In the last 18 months of his life, Pope Francis had a frequent ritual: He would call the lone Catholic church in the Gaza Strip to see how people huddled inside were coping with a devastating war.

Former President Jimmy Carter was widely known as a man of faith, a born-again Christian who defined himself as a progressive evangelical.

The city of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, will not have the usual trappings of the city's favorite holiday: no public Christmas tree, no raucous scouts march, no decorations and no twinkling lights, in deference to the ongoing war in Gaza.

Hundreds of Christians have joined the Good Friday procession in Jerusalem’s Old City, commemorating one of the faith’s most sacred days with noticeably thinner crowds amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition.

Thousands of Christian faithful attended Palm Sunday celebrations at Jerusalem’s sacred Mount of Olives on the first day of Holy Week.

From Jesus' biblical birthplace of Bethlehem to New York City, many Palestinian Christians this Christmas season are gripped with helplessness, pain and worry amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Bethlehem is gearing up for a subdued Christmas without the festive lights and customary Christmas tree towering over Manger Square.

For Lebanon’s Christians, the cedars are sacred, these tough evergreen trees that survive the mountain’s harsh snowy winters.

A video that shows ultra-Orthodox Jews spitting on the ground beside a procession of foreign Christian worshipers carrying a wooden cross in the holy city of Jerusalem has ignited intense outrage and a flurry of condemnation in the Holy Land.

A nearly 150-year-old stained-glass church window showing a dark-skinned Jesus Christ interacting with women has been rediscovered in a Rhode Island church.

Eight Filipinos have been nailed to crosses to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a bloody Good Friday tradition.

Christians around the world will be getting blessed palm branches at Palm Sunday services, which start the church’s most solemn week.

The biblical town of Bethlehem is marking what is shaping up to be a merry Christmas.

After a two-year delay due to the coronavirus, Germany’s famous Oberammergau Passion Play is opening soon.

Christian worshipers gathered in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Seplucher, the traditional site of Jesus’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection, to observe the Easter holiday.

Catholic officials say words matter.

From Bethlehem and Frankfurt to London and Boston, the surging coronavirus dampened Christmas Eve festivities for a second year.

How well do you know your international travel destinations? It’s time to test your knowledge.

Christianity’s most joyous feast day is being celebrated worldwide with worshippers spaced apart in pews and singing choruses of “Hallelujah” through face coverings for the second Easter Sunday in a row.

For a second year, Christians in the Holy Land are marking Good Friday without the mass pilgrimages usually seen in the Holy Week leading up to Easter because of the coronavirus.

Few people were there to greet them as the coronavirus pandemic and a strict lockdown dampened Christmas Eve celebrations. The Philippines prohibited mass gatherings and barred extended families from holding traditional Christmas Eve dinners. On Christmas Eve in Italy, church bells rang earlier than usual. In Athens, Christmas Eve was eerily silent. The schedule for Christmas Eve and Christmas day included Masses in English and Spanish, and a bilingual jazz vespers service.

– The Nativity stable at Canton Lutheran Church will be silent this year, breaking from a community tradition of gathering for a live Christmas performance. Instead, churches in this rural corner of South Dakota are grappling with how to approach an Advent filled with quiet mourning after the coronavirus tore through the region. South Dakota and North Dakota, states largely spared from the worst of the pandemic during the spring and summer, have seen a frightening pace of death since October. “Advent is the season when we look forward, and long and wait for that new life to come upon us,” the Rev. How do you do that when you can’t give them a hug?” said Thies, the pastor at Canton Lutheran.

Christmas tree is lit outside the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)BETHLEHEM – Only a few dozen people attended the lighting of the Christmas tree in the biblical city of Bethlehem on Saturday night, as coronavirus restrictions scaled back the annual event that is normally attended by thousands. Bethlehem Mayor Anton Salman said Christmas is being observed this year in ways like no time before. “We resorted to modern technology and to the virtual world to celebrate the lighting of the Christmas tree, wishing hope and optimism would flutter upon Palestine and the world,” Salman said. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists typically visit Bethlehem, fill hotels and dine at restaurants during the Christmas season, bringing the area a much-needed injection of cash.

HOUSTON, Texas – Two women were pulled to safety moments before their car bust into flames. An Uber transporting the women home was traveling northbound on the Eastex Freeway, near Jefferson, when a truck collided with it. “All of a sudden we saw cars coming from all directions and crashing through the wall and everything,” Shelvin said. “Once I saw the car was wrecked real bad, I knew there was a gas tank right in the back," Shelvin said. “I knew at anytime there was going to be an explosion.”After pulling the women from the Uber, the vehicle burst into flames and an "explosion went all over the place,” Shelvin said.

HOUSTON A maskless woman called another shopper a demon while invoking the name of Jesus Christ as she ordered people out of an aisle she was shopping in at a Washington store, video shows. As she paces up and down the vitamin aisle, the woman said, I command you in Jesus Christs name to get off this aisle. Like, is that how you think youre going to get your message across? someone can be heard saying on the video. She doesnt want anyone to go down that aisle until she can get what she wants and leave the aisle. In the last video from the store, the woman can be seen being held down on the floor by someone.

George Floyd's memorial was moving for both viewers at home and those in attendance at the service, held at North Central University in Minneapolis on Thursday. The comedian shared his condolences with Floyd's family, as well as families of "all lives that were lost to these senseless deaths." Attorney Benjamin Crump and film producer Will Packer were also at Floyd's memorial, as were T.I., Rev. See more on Floyd's memorial in the video below. RELATED CONTENT:Steph Curry, Cara Delevingne & More Protest George Floyd's DeathKanye West Gives $2 Million to Floyd, Arbery & Taylor FamiliesTiffany Haddish and More Celebs Attend George Floyd Memorial ServiceExclusiveExclusiveImageBylineJennifer DrysdaleThu, 06/04/2020 - 18:48