From The International Business Times: Italian police arrested two illegal migrants, who attacked soldiers on patrol outside a historic Rome Basilica as part of security arrangements for jubilee celebrations. The assailants shouted Islamic slogans and attempted to snatch the officers’ weapons but were instead subdued, authorities said. The incident occurred outside the Patriarchal Basilica of St Mary Major, Rome’s largest Catholic Marian church, which dates back to the fifth century and is situated mid-way between the Colosseum and the main... Read more

This is impressive:  In a video that has captured a national audience, East Catholic High School students refute the idea that prayer in the face of bloody chaos is an empty platitude. “The message that we wanted to send was that prayer does matter; prayer is part of action,” Principal Jason Hartling said Tuesday. The school posted the video on its Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/EastCatholicHighSchool/?fref=ts) Monday morning, and as of late Tuesday morning, 3,327 users had shared it. Calls of thanks... Read more

This story is hurtling around the interwebs this week—no doubt because Christmas is close: He may be shown as a Caucasian man with long, flowing light brown hair in many religious artworks, but Jesus would have likely had a darker complexion and short, dark, curly hair, a forensic expert claims. Retired medical artist Richard Neave has recreated the face of ‘Jesus’ by studying Semite skulls using modern-day forensic techniques. His portrait shows the Son of God may have had a... Read more

Check this out:  Fox is set to air a live two-hour musical event about Jesus, “The Passion,” which will be hosted and narrated by Tyler Perry. The telecast will air on Palm Sunday 2016, March 20, and hail from New Orleans, Perry’s hometown. “The Passion” tells the 2000-year-old story of the final hours of Jesus Christ’s life. Casting for the special will be announced in the future, though Fox promises involvement from “today’s biggest stars” — a group which will perform a... Read more

From the Vatican news site: The self-styled Islamic State of jihadists beheaded three well-known Sunni imams in Mosul in the public square accused of not obeying orders that forced them to recruit young people for the Jihad. The three imams, known by the local people for their profile of authentic men of God: Kazim Abdulkarim, Bilal al- Sheikh Agha and Abdullah al-Hayalli, had opposed to the atrocities committed by jihadists in the name of their bloody religious ideology. They were... Read more

Courtesy Rome Reports, a brief but potent new video that challenges the viewer to look at the Nativity through a different lens. This was produced by the School of Communications at the University of Navarra in Spain. Photo: Pixabay Read more

The statistics are surprising—even more so in a continent that is still predominantly Catholic, via NPR:   Latin America is now the region that has the highest percentage of children born out of wedlock. In Colombia, 84 percent of all children are born to unmarried mothers. Argentina, Mexico, Chile and other countries throughout the region have similar numbers, with well over half of all children born outside wedlock. In less than a generation in Argentina, the traditional definition of a... Read more

You may remember this practice stirred some criticism a couple weeks ago. Now, authorities are investigating:   A decade after the Air Force Academy football team invited controversy and censure over an “I am a member of Team Jesus” banner in its locker room, the Falcons again appear to be striking a decidedly Christian pose, its members dropping to one knee and holding hands in a public pre-game prayer circle. The academy issued a statement saying it is investigating the practice... Read more