Spiritual briefing

Nation

Oklahoma

Funding for religious charter rejected

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled that the approval of what would be the nation's first state-funded Catholic charter school is unconstitutional.

The court decided Tuesday that the contract between the state and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School must be rescinded.

Philly pastor to lead NYC Black church

New York's historic Abyssinian Baptist Church has elected its new senior pastor, likely bringing an end to a national search to replace the late Rev. Calvin O. Butts, who had served the church for a half-century before his death in 2022.

The Rev. Kevin R. Johnson, the founder of the independent Dare to Imagine Church in Philadelphia, was elected Sunday and will assume the new post in mid-July, Abyssinian said in a statement. He had served as an intern and assistant pastor under Butts, who had started searching for his successor before his death.

District of Columbia

Court rejects vaccination law challenge

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to a 2021 Connecticut law that eliminated the state's longstanding religious exemption from childhood immunization requirements for schools, colleges and day care facilities.

The justices on Monday did not comment in leaving in place a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the contentious law. A lower court judge had dismissed the lawsuit challenging the law. Connecticut requires students to receive certain immunizations before enrolling in school, allowing some medical exemptions.

World

France

Jewish candidate faces, fights hate

IVRY-SUR-SEINE -- Antisemitism has surged as a hot-button issue in France's high-stakes legislative election campaign. On the outskirts of Paris, a candidate who is Jewish is feeling the heat of hatred.

Campaigning for the camp of President Emmanuel Macron, Shannon Seban is accompanied by bodyguards as she canvasses for votes, because her party is concerned for her safety. Seban is using her campaign to sound the alarm about the dangers of racial and religious hatred and division.

Nepal

'Buddha Boy' convicted of sex assault

KATHMANDU -- A court in southern Nepal has convict a controversial spiritual leader known as "Buddha Boy" on charges of sexually assaulting a minor.

Ram Bahadur Bamjan, who's believed by some to be the reincarnation of the founder of Buddhism, was arrested by police in January on charges of sexual assault and suspicion of involvement in the disappearance of at least four of followers from his camps. A judge on Monday found him guilty of sexually assaulting an underage girl. Sentencing will be on July 1.

Germany

Benedict's secretary named envoy

BERLIN -- Pope Francis has appointed the longtime secretary of the late Pope Benedict XVI as the Vatican's diplomatic representative to the Baltic states. The Vatican announced in its daily bulletin Monday that Archbishop Georg Gänswein was named as the papal nuncio to Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.