Religious freedom Archives

New coronavirus limits bring new religious freedom tension

Apr 4, 2020

Despite state and local limits on public gatherings, some houses of worship have persisted in holding in-person services — a matter of religious freedom, they say, as the nation approached its fourth Sunday battling the coronavirus pandemic.

By Elana Schor

Pope, Italian PM likely talk “now” and “then” of the coronavirus

Mar 31, 2020

Despite a news blackout, it’s not difficult to guess what was on the agenda for Monday’s conversation between Pope Francis and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, and it can be summarized in two words: “Now” and “then.”

By John L. Allen Jr.

Italy okays weddings and baptisms, but warns church not a motive for leaving home

Mar 30, 2020

The Italian government has issued new regulations for access to religious venues, specifying that weddings and baptisms are permitted for tightly limited groups but that merely going to church is not a legitimate reason to be out of one’s home.

By Crux Staff

Police raids on Italian churches raise religious freedom concerns

Mar 29, 2020

Amid Italy’s strict lockdown due to the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, police in recent days have slapped both priests and worshippers gathering at church to pray with citations for breaking quarantine rules, sparking concern among some about limitations this places of freedom of worship.

By Elise Ann Allen

UN report on gender equality attacks religious freedom, says official

Mar 5, 2020

A United Nations report addressing gender-based violence and discrimination connected to religious beliefs “is now attacking the very reality it is called to defend,” a Vatican representative told a U.N. meeting in Geneva.

By Carol Glatz

Where virtue falls short, US envoy says money talks on religious freedom

Jan 19, 2020

“You’ve just ruled yourself out of a whole bunch of investment if you’ve given in to this monochromatic view of religion, that it has to be this and everybody else we punish,” said U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback.

By John L. Allen Jr.