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Liam Adams

@liamsadams.bsky.social
2.2K followers 1.4K following 2.6K posts

Journalist focused on religion, politics. Bylines @zeit.de, @rns.org, @usatoday.com, The Tennessean, @coloradosun.com, @christianitytoday.com, The Chronicle of Higher Ed. Board member at Religion News Association.

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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 2h
With record-low turnout and resurgence of nationalist leaders in an Oct. 4 election in Bosnia-Herzegovina, an interfaith group is calling for a new constitution to expand representation beyond the embattled ethnic-religious factions of the 1990s war. From @rns.org: religionnews.com/2026/10/09/w...
religionnews.com
Why an interfaith coalition is pushing to change Bosnia-Herzegovina’s constitution
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (RNS) — Religious leaders argue the country’s current government disenfranchises religious minorities and encourages conflict between larger religious groups.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 2h
From last week, ICYMI: A federal judge in TN dismissed the ELCA's regional body's legal challenge to a new law that makes it a felony for charitable organizations to "harbor" immigrants without legal status. From @anitawadhwani.bsky.social: tennesseelookout.com/2026/10/05/j...
tennesseelookout.com
Judge dismisses Lutheran church challenge to Tennessee law making it a crime to harbor immigrants • Tennessee Lookout
A federal judge dismissed a legal challenge brought by Lutheran churches to a Tennessee law criminalizing the harboring of immigrants.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 2h
Doug Wilson, founding pastor of a denomination that Pete Hegseth belongs to, told @jackjenkins.me "executions in the Scriptures were public" but that people turn away from capital punishment should it "turn into a circus." More on reax to the Ft. Hood news: religionnews.com/2026/10/09/h...
religionnews.com
Catholic, evangelical leaders condemn public execution plan of Fort Hood gunman
(RNS) — ‘The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people,’ Archbishop Paul S. Coakle...
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
A reminder that Tillschneider, a controversial figure in the AfD's pivotal campaign in Sachsen-Anhalt this summer and elected VP of its parliament this week, is in the process of converting to Orthodoxy. I referenced this in my latest for @zeit.de: www.zeit.de/2026/44/afd-...
zeit.de
AfD und Religion in Sachsen-Anhalt: Zur Lage der Reformation
Der amerikanische Religionsreporter Liam Adams war diesen Sommer viel in Sachsen-Anhalt unterwegs. Welche Parallelen sieht er zu seiner Heimat?
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
AfD politician Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, the newly elected Vice President of the Sachsen-Anhalt state parliament, was blocked by a human chain when he tried to enter a Halle synagogue for an event commemorating an antisemitic attack. From @zeit.de:
zeit.de
Antisemitisches Attentat in Halle: Menschenkette verhindert Tillschneiders Teilnahme an Gedenkfeier
Mehrere Menschen haben dem AfD-Politiker Hans-Thomas Tillschneider den Zugang zur Synagoge in Halle verwehrt. Dort wurde des antisemitischen Anschlags von 2019 gedacht.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Finally, for a @zeit.de print issue story (ZEIT IM OSTEN section), I look at how the nonreligious electorate's support for the AfD is surprisingly not that different from the role that religion is playing in the MAGA movement. www.zeit.de/2026/44/afd-...
zeit.de
AfD und Religion in Sachsen-Anhalt: Zur Lage der Reformation
Der amerikanische Religionsreporter Liam Adams war diesen Sommer viel in Sachsen-Anhalt unterwegs. Welche Parallelen sieht er zu seiner Heimat?
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
It's an honor yet again to have one of my stories (and my last major for DZ as part of the fellowship) for @zeit.de to be published in print, following the publishing of my first story in print for the 20 August 2026 issue (www.zeit.de/2026/36/kirc...).
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
My latest for @zeit.de on religion and right-wing politics in Germany versus the U.S., and how pushes for a Christian nationalism differ in the two countries, can be found in print this week "MIT ZEIT IM OSTEN." www.zeit.de/2026/44/afd-...
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
(www.zeit.de/2026/44/afd-...)
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
In case anyone worried I would end my fellowship covering religion & politics in Germany (and visit the birthplace of Martin Luther's Reformation during a high-stakes election) and not mention Nashville's scene of "woo girls" and hot chicken, I got you... www.zeit.de/2026/44/afd-...
zeit.de
AfD und Religion in Sachsen-Anhalt: Zur Lage der Reformation
Der amerikanische Religionsreporter Liam Adams war diesen Sommer viel in Sachsen-Anhalt unterwegs. Welche Parallelen sieht er zu seiner Heimat?
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
In my fourth and final major story for @zeitonline as part of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, I chronicle what surprised me about the similarities in the overlap (or lack thereof) between religion and right-wing politics in Germany and the U.S. www.zeit.de/2026/44/afd-...
zeit.de
AfD und Religion in Sachsen-Anhalt: Zur Lage der Reformation
Der amerikanische Religionsreporter Liam Adams war diesen Sommer viel in Sachsen-Anhalt unterwegs. Welche Parallelen sieht er zu seiner Heimat?
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
...ich sah den Versuch, Vorgehensweisen aus meiner Heimat zu importieren oder wenigstens zu kopieren. Denn auch die AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt wird von Persönlichkeiten geführt oder unterstützt, die ausdrücklich christlichen Nationalismus propagieren... www.zeit.de/2026/44/afd-...
zeit.de
AfD und Religion in Sachsen-Anhalt: Zur Lage der Reformation
Der amerikanische Religionsreporter Liam Adams war diesen Sommer viel in Sachsen-Anhalt unterwegs. Welche Parallelen sieht er zu seiner Heimat?
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
(Nijmegen ➡️ Deventer)
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
And a few videos... (Zwolle ➡️ Amersfoort)
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Amersfoort ➡️ Nijmegen Nijmegen ➡️ Deventer Deventer ➡️ Amsterdam
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Zwolle ➡️ Amersfoort
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Per 280 miles of a tour de Netherlands 🚴‍♂️ ... Amsterdam ➡️ Zwolle
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
My pleasure! 🙏
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Early risers!
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Tschüss, Berlin and @zeit.de. It’s been a blessing to spend these past few months with you.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Meanwhile, I spoke Complexified, a weekly podcast from @RNS, about my reporting out here and what it showed me about shifting church-state relations in Germany and how that compares to the U.S. www.complexified.org/bratwurst-an...
complexified.org
Bratwurst and Beer: How the Far Right Replaced Germany's Churches
A state in Germany has seen the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party win nearly 44% of the vote—making it the state’s largest party and bringing it wit…
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Then, my next @rns.org piece published on right-wing Christian influencers, including from a reporting trip to a Frankfurt area church led by the controversial, AfD-aligned (and connected to U.S.-based right-wing Calvinists) pastor Tobias Riemenschneider. religionnews.com/2026/09/15/i...
PC: Liam Adams
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A few days later, my next story for @rns.org published on the results of the Sachsen-Anhalt elections and what it says about the strength of right-wing populism when the church and other parts of civil society are weaker. religionnews.com/2026/09/10/d...
PC: Liam Adams
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
And then another post later that day from Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, which is part of Sachsen-Anhalt and considered the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation, about a youth choir´s performance right before polls closed: www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
PC: Liam Adams
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
And another post on how parishioners in these congregations outside Naumberg were feeling about the election and whether they planned to vote after service: www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
PC: Liam Adams
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
That same day was the Sachsen-Anhalt elections and I was running around the state for @zeit.de breaking news team, starting with a blog post on Pastor Daniel Schilling-Schön´s sermon at churches in villages outside Naumberg in southern Sachsen-Anhalt: www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
PC: Liam Adams
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Then, I published with @zeit.de a story on Zholia Parsi, a women´s rights activist from Afghanistan in church asylum in Burg and what the many changes to church asylum (including threats from the AfD) mean for her and others in a similar position. www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
zeit.de
Kirchenasyl in Sachsen-Anhalt: Noch sind sie geschützt
Auch in Sachsen-Anhalt beherbergen Gemeinden Geflüchtete im Kirchenasyl. Doch nicht nur eine drohende AfD-Regierung macht dessen Status immer prekärer.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Then, my first story for @rns.org published on the stakes of the churches’ resistance to the AfD, published just before the high-profile election in Sachsen-Anhalt. Centered on a reporting trip to Salzwedel in northern Sachsen-Anhalt... religionnews.com/2026/09/03/a...
PC: Liam Adams
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Then, I published with @zeit.de a profile on Bishop Gerhard Feige, who´s about to retire from one of the smallest Catholic dioceses but is one of the most vocal AfD opponents among German faith leaders. He talked about the churches’ anti-GDR resistance. www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
zeit.de
Gerhard Feige: Der Bischof, mit dem die AfD zu kämpfen hat
Der Magdeburger Bischof Gerhard Feige will verhindern, dass die AfD die Regierung übernimmt. Die greift ihn persönlich an. Aber der Kirchenmann ist eben kein Anfänger.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I started with a @zeit.de story in print that looked at the unprecedented ways the churches were organizing against the AfD in advance of the pivotal elections in Sachsen-Anhalt. Centered on a reporting trip to Zeitz in southern Sachsen-Anhalt. www.zeit.de/2026/36/kirc...
PC: Liam Adams
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Today is my last day of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, and how it´s hard to quantify how transformative it´s been. Truly grateful for the encouragement of my co-fellows, and for the @zeit.de and @rns.org teams for supporting my journalism at an important moment in Germany.
PC: Liam Adams
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
And for more about his comments on the German far-right and how faith leaders in Germany have dealt with historic elections for the AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt and Mecklenberg-Vorpommern, here´s part of my @rns.org coverage from the ground: religionnews.com/2026/09/10/d...
religionnews.com
What the AfD’s victory means for German churches’ influence
WITTENBERG, Germany (RNS) — The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Party scored a pivotal victory for the far-right in Germany, an outcome churches fiercely fought to prevent. Their inability to stop i...
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
For more on Leo´s visit to Metz, see @clairegiangrave.bsky.social ´s story on the his speech on Europe´s "need to commit ourselves to patient dialogue, to show courage in negotiation and to be willing to give up some positions for the greater good of peace.” religionnews.com/2026/09/28/p...
religionnews.com
Pope Leo warns: Invoking God to justify war is to 'profane' his name
METZ, France (RNS) — On his final day in France, Pope Leo XIV urged European leaders to uphold multilateralism and international law and reject the 'illusion' of rearmament.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Pope Leo XIV explicitly criticized the German far-right during a news conference yesterday following his visit to Metz, a French city with a French city bordering Germany that is historically significant for the two countries. Here are his comments: www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...
vaticannews.va
Pope: Wars are senseless; Russia and Ukraine should sit down to talk - Vatican News
Speaking to journalists on the flight from Metz to Rome at the end of his Apostolic Journey to France, Pope Leo XIV discusses conflicts and the ...
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Pope Leo XIV explicitly criticized the German far-right during a news conference yesterday following his visit to Metz, a French city with a French city bordering Germany that is historically significant for the two countries. Here are his comments: www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...
vaticannews.va
Pope: Wars are senseless; Russia and Ukraine should sit down to talk - Vatican News
Speaking to journalists on the flight from Metz to Rome at the end of his Apostolic Journey to France, Pope Leo XIV discusses conflicts and the ...
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Reposted by Liam Adams
Louis Berger @ajournomento.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Auf dem Rückflug nach Rom teilt Papst Leo XIV. deutlich gegen AfD et al. aus: „Gleichzeitig gibt es Anzeichen für eine Vermischung dieser rechtsextremen Standpunkte mit einer bestimmten Art von Religion, die – nicht nur meiner Ansicht nach […] – kein authentischer Ausdruck des Christentums ist.“
vaticannews.va
Papst: „Ich hoffe auf einen Besuch in Deutschland“ - Vatican News
Leo XIV. setzt auf einen Besuch in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Das sagte er am Montagabend beim Rückflug von seiner Frankreich-Reise nach Rom zu ...
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
And again, this is all happening in states that were once part of the GDR, meaning they are especially irreligious in an already widely secular Germany. I explored this further in my @rns.org story: religionnews.com/2026/09/10/d...
religionnews.com
What the AfD’s victory means for German churches’ influence
WITTENBERG, Germany (RNS) — The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Party scored a pivotal victory for the far-right in Germany, an outcome churches fiercely fought to prevent. Their inability to stop i...
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Just to review... -in Sachsen-Anhalt, 32% of Catholics and 33% of Protestants voted for the AfD, and 47% of nonreligious voters supported the far-right party. -In Mecklenberg-Vorpommern, 31% from Catholics & Protestants, but 41% from nonreligious voters.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
With the full results out (thanks again to Konrad Adenauer Stiftung), we now have reports on voting behavior among the religious vs. nonreligious electorate in the two German states where the AfD won on Sept. 6 (Sachsen-Anhalt) and Sept. 20 (Mecklenberg-Vorpommern). Again, striking.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Phil Vischer tells @bmietana.bsky.social that Meryl Streep voicing Aslan is "culture war red meat.” In the aftermath of controversy over The Odyssey, Bob gets into the heated debate over Greta Gerwig´s new approach to Narnia. religionnews.com/2026/09/23/m...
religionnews.com
Meryl Streep as Narnia's Aslan: Why some evangelicals call it blasphemy
(RNS) — News that Streep will play Aslan in "Narnia: The Magician's Nephew" has sparked casting debates similar to those over "The Odyssey." But for evangelicals, the concerns go deeper than culture w...
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"It was an atypical way for any U.S. Senate candidate to spend a Sunday, let alone one running as a Democrat in a state President Donald Trump won by more than 16 points," @jackjenkins.me said about Adam Hamilton´s sermon to 20,000 parishioners on a Sunday. religionnews.com/2026/09/23/h...
religionnews.com
How megapastor Adam Hamilton could break the GOP's hold on Kansas
LEAWOOD, Kansas (RNS) — While Democrats have long been considered a longshot for statewide races in Kansas, the Rev. Adam Hamilton's candidacy has proven unexpectedly competitive.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A 2024 California law and new lawsuits that arose have raised deeper questions of whether Holocaust survivors are entitled to artwork seized by the Nazis. The Auschwitz Memorial said certain watercolors "must remain," @reporterdeepa.bsky.social reports: apnews.com/article/holo...
apnews.com
New laws trigger a fresh legal fight over Nazi-looted art in Los Angeles and Auschwitz museums
Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims have filed lawsuits in California to reclaim Nazi-looted paintings from museums in Los Angeles and Poland.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
For more on the law in Austria (👇). The Islamic Community in Austria said it would bring a legal challenge and in 2020, the Constitutional Court had struck down a previous ban for violating the principle of Austria's religious neutrality. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Austria's Islamic headscarf ban in force as under-14s go back to school
The government says the law is intended to protect the rights of young girls, but critics say it is fuelling anti-Muslim feeling.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Georgia Meloni vowed to ban the wearing of burqas and niqabs in schools, a similar proposal to a new law in Austria that just went into effect with the beginning of the school year. An @apnews.com report on why it´s politically beneficial for the Italian PM: apnews.com/article/ital...
apnews.com
Meloni plans to ban burqas and niqabs in Italian schools, and cap foreign students in classrooms
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says she’ll soon introduce a measure to her government that would cap the number of foreign students in classrooms and ban face burqas and niqabs in schools.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
(As a reminder, here 👇 was the nonreligious vs. Protestant/Catholic breakdown in Sachsen-Anhalt: bsky.app/profile/liam...)
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The AfD earned 31% of the Protestant/Catholic vote in Mecklenberg-Verpommern, almost exactly the voting breakdown in Sachsen-Anhalt a couple weeks prior. Catholic News Agency on an exit polling analysis: katholisch.de/artikel/7042...
katholisch.de
SPD liegt unter Christen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern vor der AfD
Wahlverhalten bei Landtagswahl
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
@stevenerlanger.bsky.social´s latest for NYT looks at the AfD´s success in Sachsen-Anhalt & Mecklenberg-Vorpommern and how religion and nostalgia are fueling the right´s ascent in Germany, France and the U.S. With interviews with Tillschneider and Steffen Mau: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/w...
nytimes.com
The Fuel That Feeds Europe’s Far Right: Nostalgia and Lost Pride (Gift Article)
The populist emphasis on national identity and threats to it, real and imagined, finds a deep response in voters adrift in a world they no longer understand.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
In previewing the pope´s upcoming visit to France, Nicole Winfield @apnews.com looks at how the country ´s constitutional protection for abortion and its bump in baptisms amid a strict separation of church and state dating back to 1905 will affect Leo´s summit. apnews.com/article/pope...
apnews.com
Pope Leo XIV in France will find a secular country at odds with Catholic teaching on life
Pope Leo XIV opens a four-day visit to France this weekend that is expected to touch on church teaching about the value of all human life.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Wondrous walk to the Wartburg amid an extraordinary visit with friends in Eisenach.
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Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
ICYMI: A progressive movement modeled on Mamdani´s DSA campaign in New York succeeded last night in Berlin elections, when Die Linke (The Left) earned its best ever election results in the Berlin state elections with 25.7% of the vote. www.zeit.de/politik/deut...
zeit.de
Wahl in Berlin: Linke gewinnt laut vorläufigem Endergebnis Berlin-Wahl vor der CDU
Die Linke hat bei der Wahl zum Berliner Abgeordnetenhaus ihr historisch bestes Ergebnis erzielt. Dahinter folgt die CDU. Das BSW scheitert an der Fünf-Prozent-Hürde.
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