Thomas Lecaque: “An underappreciated aspect of last year’s insurrectionist mob attack at the U.S. Capitol is its religiosity. The involvement of conspiracy-minded QAnon adherents was vividly on display as the insurrection was televised live, and the participation of extremist political groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers has been widely reported.”

“But less obvious and less well understood is the extent to which Christian groups played a part in the day’s events—groups like the Jericho March, one of several prominent efforts to bring Trump supporters to the nation’s capital on January 6th.”

“We’ve turned the other cheek, and I understand, sort of, the biblical reference — I understand the mentality — but it’s gotten us nothing. Okay? It’s gotten us nothing while we’ve ceded ground in every major institution in our country.”

— Donald Trump, Jr., quoted by The Atlantic, rejecting a central teaching of Christianity.

“Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday,” the AP reports.

Washington Post: “A small, effervescent man with a crooked nose and infectious toothy grin, Archbishop Tutu served as Black South Africa’s informal ambassador to the world during the dark days of repression and as a crucial voice in the campaign for racial equality that culminated with Nelson Mandela’s election as the country’s first Black president in 1994.”

“It’s a tree that unites us. It brings us together. It’s about the Christmas spirit. It is about the holiday season. It’s about Jesus. It’s about Hanukkah. It is about everything that we stand for as a country.”

— Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt, speaking about the Christmas tree set on fire outside of the Fox News studio.

Pope Francis appealed for a return to “good politics”, saying democracy has deteriorated dangerously as discontented people are lured by the “siren songs” of populist politicians who promise easy but unrealistic solutions, Reuters reports.

A plumber made a shocking discovery when fixing a toilet wall at televangelist Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Houston last month — more than 3,000 envelopes stuffed with cash and checks, KPRC reports.

U.S. Catholic bishops have dropped their effort to ban Communion for politicians who support abortion rights, avoiding a rift with President Biden, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Michael Flynn, former national security advisor for President Donald Trump, suggested that the United States should have just one religion.

Said Flynn: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.”

“President Biden said that Pope Francis told him he should keep receiving Communion, after holding an unusually long meeting with him at the Vatican,” Reuters reports.

“Asked if abortion came up in the talks, Biden said the Pope told him he was happy he was a good Catholic.”

President Biden to Pope Francis as he departed their meeting: “God love ya!”

“For the first time during his administration, President Biden is meeting with Pope Francis on Friday, bringing together the world’s two most powerful Catholics, who share plenty of common ground and are contending with similar adversaries and polarization within the church,” the Washington Post reports.

“Pope Francis on Saturday met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in a private audience at the Vatican, amid ongoing criticism of Pelosi by conservative Catholics in the United States over her support for abortion rights,” the Washington Post reports.

“Pelosi, who is Catholic, described the meeting as ‘a spiritual, personal and official honor’ and praised the pope for his attention to climate change and for his work lifting up the underprivileged.”

Right-wing pastor Perry Stone claimed that he’s spent 175,000 hours studying the Bible — which equals 8 hours a day for every single day of his life — and declared that he’s 100% certain “that we literally have entered the last of the Last Days.”

Pew Research: “Contrary to what some may have expected, a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data finds that there has been no large-scale departure from evangelicalism among White Americans. In fact, there is solid evidence that White Americans who viewed Trump favorably and did not identify as evangelicals in 2016 were much more likely than White Trump skeptics to begin identifying as born-again or evangelical Protestants by 2020.”

“Pope Francis said that Catholic bishops must minister to politicians who back abortion with ‘compassion and tenderness,’ not condemnation, and warned that they shouldn’t let politics enter into questions about receiving Communion,” the AP reports.

“Francis recalled cases when the church had held fast to a principle on political grounds and it ended badly, citing the Inquisition-era condemnation of Giordano Bruno for alleged heresy. He was burned at the stake in Rome’s Campo dei Fiori.”