{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1", "title": "Watchman News", "home_page_url": "https://watchmannews.com/", "feed_url": "https://watchmannews.com/feed.json", "items": [ { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/vatican-venite-ad-me-transmission-of-faith", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/vatican-venite-ad-me-transmission-of-faith", "title": "Vatican Doctrine Office Urges Renewed Gospel Proclamation in New Document", "summary": "\"Venite ad Me\" says passing the faith from parents to children has broken down in many places and calls for evangelizing adults, not only children.", "content_text": "The Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a document Thursday, Oct. 22, calling Catholics to a fresh effort to proclaim the Gospel as the passing on of the faith falters in much of the world.\n\nThe text, titled \"Venite ad Me: Considerations on the Transmission of the Faith in an Epochal Change,\" was approved by Pope Leo XIV on Aug. 21. It is signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the dicastery's prefect, and Msgr. Armando Matteo, secretary of its doctrinal section, according to Vatican News.\n\nVatican News reported that the document centers on the \"kerygma,\" the basic first proclamation of the Gospel. It says faith passes on chiefly as a shared way of life in the church, not mainly as information. Because handing down the faith within families has been disrupted, it calls for evangelizing adults as well as teaching children and teens.\n\nThe text notes that conversions and returns to the church are rising in some highly secularized places. But it warns that many newly baptized people soon drift into practical indifference, describing \"a parallel difficulty concerning the perseverance of neophytes.\" It urges congregations to welcome and walk alongside new members.\n\nThe document also points to secularization, a culture built on individual autonomy, and digital technology as pressures that push faith into private life. It quotes Pope Leo: \"The challenge, therefore, is not technological, but anthropological.\"\n\nThe dicastery describes the text as \"considerations\" rather than a doctrinal note. It has eight chapters, and its last chapter collects testimonies, sent in by bishops, from people who came or returned to faith.", "date_published": "2026-10-23T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "The Wall" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "Vatican News — Doctrine of the Faith: Returning to kerygma amid crisis in passing on faith", "url": "https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2026-10/dicastery-doctrine-faith-venite-ad-me-transmission-change.html" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/umc-us-membership-falls-2025", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/umc-us-membership-falls-2025", "title": "United Methodist US Membership Fell by About 174,000 in 2025, Report Shows", "summary": "The denomination's finance agency counted about 3.8 million U.S. members, but professions of faith rose and fewer churches closed than the year before.", "content_text": "U.S. membership in the United Methodist Church fell by about 174,000 in 2025, according to new figures from the denomination's General Council on Finance and Administration reported by The Christian Post.\n\nThe agency's statistical report counted about 3.814 million U.S. members at the end of 2025. That is down from about 3.988 million a year earlier, a drop of 4.36%. The number of reporting U.S. congregations fell from 21,176 to 20,158.\n\nWorship attendance also slipped. In-person attendance went from about 1.074 million to about 1.041 million, and online worship went from about 1.037 million to about 986,000.\n\nSome numbers rose. Professions of faith apart from confirmation grew 5.66%, from 24,081 to 25,444, and small groups grew from 62,531 to 63,589. Church closures fell from 960 in 2024 to 540 in 2025. Baptisms fell 3.76%.\n\n\"There is no one single reason for the decline,\" a council spokesperson told The Christian Post. General Secretary Caitlin Congdon said, \"Every number in this report represents United Methodists worshiping, serving, and giving faithfully in their communities.\"\n\nThe figures cover U.S. churches only and leave out the denomination's growing churches overseas, especially in Africa. More than 7,600 mostly theologically conservative U.S. congregations left the denomination between 2019 and 2023, according to UM News figures cited by the Post. Lawsuits over some of those exits are still going on in South Carolina and Maryland.", "date_published": "2026-10-23T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "The Wall" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "The Christian Post — United Methodist Church's US membership falls by 174,000 in 2025: report", "url": "https://www.christianpost.com/news/umc-in-us-sees-over-170000-drop-in-membership-from-in-2025.html" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/the-last-trump-one-trumpet-not-two", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/the-last-trump-one-trumpet-not-two", "title": "The Last Trump: Why the Watchman Listens for One Trumpet, Not Two", "summary": "Scripture names the trumpet that gathers the saints, and tells us when it sounds. So did the church's earliest teachers.", "content_text": "A watchman's whole job hangs on a trumpet. So it is worth asking a plain question of our Bibles: when does the trumpet sound that gathers the people of God to the Lord Jesus Christ?\n\nOur Lord answered that question Himself on the Mount of Olives, and He placed it on the calendar for us.\n\n\"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.\" (Matthew 24:29-31, KJV)\n\nNotice the order. Tribulation first, then the sign in heaven, then the trumpet, then the gathering of the elect. Paul describes the same gathering to the Thessalonians: \"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first\" (1 Thessalonians 4:16). And to the Corinthians he calls it the last trumpet of all: \"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed\" (1 Corinthians 15:52).\n\nOne coming. One gathering. One trumpet, and Paul says it is the last one. When the same apostle had to settle a church that was shaken by rumors that the day had already come, he did not tell them they would be gone before trouble arrived. He told them what must happen first:\n\n\"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;\" (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, KJV)\n\nThis is not a new teaching. It is the old one. Around the middle of the second century, Justin Martyr told the Jewish teacher Trypho that he and other \"right-minded Christians on all points\" were \"assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged\" (Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 80).\n\nA generation later, Irenaeus of Lyons, who learned from Polycarp, who learned from the apostle John, laid out the order of events plainly. When the Antichrist \"shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father\" (Against Heresies, Book V, chapter 30).\n\nAntichrist first. Then the Lord from heaven. Then the kingdom. The earliest church expected to see the man of sin before they saw their Saviour, and they did not count that a reason for fear. They counted it a reason to watch.\n\nThat is why this matters for a newsroom with a trumpet on its masthead. If the church expects to be gone before hard days come, it may be caught sleeping when they do. Our brothers and sisters in Sudan and Nigeria, whose stories run on this site, are not waiting to be spared tribulation. They are living through it, and holding fast.\n\nOur Lord did not leave us guessing about our duty in the meantime. \"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come\" (Matthew 24:42). Keep your lamp trimmed. Keep your eyes on the eastern sky. And listen for the last trump.", "date_published": "2026-10-23T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "The Trumpet" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Editorial Desk" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 80-81 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1) — New Advent", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01286.htm" }, { "name": "Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V, ch. 30 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1) — New Advent", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103530.htm" }, { "name": "More reading: The Watchman's Library", "url": "/library" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/pope-leo-cancels-assisi-peace-meeting-visit", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/pope-leo-cancels-assisi-peace-meeting-visit", "title": "Doctors Advise Pope Leo XIV to Skip Oct. 27 Assisi Peace Meeting", "summary": "The pope will send a message to the gathering instead, as he continues to recover from the lung surgery he had Oct. 13.", "content_text": "Pope Leo XIV will not travel to Assisi, Italy, on Oct. 27 as planned, after his doctors advised against the trip while he recovers from lung surgery, the Holy See Press Office announced Friday, Oct. 23.\n\nThe pope had been scheduled to attend the \"Unarmed and Disarming Peace\" meeting organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio. He will send a message to the organizers and guests instead, according to Vatican News.\n\nThe Press Office said the change was made \"to aid his recovery following the thoracic surgery he underwent on Tuesday of last week.\" Surgeons removed the lower lobe of the pope's right lung on Oct. 13.\n\nHis doctors, Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora, said a follow-up chest X-ray showed that \"his postoperative recovery is progressing very well.\" They said they advised against the planned helicopter trip to Assisi as a precaution.\n\nThe Oct. 25-27 gathering marks the 40th anniversary of the 1986 World Day of Prayer for Peace convened by Pope John Paul II. Vatican News said it is expected to draw 384 representatives from 53 countries across 24 forums.\n\nThe pope's doctors said earlier this week that the surgery removed all of the malignant lung adenocarcinoma and that no further treatment is needed.", "date_published": "2026-10-23T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "The Wall" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "Vatican News — Pope Leo will not make Assisi visit to aid recovery after surgery", "url": "https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-10/pope-leo-xiv-cancels-october-27-visit-assisi.html" }, { "name": "Vatican News — Pope Leo XIV's doctors confirm 'no further treatment is necessary'", "url": "https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-10/pope-leo-xiv-doctors-confirm-no-further-treatment-necessary.html" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/myanmar-mindat-bhamo-churches", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/myanmar-mindat-bhamo-churches", "title": "Myanmar Military Bombs Presbyterian Church, Burns Baptist Church, Rights Group Says", "summary": "Christian Solidarity Worldwide says two attacks in Chin and Kachin states this month are part of a pattern of strikes on churches in Myanmar's Christian-majority regions.", "content_text": "Myanmar's military bombed a Presbyterian church compound in Chin State and burned a Kachin Baptist church days later, according to the UK-based advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide, as reported by The Christian Post and Charisma News.\n\nIn the first attack, two military jets made bombing runs over the town of Mindat around 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 9, dropping four bombs at two sites, The Christian Post reported. One bomb struck a Presbyterian church compound and destroyed the building. No deaths or injuries were reported.\n\nThree days later, on Oct. 12, troops from the military's 33rd and 88th Light Infantry Divisions set fire to the Htingnan Kachin Baptist Church and nearby homes in Bhamo, also called Banmaw, in Kachin State, CSW said. Col. Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the Kachin Independence Army, told The Irrawaddy that soldiers set the fire. Residents said the church, run by the Kachin Baptist Convention, had been burned once before.\n\nThe burning came as the military tried to retake Bhamo. The Kachin Independence Army and allied groups captured most of the town in 2025 but have lost some ground this year, according to The Christian Post.\n\nCSW founder and president Mervyn Thomas called the destruction \"clear violations of international humanitarian law and freedom of religion or belief.\" He urged the international community to \"move beyond statements of concern and take concrete steps\" to cut off the junta's access to aviation fuel and military hardware.\n\nCSW says the military deliberately targets churches in Christian-majority ethnic states such as Chin, Karenni and Kachin to punish civilians for armed resistance. Churches in those areas often serve as shelters, schools and aid centers.\n\nThe monitoring group Myanmar Witness reported in April that it recorded more than 300 airstrikes on religious sites, including churches, mosques and monasteries, from January 2024 through December 2025. Mindat has suffered repeated attacks since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021.", "date_published": "2026-10-23T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "Persecuted Church" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "The Christian Post — Myanmar military destroys churches, accused violating humanitarian law", "url": "https://www.christianpost.com/news/myanmar-military-destroys-churches-accused-violating-law.html" }, { "name": "Charisma News — Myanmar Military Bombs and Burns Churches as Christian Communities Face Mounting Attacks", "url": "https://mycharisma.com/?p=624217" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/khartoum-christians-drone-strikes", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/khartoum-christians-drone-strikes", "title": "Khartoum Christians Hold On as Drone Strike Kills Four in Sudan's Capital", "summary": "A ministry says the city's small church remains, though often hidden, after a strike on Oct. 19 that killed three children, part of a wave of drone attacks across Sudan.", "content_text": "A drone strike killed four people in Sudan's capital on the morning of Oct. 19, and the city's small Christian minority is living under the threat of more attacks, International Christian Concern reported Oct. 22.\n\nAgence France-Presse reported that the drone hit a house in a neighborhood east of Khartoum airport, killing four people, including three children between the ages of two and six, according to a medical source. An army official told AFP that air defenses intercepted drones from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces aimed at the airport and nearby areas. ICC said reports attribute the attack to the RSF.\n\nThe strike was part of a wave of drone attacks across Sudan that killed more than 100 people starting Oct. 18, according to AFP, which cited residents, medical workers and paramilitary sources. The deadliest single strike, in Al-Dibab in West Kordofan, killed 80 people, residents and medical workers said.\n\nICC said Christians in Khartoum face pressure from hostile neighbors as well as the drones. Some churches have been looted, occupied or destroyed since the war began in April 2023, and some worship sites have become military positions, the group said. Converts and church leaders are acting with more caution.\n\nA pastor who works with ICC and asked not to be named said believers take comfort in God's care \"even when the drones fly overhead and the night is long.\" Another eyewitness, also unnamed, told the group, \"Our God is still on the throne in Khartoum.\"\n\nICC described the church in the capital as smaller, quieter and often hidden, but still present. Watchman News has not independently confirmed the details of ICC's account of the Christian community.\n\nAid workers estimate the war between Sudan's army and the RSF has killed more than 200,000 people, AFP reported. The United Nations says more than 1,100 people were killed in drone attacks in the first half of 2026.", "date_published": "2026-10-23T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "Persecuted Church" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "International Christian Concern — Christians Flee Drones Amid War in Khartoum", "url": "https://persecution.org/2026/10/22/christians-flee-drones-amid-war-in-khartoum/" }, { "name": "Arab News (AFP) — Drone strikes across Sudan kill more than 100", "url": "https://arabnews.com/middle-east/drone-strikes-across-sudan-kill-more-than-100-3007193" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/eastern-star-martin-church-demolition-paused", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/eastern-star-martin-church-demolition-paused", "title": "Eastern Star Church to Withdraw Demolition Request for Historic Indianapolis Church", "summary": "The 113-year-old former St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church on the old Martin University campus will stand for now while the congregation talks with preservationists.", "content_text": "Eastern Star Church has agreed to withdraw its request to tear down the former St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, a 113-year-old building on the old Martin University campus on Indianapolis' east side, Mirror Indy reported Oct. 21.\n\nHoward Stevenson, a lawyer for Eastern Star, told Mirror Indy the church is working with the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission and Indiana Landmarks toward an \"amicable resolution.\" He said the church has \"decided to hold off on proceeding with demolition\" for now.\n\nEastern Star bought the former campus in May, after Martin University closed at the end of 2025, and renamed it the ROCK Impact Center. A contractor filed for a wrecking permit on Aug. 7. The city's Historic Preservation Commission then voted to give the church building historic status, which put the demolition on hold.\n\nThe Metropolitan Development Commission must still approve the historic designation and a preservation plan. It had planned to vote Oct. 21, but requests from the city and Eastern Star pushed the vote to its Nov. 18 meeting. Meg Busch, who runs the city's Historic Preservation Commission, said the delay gives time to finish an assessment of the building.\n\nSt. Francis de Sales parish was founded in 1881, and the current building went up in 1913. The church and its school served east side families for more than a century before the parish closed in 1983. The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has said the closing was largely due to falling membership tied to the building of Interstate 70.\n\nMartin University moved into the building in 1987 and for years used it as its performing arts center, according to the city's preservation plan. The next public step is the Metropolitan Development Commission's Nov. 18 meeting.", "date_published": "2026-10-23T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "Hoosier Watch" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "Mirror Indy — Eastern Star to withdraw wrecking permit for Martin University church", "url": "https://mirrorindy.org/martin-university-eastern-star-church-st-francis-de-sales-wrecking-petition/" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/clergy-act-signed-social-security", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/clergy-act-signed-social-security", "title": "Trump Signs Clergy Act, Giving Ministers a Way Back Into Social Security", "summary": "Pastors who opted out of Social Security early in their ministry, a choice that used to be permanent, will get a two-year window to opt back in starting in 2029.", "content_text": "President Donald Trump signed the Clergy Act into law on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The law gives ministers who once opted out of Social Security a one-time chance to start paying in again and earn future benefits, the Baptist Standard and the House Ways and Means Committee reported.\n\nUnder current law, clergy may exempt their ministerial income from Social Security taxes, but the decision usually has to be made within four years of starting ministry and cannot be undone. About 2,000 clergy take the exemption each year, according to the committee. Those who opt out earn no Social Security benefits from that work.\n\nThe new law, H.R. 227, opens a two-year election window covering tax years 2029 and 2030. Ministers who opt back in must still meet the normal work requirements. Sen. Katie Britt's office said that typically means about 10 years of covered work. Congress last opened a similar window in 1999.\n\nRep. Vince Fong of California sponsored the bill in the House, and Britt, an Alabama Republican, backed it in the Senate. The measure cleared the Ways and Means Committee 40-0, passed the House 350-5 and passed the Senate by unanimous consent.\n\n\"A single, sometimes ill-advised, decision made decades ago should not stand between them and a secure retirement,\" said Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee. Britt said, \"Pastors, priests, and ministers are pillars of their communities for a reason.\"\n\nThe National Association of Evangelicals, the Church Alliance, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, GuideStone Financial Resources and AARP supported the bill. GuideStone President Hance Dilbeck said the law \"represents an important opportunity for ministers who previously opted out of Social Security,\" but added that his group's role \"is not to tell ministers what decision to make.\"\n\nBecause the window does not open until 2029, no minister can make the change on this year's taxes. Pastors weighing the decision will have time to talk with their families and financial advisers first.", "date_published": "2026-10-23T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "The Wall" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "House Ways and Means Committee — Path Back to Social Security for Faith Leaders Signed into Law", "url": "https://waysandmeans.house.gov/2026/10/20/path-back-to-social-security-for-faith-leaders-signed-into-law/" }, { "name": "Baptist Standard — Clergy Act signed into law", "url": "https://baptiststandard.com/news/nation/clergy-act-signed-into-law/" }, { "name": "The Christian Post — Trump's week in review: Clergy Act signed", "url": "https://www.christianpost.com/news/trumps-week-in-review-clergy-act-signed-42m-in-snap-fraud.html" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/why-we-are-called-the-watchman", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/why-we-are-called-the-watchman", "title": "Why We Are Called the Watchman", "summary": "A word from the editor on Ezekiel 33 and what this newsroom is for.", "content_text": "My handle on the CB radio is Watchman EZ 336. It points to one verse:\n\n\"But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.\" (Ezekiel 33:6, KJV)\n\nThat is a sobering verse. The watchman on the wall was not there to make news or to stir up fear. His job was to see clearly, tell the truth, and sound the trumpet in time. If he saw danger and kept quiet, the Lord held him responsible.\n\nThat is what Watchman News is for. We will report what is happening to the church at home and around the world: the believers in prison for Christ, the court cases that touch our freedom to worship, the work of churches here in Indiana, and the events that should send us back to our Bibles.\n\nWe will tell it straight. Our news stories are checked against their sources, quotes are only printed when someone actually said them, and opinion, like this column, is labeled as opinion. When we get something wrong, we will correct it in the open. \"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.\" (1 Thessalonians 5:21)\n\nAnd we will keep watching. Our Lord said, \"And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.\" (Mark 13:37) We are \"looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.\" (Titus 2:13) Until that day, we intend to keep the trumpet in hand.\n\nThank you for reading. Pray for this work, and pass it along to someone who needs to hear it.", "date_published": "2026-10-22T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "The Trumpet" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman EZ 336, Editor" } ], "_sources": [] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/sudan-pastors-son-amin-ismail-freed-kobar-prison", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/sudan-pastors-son-amin-ismail-freed-kobar-prison", "title": "Pastor's Son Freed After More Than a Year in Sudan's Kobar Prison", "summary": "Amin Ismail was arrested the day after he came back to Khartoum to see his wife. Advocates say the courts kept finding him innocent.", "content_text": "Amin Ismail, the son of a Sudanese pastor, has been released from Kobar Prison in Khartoum after more than a year behind bars, the U.S.-based advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC) reported this week.\n\nAccording to ICC, Ismail was arrested in July 2025, the day after he returned to Khartoum to visit his wife. The group says he had committed no crime and that courts repeatedly found him innocent, yet he stayed in prison.\n\nICC ties the case to his father, Pastor Ismail Azzaz, who the group says refused government pressure to hand over church land and later fled the country. ICC also reports that a powerful man in the capital wanted Ismail's wife, and that Ismail faced threats, including a suspected plan to have him killed after his release.\n\nIsmail is now staying at a safe location inside Khartoum, the group said.\n\n\"I thank God for my release, and I am deeply grateful to ICC for their prayers and the help they gave,\" Ismail said in a statement shared by ICC.\n\nSudan has been torn by civil war between the national army and the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023. Watchman News has not independently confirmed the details of Ismail's case, which come from ICC's reporting.", "date_published": "2026-10-22T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "Persecuted Church" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "International Christian Concern — Update: Amin Ismail Released from Prison", "url": "https://persecution.org/2026/10/23/update-amin-ismail-released-from-prison/" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/supreme-court-colorado-catholic-preschools-st-mary-v-roy", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/supreme-court-colorado-catholic-preschools-st-mary-v-roy", "title": "Supreme Court to Hear Colorado Catholic Preschools' Challenge Nov. 3", "summary": "Can a state make religious schools accept its nondiscrimination rules to join a taxpayer-funded program? The justices will weigh it in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy.", "content_text": "The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Nov. 3 in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a case asking whether a state can require religious preschools to accept its nondiscrimination rules in order to take part in a publicly funded program.\n\nColorado's universal preschool program for 4-year-olds, started about four years ago, requires participating schools to agree not to discriminate on eight characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender identity.\n\nTwo Catholic parish preschools, St. Mary Catholic Virtue School in Littleton and Wellspring Catholic Academy in Lakewood, asked for an exemption from those two categories, saying the rules conflict with Catholic teaching on sex and gender. The state refused. The parishes and several parents sued, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Two lower courts ruled against them.\n\nColorado argues its rule is a neutral law that applies to everyone, the standard set in the 1990 case Employment Division v. Smith. The preschools say the rule fails that test and ask the justices to reconsider Smith. They also point to Carson v. Makin (2022), in which the Court held that states may not shut religious schools out of programs open to other private schools.\n\n\"Colorado hasn't pointed to actual families who oppose the teachings of the Catholic Church,\" said Nick Reaves of the Becket Fund, as reported by Chalkbeat.\n\nOn the other side, Patrick Cremin of the Education Law Center told Chalkbeat, \"If the preschools prevail, the state is going to be forced to fund that type of discrimination.\"\n\nDozens of other religious preschools have joined the program and accepted its rules. One parent in the case, Lisa Sheley, testified her family would have saved about $4,700 a year if her child's preschool had been in the program.\n\nA decision is expected by the end of the Court's term next summer.", "date_published": "2026-10-22T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "The Wall" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "Chalkbeat — Supreme Court could redraw boundaries of religious freedom in Catholic preschool case", "url": "https://chalkbeat.org/2026/10/22/supreme-court-to-rule-religious-schools-can-get-public-money-discriminate" }, { "name": "New Ways Ministry — Colorado returns to Supreme Court", "url": "https://newwaysministry.org/2026/10/22/colorado-returns-to-supreme-court-in-latest-clash-over-lgbtq-rights-religious-freedom" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/pope-leo-xiv-doctors-no-further-treatment-lung-tumor", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/pope-leo-xiv-doctors-no-further-treatment-lung-tumor", "title": "Pope Leo XIV Needs No Further Treatment After Lung Surgery, Doctors Say", "summary": "Final lab results show the tumor removed Oct. 13 was a localized lung adenocarcinoma, the pope's doctors said in a statement released by the Vatican.", "content_text": "Pope Leo XIV will not need any further treatment after surgeons removed a tumor from his right lung, his doctors said in a statement released by the Holy See Press Office on Wednesday evening, Oct. 21.\n\nDr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora said final histopathology and molecular testing reports, issued Oct. 21, confirmed the tumor was a lung adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized. A follow-up oncological assessment found that \"no further treatment is necessary,\" according to Vatican News.\n\nMargaritora performed the operation Oct. 13, removing the lower lobe of the pope's right lung.\n\nIn a separate Vatican News interview published Oct. 17, the surgeon described the operation as routine.\n\nLung adenocarcinoma is a form of lung cancer. The doctors' statement was based on the final lab reports and the oncology review that followed them.", "date_published": "2026-10-22T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "The Wall" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "Vatican News — Pope Leo XIV's doctors confirm no further treatment necessary", "url": "https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-10/pope-leo-xiv-doctors-confirm-no-further-treatment-necessary.html" }, { "name": "Religion Media Centre — Religion news, 22 October 2026", "url": "https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/morning-news-bulletin/religion-news-22-october-2026" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/nigeria-christian-mother-reportedly-sentenced-14-years", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/nigeria-christian-mother-reportedly-sentenced-14-years", "title": "Nigerian Christian Mother Reportedly Sentenced to 14 Years After Sharing Her Faith", "summary": "An advocacy group says a Borno State court jailed Liyatu Samuel Dawa after a Muslim woman she spoke with converted. The court record has not been made public.", "content_text": "A Christian mother from the Gwoza area of Borno State in northeastern Nigeria has reportedly been sentenced to 14 years in prison after sharing her faith with a Muslim woman, International Christian Concern (ICC) reported Oct. 21.\n\nAccording to ICC, which cited reporting by TruthNigeria, Liyatu Samuel Dawa was sentenced in the Borno State High Court before Justice A. B. Kumdila under Section 210 of the state's Penal Code. The report does not name the specific offense. The woman she spoke with testified that she converted of her own free will, and Dawa reportedly told the court she had only given the woman advice and asked for leniency.\n\nHer husband, evangelist Amos Suleman, says he spent months in detention before being released on bail and is now in hiding because of threats. \"I'm on the run; my life is under threat,\" Suleman said, according to ICC. The group notes his claims about the threats have not been verified.\n\nGavvs Katiya, chairman of the Gwoza Refugees Resettlement Initiative, called the sentence disproportionate. The Borno State government had not commented publicly, ICC said.\n\nICC says the full judgment and case record are needed to confirm the legal basis for the conviction, and that available reporting does not link the case to Boko Haram or the Islamic State West Africa Province. Nigeria's constitution protects freedom of religion, including the right to change one's religion and to share it with others.", "date_published": "2026-10-22T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "Persecuted Church" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "International Christian Concern — Christian Mother Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison in Nigeria", "url": "https://persecution.org/2026/10/21/christian-mother-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-in-nigeria/" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/indonesia-purwakarta-protest-gkps-church-construction", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/indonesia-purwakarta-protest-gkps-church-construction", "title": "Hundreds Protest Approved Church Construction in Indonesia's West Java", "summary": "A West Java human rights office says the congregation completed its administrative requirements. The regent has urged calm while residents press for a review.", "content_text": "Hundreds of residents in Purwakarta, West Java, have protested plans to build a Simalungun Protestant Christian Church (GKPS) in Cikopo Village, Bungursari District, International Christian Concern reported Oct. 20.\n\nThe protesters went to the local government office and the Ministry of Religious Affairs to voice their opposition, according to ICC. They questioned how community support for the church was checked and asked the government to review documents and recommendations already issued.\n\nPurwakarta Regent Saepul Bahri Binzein said the local government would stay neutral and follow the law, and he called for calm and dialogue.\n\nThe Ministry of Human Rights office in West Java said the church had completed its administrative requirements, ICC reported, and that freedom of religion is a basic right protected under Indonesian law.\n\nICC said similar protests against church buildings happen often in Indonesia, citing an earlier case in Central Java in June. Watchman News has not independently confirmed the details.", "date_published": "2026-10-22T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "Persecuted Church" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "International Christian Concern — Protests Erupt Over Church Construction in Indonesia Despite Government Approval", "url": "https://persecution.org/2026/10/20/protests-erupt-over-church-construction-in-indonesia-despite-government-approval/" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/international-day-of-prayer-persecuted-church-november-1-2026", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/international-day-of-prayer-persecuted-church-november-1-2026", "title": "Churches Called to Pray for the Persecuted on Sunday, Nov. 1", "summary": "The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church falls on the first Sunday of November. Free resources are ready for congregations.", "content_text": "Congregations around the world will set aside Sunday, Nov. 1, for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, held every year on the first Sunday of November.\n\nMinistries that serve persecuted believers offer free resources for churches. Open Doors US is asking churches this year to focus on Christians in the Middle East, and Open Doors UK has released a free prayer pack tied to its \"Arise Africa\" campaign. More materials are available at idop.org, run with the World Evangelical Alliance.\n\nThe day comes amid a steady stream of reports of believers jailed, attacked or driven from their homes for their faith, from Sudan and Nigeria to India and Myanmar.\n\nChurches can take part simply: name a country or a prisoner during the pastoral prayer, read a short report from the persecuted church aloud, or set aside time in a small group to pray through the week's news.\n\n\"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.\" (Hebrews 13:3, KJV)", "date_published": "2026-10-22T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "Persecuted Church" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "Open Doors US — IDOP resources", "url": "https://www.opendoorsus.org/getinvolved/resources/idop-resources/" }, { "name": "Open Doors UK — International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church", "url": "https://www.opendoorsuk.org/act/idop/" }, { "name": "Wikipedia — International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_Prayer_for_the_Persecuted_Church" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/goa-anti-conversion-bill-shelved-for-now", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/goa-anti-conversion-bill-shelved-for-now", "title": "Goa Shelves Proposed Anti-Conversion Law After Lawmakers Object", "summary": "The bill would have made Goa India's 14th state with such a law. Christian leaders welcome the pause but warn the measure could return.", "content_text": "A proposed anti-conversion law in the Indian state of Goa has been set aside for now after several lawmakers, including some from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), objected to it, Open Doors UK reported Oct. 19.\n\nGoa's state Cabinet approved the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill in August. It was later dropped from the Assembly's list of business and was not brought up during the monsoon session. If passed, it would have made Goa the 14th Indian state with an anti-conversion law.\n\nThe bill called for prison terms of up to life, a minimum fine of 50,000 rupees and compensation of up to 500,000 rupees to victims. Anyone planning to change religion would have had to file a declaration with a district magistrate at least 60 days ahead, stating the conversion was voluntary.\n\nAleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, an independent lawmaker who backs the BJP-led government, told The Indian Express: \"Goa is a peaceful state, and people here have lived and continue to live in harmony.\" The Council for Social Justice and Peace and the Catholic Association of Goa had called for the bill to be withdrawn.\n\nOpen Doors said it found no evidence of widespread or systematic forced conversion in Goa. Opponents believe the bill was meant to stir tension ahead of elections next year.\n\nChristian activist John Dayal cautioned in The Quint that \"the Goa anti-conversion bill is parked and not scrapped.\" Churches fear it could come back, Open Doors said. Watchman News has not independently confirmed the details.", "date_published": "2026-10-22T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "Persecuted Church" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "Open Doors UK & Ireland — Plans to introduce harsh anti-conversion law in Goa shelved – for now", "url": "https://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/latest-news/india-goa-bill/" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/supreme-court-kentucky-church-grotto-park-hills", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/supreme-court-kentucky-church-grotto-park-hills", "title": "Supreme Court Takes Up Kentucky Church's Fight to Build a Grotto", "summary": "A Park Hills parish was blocked from building a shrine next door. The justices will decide whether that put a \"substantial burden\" on its religious exercise.", "content_text": "The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Northern Kentucky church's bid to build a grotto honoring Mary on land next to its building, a case that could shape how zoning laws apply to houses of worship nationwide.\n\nThe Court granted review Oct. 1 in Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist v. Frederic, No. 25-1131. The religious order owns Our Lady of Lourdes church in Park Hills, built in 1930, and leases the neighboring lot where it wants to put the grotto.\n\nThe city's Board of Adjustment approved a conditional use permit and setback variances, and a circuit court sided with the church. But neighbors Joel and Elizabeth Frederic, who raised concerns about traffic, appealed. The Kentucky Court of Appeals unanimously reversed, ruling the board went beyond its authority by expanding the church's \"nonconforming\" use in a residential zone.\n\nThe Kentucky Supreme Court agreed with that result on different grounds, finding no violation of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) because the church had a workable alternative location.\n\nThe justices agreed to take up only one of the church's two questions: whether denying the permit put a \"substantial burden\" on religious exercise under RLUIPA. They declined a second question about whether the church was treated worse than a secular institution.\n\nFirst Liberty Institute is among the church's lawyers. Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and 19 other Republican attorneys general filed a brief supporting the church.", "date_published": "2026-10-21T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "The Wall" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "National Constitution Center — Local zoning dispute over grotto presents new First Amendment test", "url": "https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/local-zoning-dispute-over-grotto-presents-new-first-amendment-test" }, { "name": "Supreme Court docket 25-1131 (petition appendix)", "url": "https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-1131/401216/20260318160246712_No.%2025-_%20MSJB%20Cert%20Petition%20Appendix%20Final.pdf" }, { "name": "First Liberty Institute", "url": "https://firstliberty.org/?p=61527" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/indianapolis-to-host-2029-national-eucharistic-congress", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/indianapolis-to-host-2029-national-eucharistic-congress", "title": "Indianapolis Picked to Host 2029 National Eucharistic Congress", "summary": "The Catholic gathering returns to the city five years after the 2024 congress drew thousands of pilgrims downtown.", "content_text": "Indianapolis will host the 11th National Eucharistic Congress in the summer of 2029, organizers announced Oct. 20.\n\nBishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who chairs the board of National Eucharistic Congress Inc., made the announcement at a dinner at the Omni Severin Hotel downtown. It followed a Mass at St. John the Evangelist Church led by Archbishop Charles C. Thompson of Indianapolis.\n\n\"I'm privileged to announce that in 2029, the 11th National Eucharistic Congress is going to be back here in Indianapolis,\" Cozzens said, according to OSV News.\n\n\"We are grateful, we are honored to celebrate, to serve and to be the host,\" Thompson said.\n\nThe city hosted the 10th congress July 17-21, 2024, when thousands of pilgrims took part in a closing procession through downtown. Dates, speakers and other details for 2029 have not been announced, and planning is just beginning, organizers said.", "date_published": "2026-10-21T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "Hoosier Watch" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "OSV News — Archbishop 'grateful, honored' Indianapolis chosen to host 2029 National Eucharistic Congress", "url": "https://www.osvnews.com/archbishop-grateful-honored-indianapolis-chosen-to-host-2029-national-eucharistic-congress/" }, { "name": "Catholic Review (same report)", "url": "https://catholicreview.org/archbishop-grateful-honored-indianapolis-chosen-to-host-2029-national-eucharistic-congress/" } ] }, { "id": "https://watchmannews.com/story/appeals-court-revives-churches-challenge-ice-houses-of-worship", "url": "https://watchmannews.com/story/appeals-court-revives-churches-challenge-ice-houses-of-worship", "title": "Appeals Court Revives Churches' Challenge to ICE Enforcement at Houses of Worship", "summary": "A divided D.C. Circuit panel said 27 Christian and Jewish groups can press their case. The ruling does not stop enforcement for now.", "content_text": "A federal appeals court on Oct. 20 revived a lawsuit by 27 Christian and Jewish denominations and organizations challenging the government's policy on immigration enforcement at churches and synagogues.\n\nIn a 2-1 decision in Mennonite Church USA v. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the religious groups have standing to sue over a January 2025 memo. That memo rescinded earlier guidance that had limited enforcement at \"sensitive locations,\" including houses of worship.\n\nJudge Florence Pan wrote the majority opinion, joined by Judge Robert Wilkins. The majority found the groups' members face a \"credible threat\" of enforcement near houses of worship. Judge Neomi Rao dissented, writing that the groups \"offer only speculation\" that going back to the old guidance would change anything.\n\nThe ruling does not itself bar ICE from churches. It sends the case back to the trial court, where the groups can again ask for protection while the lawsuit goes on. A district judge, Dabney Friedrich, had denied that request in April 2025, finding the groups lacked standing.\n\nKelsi Brown Corkran of Georgetown Law's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, lead counsel for the groups, said the decision \"recognizes the real harm\" the policy caused religious communities.\n\nIn a separate case, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August upheld limits on the policy for the plaintiffs in a Maryland lawsuit, finding it likely violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.", "date_published": "2026-10-21T12:00:00-05:00", "tags": [ "The Wall" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Watchman News Staff" } ], "_sources": [ { "name": "Bloomberg Law — Bid to Block ICE Arrests at Churches Revived by Appeals Court", "url": "https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/bid-to-block-ice-arrests-at-churches-revived-by-appeals-court" }, { "name": "Courthouse News — DC Circuit sides with religious groups", "url": "https://courthousenews.com/dc-circuit-sides-with-religious-groups-in-fight-to-block-ice-church-raids" } ] } ] }