Tom Heneghan

Any heir takes over any legal claims against the deceased, according to estate laws. "I could get the shakes just thinking about how much I would have to pay out," one cousin told Bavarian Radio.

Everyone, it seems, has an idea for how to rebuild Notre Dame.

To Americans who drop coins into the collection plate, write a check or perhaps text in their Sunday donation, the idea that the state would charge an annual tax to support their church can seem strange.

Losing a cathedral just as Holy Week begins would be the biggest logistical nightmare a bishop could imagine. Where to hold all those liturgies, how to accommodate all those people?

The 850-year-old Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of Paris appeared engulfed in smoke Monday evening (April 15).

Roman Catholic churches have increasingly come under attack in France, a country so long identified with Christianity that it used to be called "the eldest daughter of the church."

It's been 100 years since Germany's first democratic government decided to stop making generous payments to its Protestant and Roman Catholic churches — and did nothing about it.

Avenue Hoche, one of the tree-lined roads radiating out from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, seems like an ideal place to locate a church for foreigners. But that location also put the street in the middle of France's often turbulent politics.

When evangelical voters cheer on President Trump in the United States or newly elected leader Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, probably the last thing on their minds is that they might be creating problems for fellow evangelicals elsewhere in the world.

It took about a week for visitors to the massive Catholic cathedral in Cologne, Germany, to notice a small addition to its ornate Gothic entrance — a carved stone figure of Pope Francis leaning forward like a gargoyle.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, head of the Roman Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013, is being accused of fostering anti-Semitism after publishing a controversial essay in a German-language theological journal.

If you're a Protestant married to a Catholic in Germany, you might be able to receive Communion along with your spouse in the Catholic Church. Then again, you may not be welcome to do so.

Bavaria's premier, Markus Söder, has presented the move not as a religious dictate, but merely a reflection of the values his fellow Bavarians share. The cross, he says, "has a defining effect on the identity of our society," and hanging it in public offices shows "our Bavarian identity and way of life.

With its dwindling rates of attendance at religious services and rising numbers of churches shuttered or sold, Western Europe seems to be the region of the world where the outlook for faith is bleakest.

Just over five years ago, a Saudi-financed center for interfaith relations opened in Vienna amid concern it might be a public relations fig leaf for a country often slammed for its lack of religious freedom.

After he and other German Catholic leaders opposed the legalization of "marriage for all," a German cardinal has signaled cautious support for Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples.

Two bishops in Germany have now spoken out in favor of considering some form of benediction for same-sex couples as a way to adjust to the changing times. 

Germany is rethinking its approach to combating anti-Semitism after a protest against President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital turned the anti-Jewish prejudices of some Muslim immigrants into a national issue.

The internet has been called "the world’s biggest sewer," where hate speech and fake news are polluting a global source of solid and valuable online information.

Paris - It took the French church decades of discussion to change one phrase in its translation of the Lord's Prayer. Meanwhile, the French re-translation of the missal is still delayed.