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Pope Francis has named the first woman to head a major Vatican office, choosing an Italian nun

Pope Francis has named the first woman to head a major Vatican office, choosing an Italian nun

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday named the first woman to head a major Vatican office, appointing an Italian nun, Sister Simona Brambilla, to become prefect of the department responsible for all the Catholic Church's religious orders.
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Scarves over headscarves, Muslim women’s outdoors group tackles snow tubing in Minnesota

Scarves over headscarves, Muslim women’s outdoors group tackles snow tubing in Minnesota

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (AP) — Ice crystals clung to the eyelashes, parka hood, beanie hat and headscarf of Ruqayah Nasser as she took a break after her first-ever snow tubing runs in a Minnesota park on a subzero (-18 Celsius) January morning.
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Scarves over headscarves, Muslim women’s outdoors group tackles snow tubing in Minnesota

Scarves over headscarves, Muslim women’s outdoors group tackles snow tubing in Minnesota

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (AP) — Ice crystals clung to the eyelashes, parka hood, beanie hat and headscarf of Ruqayah Nasser as she took a break after her first-ever snow tubing runs in a Minnesota park on a subzero (-18 Celsius) January morning.
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Jimmy Carter continues to lie in state at Capitol Rotunda ahead of his state funeral

Jimmy Carter continues to lie in state at Capitol Rotunda ahead of his state funeral

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Jimmy Carter will lie in state for a second day Wednesday after his remains arrived in Washington a day earlier as part of state funeral rites. The Georgia Democrat and 39th president died Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
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In his first 2025 catechism lesson, Pope says anyone who exploits or abuses a child answers to God

In his first 2025 catechism lesson, Pope says anyone who exploits or abuses a child answers to God

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Wednesday denounced the “scourge” of child labor and other abuses suffered by children, saying anyone who harms or exploits a child will have to answer to God.
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Jimmy Carter eulogized by Kamala Harris and others as 39th president returns to Washington

Jimmy Carter eulogized by Kamala Harris and others as 39th president returns to Washington

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 44 years after Jimmy Carter left the nation's capital in humbling defeat, the 39th president returned to Washington on Tuesday for state funeral rites that featured the kind of bipartisan praise and ceremonial pomp the Georgi
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Ethiopians celebrate Christmas as natural calamities and conflict take their toll

Ethiopians celebrate Christmas as natural calamities and conflict take their toll

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s Orthodox Christians are celebrating Christmas with prayers for peace in the Horn of Africa nation that has faced persistent conflict in recent years.
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What would Bonhoeffer do? Anti-Nazi pastor's legacy claimed, debated across political spectrum

What would Bonhoeffer do? Anti-Nazi pastor's legacy claimed, debated across political spectrum

Shortly before he was hanged by the Nazis in 1945 at age 39, Dietrich Bonhoeffer reportedly told a fellow prisoner: “This is the end — for me the beginning of life.” It was – more than he knew.
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France marks 10 years since deadly Charlie Hebdo attack

France marks 10 years since deadly Charlie Hebdo attack

PARIS (AP) — A decade after Islamic extremist gunmen stormed the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in a deadly assault that shook France to its core and ignited a global outcry in defense of freedom of speech, the nation paused on Tues
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Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer? An AP Explainer about the anti-Nazi pastor

Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer? An AP Explainer about the anti-Nazi pastor

Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor and theologian from Germany executed by the Nazis in 1945 at age 39 for his role in a resistance movement that included attempts to assassinate German leader Adolf Hitler.
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