MONTREAL – With Pope Francis declining an invitation to attend Montreal’s 375th anniversary celebrations in 2017, the city is left with modest plans to recognize the important role of the Church dating back to Montreal’s founding as a Roman Catholic colony in 1642.

Han Solo may have referred to Jediism as a “hokey religion,” but the Charity Commission for England and Wales has ruled it is not actually a religion.

Atheism is a parasite that feeds on bad religion. That’s why, in the end, atheistic critics are our friends. They hold our feet to the fire.

Dapinder Ahluwalia’s 14-year-old son starts high school next month. Like many parents, she’ll spend the last days of summer ensuring he has the right school supplies and a copy of his class schedule.

TEL AVIV, Israel – It was Sunday — women’s-only day — at the so-called religious beach in this Israeli city on the Mediterranean, and several hundred women and girls sat on the sand or frolicked in the gentle waves with an abandon they rarely exhibit elsewhere.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM KRAKOW, Poland – An economy that focuses on the God of money, not human beings, is the foundation of terrorism, Pope Francis said.

It is hard to walk into a grocery store, drugstore, gas station or anywhere else without coming across a display of adult colouring books. The trend started a couple of years ago with Johanna Basford’s uber-popular volumes of pretty flowers and frolicking sea life.

JERUSALEM – Stuart Levy, a nurse at a Jerusalem hospital, updates his ward’s work schedule several times a week, with staffers’ vacations, birthdays and more religious holidays than many people know exist.

CAMBRIDGE, England – For the last month, fliers about the United Kingdom’s referendum on the European Union have come through my door with statements like: “The EU costs us at least £350 million a week. That’s enough to build a new NHS hospital every week.” Not one of them has mentioned religion.

The spirituality writer Tom Stella tells a story about three monks at prayer in their monastery chapel. The first monk imagines himself being carried up to Heaven by the angels. The second monk imagines himself already in Heaven, chanting God’s praises with the angels and saints. The third monk cannot focus on any holy thoughts but can only think about the great hamburger he had eaten just before coming to chapel. That night, when the devil was filing his report for the day, he wrote: “Today I tried to tempt three monks, but I only succeeded with two of them.”

OTTAWA – Canadians must be willing to reject a growing perception that religion is a strictly private matter and instead be unafraid to publicly affirm their faith, said Canada’s former Religious Freedom Ambassador Andrew Bennett.

VATICAN CITY – With visits to detention facilities and washing the feet of the detainees, Pope Francis has placed renewed emphasis on the work of mercy of visiting prisoners. 

WASHINGTON – Talk in the U.S. presidential campaign about restricting entry of Muslims into the United States has some religious leaders concerned that the country's religious liberty heritage is under threat.

VATICAN CITY – Catholic and Muslim leaders meeting in Rome said religion can humanize and civilize communities when followers actually adhere to their faith's teachings about loving God and neighbor.

NEW DELHI – India is rejecting a U.S. panel’s charges that the religious freedom of minorities in the world’s largest democracy is being violated with tacit support from elements in the ruling party.