Monday's News & Ideas - 4/3/2023

Pope Francis has marked Palm Sunday in the Vatican square following his hospital stay
Associated Press: Bundled in a long, white coat and battling a hoarse voice, Pope Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter’s Square before tens of thousands of faithful on Palm Sunday, a day after he left a Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis.

Catholic nuns’ letter declares trans people ‘beloved and cherished by God’
Religion News Service: The letter follows a recent statement from U.S. Catholic bishops discouraging Catholic health care groups from performing various gender-affirming medical procedures.

The Harlem Sunday school teacher who led Trump’s indictment
Sojourners: Manhattan’s District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, is best known these days for leading the probe of whether former president Donald Trump and his company broke state laws in 2016, but at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, Bragg is known as a devoted man of faith and longtime member.

Liberty appoints retired general, Air Force chaplain as new president*
Christianity Today: Alumnus Dondi E. Costin steps in to lead years after Jerry Falwell Jr.’s scandal.

What should churches do about the treatment of “the Jews” in John?*
Christian Century: “Each of the typical approaches has problems,” Amy-Jill Levine says. “The best solution would be to change the lectionary.”

The Spark

Why fear of crime more than crime itself is holding back America’s downtowns
People are scared of urban centers, Vox says. They shouldn’t be.

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