RELIGION HEADLINES SAT 6-28-25

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(SRN NEWS)  The city of Matera, in the south of Italy, will double as Jerusalem in the sixth season of the hit show “The Chosen”.  The cast and crew of the Biblical series traded their Texas studio for three weeks in Italy, during which the crucifixion of Christ was filmed.  Matera also provided the setting for such movies as “The Passion of the Christ” and “Mary Magdalene”.  Season five of The Chosen will be available to watch for free on the show’s app of the same name beginning in September.  Season six will air in 2027, and the series will come to an end with its seventh season, focused on Jesus’ resurrection.

(  )  The Democratic Party has built up a big fundraising advantage in the gubernatorial and legislative races in Virginia.  Democrats who already control the legislature are hoping to keep or expand their thin majority and amend the state’s constitution to enshrine both abortion and gay marriage.  Virginia is one of two states, along with New Jersey, that host statewide elections in the off year.  Some expect the results to be a foreshadowing of the 2026 midterm elections for Congress.  However, both Virginia and New Jersey have Democratic majorities.

(  )  Now that the House of Commons has approved an assisted-suicide bill, England is preparing for the new reality.  There is a possibility of legal challenge to the legislation, however.  Opposition groups such as Right To Life U.K. and Care Not Killing say they are not giving up the fight.  And supporters of the suicide bill say implementation will take four years, rather than the initially suggested two.  That means it is set to actually become law in 2029, just about the time that the next British general election must be held.  Several other European countries have legalized assisted-suicide.

(  )  Pope Leo says there should be no tolerance in the Catholic Church for any type of abuse.  Leo made his first public comments about the clergy sex abuse scandal in a written message to a Peruvian journalist who documented a particularly egregious case of abuse and financial corruption in a Peruvian-based Catholic movement.  In it, the new pope says “It is urgent to root in the whole church a culture of prevention that does not tolerate any form of abuse — neither of power or authority, nor abuse of conscience, spiritual or sexual abuse.”  The pontiff spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru.