include groups the council considers to be extreme or hateful.

Smith said the revised flag policy should affirm that the council – not members of the public – can request the display of commemorative flags at city facilities. Smith believes that revision would support those flags as being government speech, rather than a public forum for free speech.

Plus, it would help the council moderate control over its message. “If there is a (flag) proposal made at the council dais, that’s going to be coming from a council member, and if there is majority support for it, then the decision to fly that particular commemorative flag becomes government speech,” Smith told The Merced FOCUS.

“And that’s kind of what the Constitution envisions. If the community doesn’t like our decision to fly a flag in the first place, or they don’t like the flag that is flown, the remedy is the ballot box.”

Related Story: Police Arrest 16-Year-Old for School Shooting Threat in Merced

Others Weighing-in on Flag Issue

Although the topic of Merced’s flag policy may be a local issue, that doesn’t mean groups from outside the city aren’t paying attention.

On Feb. 24 the city received a letter from an attorney representing the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wisconsin-based organization that is “committed to the cherished principle of separation of church and state,” according to the group’s website.

In the letter, the organization’s staff attorney Samantha F. Lawrence asked the city to reconsider its approval of the Christian flag flying in Bob Hart Square.

Lawrence’s letter cited concerns brought to the council by Fue Xiong, who represents Merced City Council District 6.

Xiong, the lone council member who in February voted against the request to fly the Christian flag, cited that it had been flown by white supremacist and extreme right wing groups.

Other members of the council disagreed, citing the large abundance of Christians from all walks of life and political persuasions who reside in Merced.

Still, Lawrence’s letter disapproved of the council’s decision. “While the City’s intentions behind its flag policy are surely admirable, it should avoid displaying flags that promote a single religion or that have become symbols of division and exclusion,” Lawrence wrote.

When asked about the letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Smith told The Merced FOCUS he did not agree with the group’s legal argument.

From Smith’s perspective, because the city’s prior practice was to accept flag requests from third parties, the First Amendment prohibited the council from accepting some requests – and not others – regardless of the viewpoint of the party making the request.

Smith, who works as an intellectual property attorney, has also previously referenced a U.S. Supreme Court ruling where the court stated that City of Boston must allow a Christian flag to fly outside its city hall. In that same case, the court determined cities can have policies that say commemorative flags are government speech.

Smith’s proposed revisions to how the city approaches commemorative flags are now under review by City Attorney Craig Cornwell. Those revisions are expected to eventually return to council for further discussion.

About the Author

Victor Patton is editor-in-chief of The Merced FOCUS.

The post Merced Receives Satanic Flag Request Amid Policy Debate appeared first on GV Wire.

Dr. Sergio Alfieri, who coordinated Francis’ medical team at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said Francis will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation as he continues recovering back at the Vatican. But his personal doctor, Dr. Luigi Carbone, said if he continues his steady improvements to date, he should be able to resume his normal activity.

The doctors spoke at a hastily-called press conference Saturday evening in the Gemelli hospital atrium, their first in-person update on the pontiff’s condition in a month.

Details of Pope’s Condition Revealed

They provided details on the severity of the infection, which he is still being treated for, and the two respiratory crises that marked the gravest threats to his life. They confirmed he would be released Sunday, after first offering a blessing to the faithful from his hospital suite, the first time he will have been seen by the public since he was admitted Feb. 14.

“When he was in really bad shape, it was difficult that he was in good spirits,” Alfieri said. “But one morning we went to listen to his lungs and we asked him how he was doing. When he replied, ‘I’m still alive’ we knew he was OK and had gotten his good humor back.”

Alfieri confirmed that Francis was still having trouble speaking due to the damage to his lungs and the time he spent on supplemental oxygen and ventilation. But he said such problems were normal and predicted his voice would return.

“When you have a bilateral pneumonia, your lungs get damaged and the respiratory muscles are in difficulty. You lose your voice a bit, like when you speak to high,” Alfieri said. “As for all patients, young or old but especially older ones, you need time for it to come back as it was.”

Pope’s Medical Journey

The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to hospital after a bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs. Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which later resolved after two blood transfusions.

The most serious setbacks began on Feb. 28, when Francis experienced an acute coughing fit and inhaled vomit, requiring he use a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe. He suffered two more respiratory crises on March 3, which required doctors manually aspirate the mucus, at which point he began sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clear the accumulation of fluids.

At no point did he lose consciousness, and doctors reported he always remained alert and cooperative.

Over the past two weeks, he has stabilized and registered slight improvements. He no longer needs to wear the ventilation mask at night, and is cutting back his reliance on high flows of supplemental oxygen during the day.

Recovery and Future Plans

At his home in the Santa Marta hotel, next to St Peter’s Basilica, Francis will have access to supplemental oxygen and 24-hour medical care as needed, Carbone said.

“The Holy Father is improving, and we hope soon he can resume his normal activity,” Carbone said.

The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, declined to confirm any upcoming events, including a scheduled audience April 8 with King Charles III or Francis’ participation in Easter services at the end of the month. But Carbone said he hoped Francis might be well enough to travel to Turkey at the end of May to participate in an important ecumenical anniversary.

The Vatican announced that before returning to the Vatican, Francis would appear on Sunday morning to bless faithful from his 10th floor suite at the hospital. While Francis released an audio message on March 6 and the Vatican distributed a photo of him March 16, Sunday’s blessing will be the first live appearance since Francis was admitted for what has become the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

The post Pope Francis to Be Released From Hospital Sunday After 5 Weeks Fighting Pneumonia appeared first on GV Wire.

The congregation, which has nearly doubled in size since the start of the Gaza war, begins its Shabbat services with a prayer for Gaza’s people. “Let us remain steadfast in our solidarity with the people of Gaza who have resisted the relentless violence of genocide with bottomless wells of courage and resilience,” reads a congregant.

Rosen’s journey to anti-Zionism began after Israel’s 2008 incursion into Gaza, which he viewed as a war crime. This stance puts Tzedek Chicago at odds with the majority of American Jews. According to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, 80% of American Jews consider caring about Israel an essential part of their Jewish identity.

The congregation’s anti-Zionist position has come at a cost. Members have faced ostracism from family and lost jobs in Jewish organizations. Rosen himself was removed from the Chicago Board of Rabbis.

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Despite these challenges, Tzedek Chicago has attracted a growing following, especially among younger Jews. Owen Howard, a 23-year-old graduate student, appreciates the space to question traditional narratives without fear of ostracism.

For Maya Schenwar, a long-time member, Tzedek offers a place to “live the Judaism that feels like who I want to be in the world.”

As the American Jewish community grapples with diverse perspectives on Israel, the question remains: Is there room for anti-Zionist voices within the broader Jewish dialogue?

Read more at NPR

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