Yahoo! News: Religion News

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• Atheist 'mega-churches' take root across US, world
• Pope Francis leads prayer for Philippines after typhoon
• Toppled Philippine church cross overlooks typhoon's destruction
• Pope commemorates Nazi's Kristallnacht attack on Jewish 'big brothers'
• U.S. bishops to select leaders as Pope urges new focus
• Pope asks for prayer, aid for typhoon victims

Atheist 'mega-churches' take root across US, world Posted: 10 Nov 2013 04:49 PM PST LOS ANGELES (AP) — It looked like a typical Sunday morning at any mega-church. Several hundred people, including families with small children, packed in for more than an hour of rousing music, an inspirational sermon, a reading and some quiet reflection. The only thing missing was God.

Pope Francis leads prayer for Philippines after typhoon Posted: 10 Nov 2013 06:48 AM PST Pope Francis on Sunday led prayers for those affected by the typhoon that killed at least 10,000 people in the Philippines. We pray now in silence ... for our brothers and sisters, and we will seek to also send concrete help," Francis told thousands of pilgrims after his weekly Angelus from his window over St. Peter's Square. A message from the leader of the 1.2-billion-member Catholic Church asking Twitter users to join him in prayer for the victims of typhoon Haiyan was re-tweeted almost 30,000 times. In a message to Philippine President Benigno Aquino, the Vatican's Secretary of State Archbishop Pietro Parolin passed on "heart-felt solidarity" from Francis.

Toppled Philippine church cross overlooks typhoon's destruction Posted: 10 Nov 2013 05:28 AM PST By Manuel Mogato and Roli Ng TACLOBAN, Philippines (Reuters) - A church spire, its cross hanging loose, looks down on smashed houses, wrecked cars, toppled power lines and snapped trees, as dazed survivors try to count the cost. Two days after one of the world's most powerful typhoons slammed into the Philippines, as many as 10,000 people are believed to have died in a single city: Tacloban.

Pope commemorates Nazi's Kristallnacht attack on Jewish 'big brothers' Posted: 10 Nov 2013 05:24 AM PST Pope Francis described the Jewish people as the "big brothers" of his Roman Catholic flock on Sunday in words of solidarity marking the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht attacks on Jews and their property in Nazi Germany. Francis said the state-sponsored ransacking of Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues, on the night of November 9, 1938, in which scores of Jewish people were killed, marked a step towards the Holocaust and should not be forgotten. The leader of the Roman Catholic Church has pledged good relations with Jews and his March election was welcomed by the world's Jewish associations.

U.S. bishops to select leaders as Pope urges new focus Posted: 10 Nov 2013 05:22 AM PST By Mary Wisniewski BALTIMORE (Reuters) - U.S. Catholic bishops will choose new leaders at an assembly in Baltimore this week and possibly signal a new direction for the American church under the influence of Pope Francis. The conference begins Monday and all eyes will be on whether the new leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops continue vigorous opposition to gay marriage and to Obamacare's contraceptive mandate, or increase their push to help the poor and immigrants given Pope Francis' emphasis on social justice issues. The Vatican has asked bishops and parish priests around the world about the local views on gay marriage, divorce and birth control ahead of the October 2014 meeting. "Bishops have been stuck in a bunker fighting the culture war," said John Gehring, who was once in the conference's communications office and is now Catholic program director for Faith in Public Life, a liberal advocacy group.

Pope asks for prayer, aid for typhoon victims Posted: 10 Nov 2013 04:12 AM PST VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has led tens of thousands of people at the Vatican in silent prayer for the victims of the typhoon that has ravaged the Philippines.

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