The Varanasi circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) this week forwarded a proposal to place Sarnath on the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) list of World Heritage Sites to India’s Ministry of Culture. If listed, Sarnath will become the fourth UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and the 39th for the country.

Leaders and senior representatives from some 20 Muslim nations flocked to the Malaysian capital on Wednesday (Dec 18) to discuss issues agitating Muslims globally at a summit Saudi Arabia decided to snub, and Pakistan ducked out of attending.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday he does not support a proposal to further relax Mexico’s strict legal separation of church and state, throwing cold water on a draft bill that would upend longstanding political doctrine in the country.

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind has signed the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), officials said on December 13.

"The president has given his assent to the CAB and thus it has become an Act," an official said. "The collected set of rules in the CAB comes into effect with its publication in the official gazette on Thursday."

In 2017, a Catholic church in the village of Afferden in the Netherlands was sold to Buddhist monastics from the Dhammakaya movement in Thailand and converted into a Buddhist temple. The sale followed a trend of closing Catholic churches in the country, but it is the first to be transferred to a Buddhist group. Today, the Buddhist and non-Buddhist communities of the area have found harmony.

Nearly 160,000 security personnel will be deployed to try to make Christmas and New Year celebrations in Indonesia safe, reported ucanews.org.

This is an increase from last year, when nearly 90,000 security personnel guarded about 50,000 churches across the country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the international community on Monday to boost investments in Afghanistan during "sensitive" times the country has been going through.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle is the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The appointment by Pope Francis was announced on Sunday 8 December. The current Prefect, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, assumes the post of Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher in place of Cardinal Edwin Frederick O'Brien, who resigned in April 2019 and turned 80.

Pope Francis has sent a message to participants at the United Nations Climate Conference, COP 25, being held in Madrid until 13 December.

Thousands of buffalo will be slaughtered in Hindu festival despite efforts to end tradition

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday strongly condemned Sunday's church attack in Burkina Faso, said his spokesman.

Representatives of London's faith community have condemned the terrorist attack at London Bridge today. 

Pope Francis on Friday warned that technology and globalization were homogenising young people around the world to the point where their uniqueness and cultural individuality were becoming endangered species.

The Church of England has released a teaching document in which it acknowledges the role of Christians in centuries of antisemitism as well as its resurgence in modern times.

The document, called God's Unfailing Word, is the first authoritative statement on the subject from the Church of England and outlines historic failings towards Jews.

Pope Francis is visiting Thailand from 20–23 November and is due to follow with a trip to Japan on 23–26 November. While the pontiff is expected to reach out to the small Catholic populations in the two countries, the visits to the Buddhist-majority nations highlights the Pope’s continued emphasis on dialogue across religious divides as a path to peace in the world.