Religion/ Spirituality

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are wrapping up their senior royal duties before Megxit becomes official, but not before a reunion with Queen Elizabeth ... before God.

QE2, her grandson and his wife all attended Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park.

Now, it wasn't as warm and fuzzy as you might have hoped -- Harry and Megs drove in separately from the Queen -- but it was the first time all 3 appeared at the same public event since the couple bolted for Canada.

Meghan and Harry are in the middle of a farewell tour of sorts -- they've been in the UK since last week attending several events ... their last engagements as senior royals.

On Monday they're scheduled to perform their final duty at a Westminster Abbey service for Commonwealth Day.

They've been greeted with cheers at most of their stops around the country -- and even when Meghan went solo for an event on Friday, she was embraced.

They always love ya when you're walking out the door.

Julian Edelman says he's been speaking with a Rabbi every week -- but he's not just praying for Tom Brady to stay in New England, he's about to get Bar Mitzvah'd!

The Patriots WR has previously described himself as "kind of Jewish" -- his father is Jewish but religion wasn't a big part of his upbringing.

But, the 33-year-old has started going to temple and leaning into his Jewish roots -- even telling L.A. Magazine's Allen Salkin, "I speak with a Rabbi every Friday."

“I converted pretty much. I’m going to have a Bar Mitzvah here soon," Edelman said.

FYI, a Bar Mitzvah is an important Jewish ceremony where a child formally becomes an adult in the eyes of the religion and is allowed to participate in Jewish rituals like reading from the Torah.

Most people have a Bar Mitzvah around the age of 13 -- but hey, better late than never right?!

Can you imagine the Bar Mitzvah party Edelman will throw? And what's he gonna do with the Bar Mitzvah money? Here's an idea ... give it to Tom in hopes he'll stay!

Mazel tov!

Michael Bloomberg's controversial past with minorities and people of color isn't going away -- that much is clear by the striking protest he received during an event in Selma.

The billionaire media mogul and ex-NYC Mayor was among the many Democratic candidates in Alabama this weekend to commemorate the 55th anniversary of Bloody Sunday -- when hundreds of civil rights marchers were brutally beaten by cops during a demonstration.

At this particular service at the Brown Chapel AME Church -- where Bloomberg and Joe Biden delivered remarks -- a handful of people stood up and turned their backs when Mike stepped to the podium. It was done in silence, and they sat down when he finished.

The pastor who intro'd him, Reverend Leodis Strong, said he thought it was important for MB to show and to speak ... and for people to hear him out on how he's changed. Clearly, not everyone felt that way.

Of course, Bloomberg has come under fire for old comments he made about the policy he adopted when he was in power -- namely, unchecked and blatantly racist implementation of stop-and-frisk by the NYPD. At first, Bloomberg said it was effective to deter crime.

Later, he scaled it back and eventually apologized for his words. Apparently, some folks aren't accepting his apology. It should be noted, more people didn't protest than those who did.

Bloomberg's looking to rake in delegates for the first time on Tuesday -- when several states will hold primaries and offer up a third of the needed share to claim victory.

He's never been Bar Mitzvah'd. He doesn't fast on Yom Kippur. So, why is Alabama WR Jerry Jeudy rockin' a Star of David around his neck at the NFL Combine?

"My last name's Jeudy. People sometimes call me [Jew for short]."

OY VEY!!!

Long story short ... Jeudy really likes his "Jew" nickname and decided to cop himself some "jew"elry to let everybody know!

"So, I just got a Jewish star ... I'm not Jewish though."

Jeudy also has a decorative piece with the word, "Jew" spelled across.

Everyone in the media room laughed when Jeudy offered up his explanation -- but the question ... is it all Kosher with actual Jewish people?

We asked some of the Jewish people in the office for their thoughts -- here's what we got.

-- "I think it's weird and f**ked up."

-- "If it's not used in a derogatory way, I don't care."

-- "It doesn't bother me."

-- "I'm not offended by it. I hope somehow the 'Jew' nickname will spark interest in Judaism and Jewish culture."

-- "I don't like that one bit. I think it's making a mockery of people's identity. I find it very offensive."

So, division in the office ... how do you feel about the chain?

Originally Published -- 8:00 AM PT

Kanye West has linked up with another A-list celeb who's just as religious as he is ... one Justin Bieber, who put his talents to good use at Sunday Service.

The Biebs was a special guest this weekend at Kanye's latest gathering, which appears to have migrated indoors after almost a full year of outdoor get-togethers. At one point, Kim filmed Justin giving the crowd a taste of his crooning voice ... they loved it.

Sounds like Justin's singing the opening lines to Marvin Sapp's gospel hit, "Never Would Have Made It," which was actually remixed by Teyana Taylor on her album that Ye produced.

Full circle!

Anyway, it's pretty interesting ... Justin and Ye are definitely the pillars of Christianity and faith these days when it comes to the mainstream music scene, so you would've figured it was just a matter of time before they met up in a creative setting like this.

President Trump is pretty stoked to be at the Daytona 500 --  so much so, in fact, he might even get behind the wheel himself and zoom off into the night. Settle down, Donnie.

45's down in Florida right now taking in the annual NASCAR race with the First Lady, Melania, and while talking to a FOX Sports reporter, he made it clear he wants to drive again. It's funny and actually kinda interesting ... DT can't really do that anymore, huh?

In a somewhat rambling response, Trump calls Daytona "the great American race," going on to say he stopped by because he sees it as "almost a patriotism kind of thing." Well said!

Trump also gave a shout-out to the drivers, saying it takes great courage to drive in such a beast of a vehicle. Sounds like he wants to take one for a spin, actually -- joking he might hop in one himself and "get in this race." He won't, obviously, but imagine if he did 😅.

Another humorous moment during POTUS's Daytona day out -- he made sure to point out where exactly God is to the people listening to his opening remarks to kick off the event.

The New Orleans Saints are adamantly DENYING helping top Catholic church officials in N.O. cover up sex abuse crimes, despite allegations to the contrary ... this according to court docs.

Here's the deal ... more than 20 men are suing the Archdiocese of New Orleans for employing George F. Brignac, a schoolteacher and deacon who allegedly sexually abused several boys.

Despite allegedly knowing about the abuse, the church continued to employ him as a lay minister until 2018.

Several alleged victims are suing the church for keeping him around while knowing he was a danger to kids.

Now, attorneys for the accusers are going after the Saints -- claiming team executives used their official Saints email accounts to help advise the church on how to deal with the crisis.

In fact, the attorneys claim there are HUNDREDS of emails showing an attempted P.R. effort from the Saints and they want a judge to release them to the public, according to the AP, which broke the story.

The attorneys are pointing the finger at the top Saints people -- including owner Gayle Benson and Senior V.P. of Communications Greg Bensel ... suggesting they aided the Archdiocese of New Orleans in its "pattern and practice of concealing its crimes."

What is known is that Saints owner Gayle Benson is a major backer of her local Catholic archdiocese and she’s given millions to the church ... and, she’s buds with Archbishop Gregory Aymond. Gayle inherited the team when Tom Benson died in 2018.

"Obviously, the Saints should not be in the business of assisting the Archdiocese, and the Saints’ public relations team is not in the business of managing the public relations of criminals engaged in pedophilia," the attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote in the court filing. "The Saints realize that if the documents at issue are made public, this professional sports organization also will be smearing itself."

According to the AP, the Saints have strongly denied the allegations in court filings.

The Saints had no immediate comment when we reached out Friday.

Queen Elizabeth doesn't seem to be shedding any tears after cutting the cord with Harry and Meghan, because she showed up with Prince Andrew, smiling and wearing a checkered coat.

And, speaking of checkered ... it's a big show of support for her son, who's smack in the middle of the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile scandal after that disastrous TV interview.

Her appearance comes a day after she 86'd the royal titles of Harry and Meghan. It's apparent ... H&M aren't coming back to England anytime soon, and they may be forever outsiders after their move to Canada.

Shawn Stockman says Smokepurpp is doing the admirable, and rare thing, in show biz -- putting money last to honor Kanye West's desire to keep his music strictly Christian.

First, the backstory ... Smokepurpp and Kanye collaborated on a track dubbed "No Problem" back in 2018 which was supposed to be released on Smoke's debut album, "Deadstar 2."

The record dropped last month, but without Ye's featured track. The problem with "No Problem" is the track's littered with curse words. In short, it's exactly the kinda music Kanye has since denounced -- opting instead to go full gospel.

When we talked to the Boyz II Men singer, he was belting out Smokepurpp's praises ... calling it a respectful move. The rapper has said he pulled it because it just isn't indicative of Kanye's new sound.

Now, there is a catch. Smokepurpp says there's still a chance he'll drop "No Problem" ... but ONLY IF Kanye goes back to doing secular tracks.

Shawn warns Purpp shouldn't hold his breath for that.

The Tennessee Titans might be in trouble this weekend ... 'cause Patrick Mahomes' jersey has made its way to The Holy One before the big AFC Championship Game!!!

It's becoming a trend for Pope Francis to receive NFL QB jerseys -- he received a custom Ravens jersey signed by Lamar Jackson back in December.

The Pontiff's collection just got a nice MVP addition ... with the bishop of the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph gifting it to him in Vatican City on Thursday.

Now, the Pope is an avid soccer fan ... but the dude might start watchin' some good ole American football now that he's got a closet full of jerseys.

We should note ... it may not be necessarily good luck for Mahomes, considering Jackson's Ravens got booted from the playoffs.

But, Pope Francis loved the gesture regardless ... and who knows, maybe he'll check out the game this weekend.

Justin Bieber's hit the stage earlier than expected ... but instead of singing his biggest hits he went full Kanye.

The Biebs hit up Churchome Wednesday night in Beverly Hills ... where part of his worship included grabbing a mic and singing heartfelt gospel.

Justin sang a few tracks, including "Reckless Love," "Good Good Father" and "Sinking Deep." Some of the lyrics -- "Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found ... I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still. You give yourself away. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God."

Kanye West has taken his Sunday Service all over North America -- from Coachella to a Houston megachurch to Skid Row and all the way to Jamaica -- but now he wants to head further overseas.

TMZ's learned the rapper plans to go global with his gospel movement in 2020, and has his sights set on locations in Europe and Africa to start. We're told his muse and sole focus in the new year is to bring the word of God to people via his Sunday Service.

Our Kanye sources say he has no interest in traditional touring for his music anymore, but he does plan to keep recording gospel tunes with his choir ... which he continues to fund on his own.

We're told he's got another album in mind with the choir too. As we reported ... he and his Sunday Service choir dropped its anticipated, "Jesus is Born," gospel album just in time for Christmas.

Pope Francis was almost held back in 2019 by an overzealous fan, who grabbed a hold of him and wouldn't let go ... that is, until Francis gave her a swat and a scolding.

The Pontiff was down in Vatican City Tuesday, ready to ring in the new year with a line of adoring fans and worshippers -- many of whom he was happily greeting and shaking hands with along his route. It was all going great, up to the point some woman got handsy.

Check it out ... it's a pretty surreal scene, especially seeing how PF handles it. Kinda feisty!

You see Francis going down the line -- and as he approaches the grabber, she actually ramps up by doing a crucifix blessing on herself in anticipation of making contact. Sure enough, he ends up shaking her hand, but she clamps on to his arm and yanks him back.

It definitely took the Pope by surprise, and not in a good way either. He slaps her hand a couple time and when his handlers finally step in, she releases him. Looks like his Holiness wasn't too pleased either ... walking away with a stern look on his face 😡

Oh, and that wasn't the only incident along the guard rails either. Apparently, some kid fell right in front of the Pope as he was walking along, and Francis was quick to attend to him and give him a pat on the head once he realized he was alright.