Religion & Belief in the 20th century

309 sourced entries, 1900 CE to 1999 CE, oldest first. Also see Religion & Belief across every century or everything else in the 20th century.

• 1900June 25 – Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts that are of great historical and religious significance, in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China, where they have been sealed since the early 11th century.source
• 1902August 9 – Coronation of Edward VII as King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India at Westminster Abbey in London.source
• 1903August 4 – Pope Pius X succeeds Pope Leo XIII as the 257th pope.source
• 1903November 17 – The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party splits into two groups: the Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority").source
• 1904April 6 – Joseph F. Smith announces the Second Manifesto in General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah Territory, prohibiting the practice of polygamy, which has continued to be sanctioned by some of its leaders in violation of the 1890 Manifesto officially banning the practice.source
• 1904April 8–10 – Aleister Crowley writes The Book of the Law, a text central to Thelema, in Cairo.source
• 1904December 27 – The Abbey Theatre in Dublin opens.source
• 1905January 11 – Under the supervision of five editors, work begins on the comprehensive Catholic Encyclopedia, subtitled "An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church." The first volume will appear in 1907.source
• 1905March 2 – Russia's Committee of Ministers votes to grant religious freedom to the subjects of the Russian Empire.source
• 1906January 16–April 7 – The Algeciras Conference convenes, to resolve the First Moroccan Crisis between France and Germany.source
• 1906February 11 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos, denouncing the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State.source
• 1906April 14 – The Azusa Street Revival, the primary catalyst for the revival of Pentecostalism this century, opens in Los Angeles.source
• 1906Construction begins on the modern-day Great Mosque of Djenné.source
• 1907June 5 – Shastri Yagnapurushdas consecrates the murtis of both Sahajanand Swami and Gunatitanand Swami in a single central shrine, thus establishing the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, later a United Nations affiliate organization.source
• 1907September 8 – Pope Pius X promulgates the encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis, opposing modernism in the Catholic Church.source
• 1909March 21 – The remains of the Báb are placed in the Baháʼí Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel in Haifa, at this time within the Ottoman Empire.source
• 1909April 11 – The city of Tel Aviv (known in its first year as Ahuzat Bayit) is founded by the Jewish community, on the outskirts of Jaffa (at this time in the Ottoman Empire).source
• 1909April 18 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.source
• 1910June 14–23 – Edinburgh Missionary Conference is held in Scotland, presided over by John Mott, launching the modern ecumenical movement and the modern missions movement.source
• 1911June 22 – George V and Mary are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, at Westminster Abbey in London.source
• 1912January 18 (Old Style January 5) – Prague Conference: Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party break away from the rest of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.source
• 1912Wilfrid Voynich discovers the eponymous manuscript in the Villa Mondragone.source
• 1913December 30 – Italy returns the Mona Lisa to France.source
• 1913The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is established in Bengal Province (modern-day Bangladesh).source
• 1914April 23 – The Afrikaans language receives official recognition, when Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven addresses the English caucus of the Cape Provincial Council.source
• 1914July 2 – The German Kaiser announces that he will not attend the funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.source
• 1914July 7 – Austria-Hungary convenes a Council of Ministers, including Ministers for Foreign Affairs and War, the Chief of the General Staff, and Naval Commander-in-Chief; the Council lasts from 11:30 am until 6:15 pm.source
• 1914July 27 – Felix Ysagun Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) with the government of the Philippines.source
• 1914Pope Benedict XV (Giacomo della Chiesa) succeeds Pope Pius X.source
• 1916November 5 – Honan Chapel, Cork, Ireland, a product of the Irish Arts and Crafts movement (1894–1925), is dedicated.source
• 1917March 10 – The Province of Batangas is formally founded, as one of the Philippines' first encomiendas.source
• 1917May 13 – Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XV.source
• 1917May 27 – Pope Benedict XV promulgates the 1917 Code of Canon Law.source
• 1917October 13 – The Miracle of the Sun is reported at Fátima, Portugal.source
• 1917November 8 (N.S.) (October 26, O.S.) – Following the October Revolution, Alexandra Kollontai is appointed People's Commissar for Social Welfare in the Council of People's Commissars of the Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the first woman cabinet minister in Europe.source
• 1917The True Jesus Church is established in Beijing.source
• 1918February 16 – The Council of Lithuania adopts the Act of Independence of Lithuania, declaring Lithuania's independence from Germany, Russia or any other state.source
• 1920February 12–24 – Conference of London: Leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy meet to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.source
• 1920May 16 – Canonization of Joan of Arc: Over 30,000 people attend the ceremony in Rome, including 140 descendants of Joan of Arc's family. Pope Benedict XV presides over the rite, for which the interior of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is richly decorated.source
• 1920July 31 – Irish-born Australian Catholic Archbishop Daniel Mannix is detained on board ship by British authorities off Queenstown and prevented from landing in Ireland or from speaking in the main Irish Catholic communities elsewhere in the United Kingdom.source
• 1920September 12 – The position of Patriarch of the Serbs is re-established as the authority over the Serbian Orthodox Church, almost 156 years to the day after it was abolished by the Ottoman Empire in 1766.source
• 1920November 2 – Meiji Shrine, one of many landmark spots in Tokyo, is officially built in Japan.source
• 1920November 11 – In London, The Cenotaph is unveiled and The Unknown Warrior is buried in Westminster Abbey; while in Paris the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is consecrated beneath the Arc de Triomphe.source
• 1920November 17 – The council of the League of Nations accepts the constitution for the Free City of Danzig.source
• 1920December 15–22 – The Brussels Conference establishes a timetable for German war reparations, intended to extend for over 42 years.source
• 1920December 25 – The Rosicrucian Fellowship's spiritual healing temple The Ecclesia is dedicated at Mount Ecclesia, Oceanside, California.source
• 1920The first edition of the Poems of the English war poet Wilfred Owen, killed in action in 1918, appears in London, introduced by his friend Siegfried Sassoon. Only five of Owen's verses having been published in his lifetime, the collection introduces his work to many readers. It includes the 1917 poems "Anthem for Doomed Youth" and "Dulce et Decorum est", two of the best-known poetic condemnations of war.source
• 1921February 21 – Conference of London of 1921–1922 convenes in an attempt to resolve problems arising from the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.source
• 1921August 16 – The Times newspaper in London begins a series of articles, written by its Constantinople correspondent Philip Graves, exposing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a forgery.source
• 1922February 6 – Pope Pius XI (Achille Ratti) succeeds Pope Benedict XV, to become the 259th pope.source
• 1922May 30 – In Washington, D.C., United States, the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.source
• 1922September 11 – The Mandate of Palestine is approved by the Council of the League of Nations.source
• 1922November 19 – Abdülmecid II, Crown Prince of the Ottoman Empire, is elected Caliph.source
• 1923April 26 – Wedding of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon: The future King George VI of the United Kingdom marries the future Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in Westminster Abbey.source
• 1924March 3 – The Ottoman Caliphate, a remnant of the Ottoman Empire abolished on November 1, 1922, and one of the historical claims of succession to the Islamic State of Muhammad, comes to an end with the deposition of Abdülmecid II, Caliph of the Ottoman dynasty. This marks the end of an era, giving way to the drastic political transformations of Turkey under President Atatürk's reforms.source
• 1924October 19 – Abdul Aziz, founder of Saudi Arabia, declares himself protector of holy places in Mecca.source
• 1925May 1 – In the Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Saudi Arabia, the al-Baqi' mausoleums are destroyed by King Ibn Saud.source
• 1925December 11 – Pope Pius XI's encyclical Quas primas, on the Feast of Christ the King, is promulgated.source
• 1925Islamic Bektashi Order lodges in Turkey are closed down by order of the country's President, Atatürk, and the leadership moves to Albania.source
• 1925Ernest Blythe, Minister for Finance in the Irish Free State, arranges an annual government subsidy of £850 for the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, making it the first state-supported theatre in the English-speaking world.source
• 1926January 8 – Ibn Saud is crowned ruler of the Kingdom of Hejaz.source
• 1926February 12 – The Irish minister for Justice, Kevin O'Higgins, appoints the Committee on Evil Literature.source
• 1926April 6 – Aarón Joaquín has a vision in the Nuevo León state of Mexico, origin of La Luz del Mundo, a nontrinitarian charismatic restorationist Christian church.source
• 1926October 23 – The Fazal Mosque, the first purpose-built in London and the first Ahmadiyya mosque in Britain, is completed.source
• 1927July 10 – Timothy Coughlan, Bill Gannon and Archie Doyle, members of the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army, shoot dead Kevin O'Higgins, Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State and Minister for Justice, as O'Higgins is walking to Mass in Dublin.source
• 1927July 13 (Wednesday, Tamuz 13, 5687): 12:30 – Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn is freed from the imprisonment which began on June 15 (Wednesday, Sivan 15, 5687) at 02:15 in exile, in the Russian town of Kostroma.source
• 1928March 15 – Chinese warlord Shi Yousan sets fire to the Shaolin Monastery in Henan, destroying some of its ancient structures and artifacts.source
• 1928March 22 – The Muslim Brotherhood is founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna.source
• 1928June 29 – At the 1928 Democratic National Convention in Houston, Governor of New York Al Smith becomes the first Catholic nominated by a major political party for President of the United States.source
• 1928October 2 – Josemaría Escrivá founds Opus Dei.source
• 1928December 4 – Cosmo Gordon Lang is enthroned as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the first bachelor to be appointed in 150 years.source
• 1929January 6 – Albanian missionary sister Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, later known as Mother Teresa, arrives in Calcutta from Ireland to begin her work in India.source
• 1929July 25 – Pope Pius XI emerges from the Apostolic Palace, and enters St. Peter's Square in a huge procession witnessed by about 250,000 persons, thus ending nearly 60 years of self-imposed status by the papacy as Prisoner in the Vatican.source
• 1929December 27 – Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class".source
• 1930July 5 – The Seventh Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops opens. This conference approves the use of birth control in limited circumstances, a move away from the Christian views on birth control expressed by the Sixth Conference a decade earlier.source
• 1930September 20 – The Eastern Catholic Rite Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is formed.source
• 1930December 31 – The Papal encyclical Casti connubii, issued by Pope Pius XI, stresses the sanctity of marriage, prohibits Roman Catholics from using any form of artificial birth control, and reaffirms the Catholic prohibition on abortion.source
• 1931May 15 – Pope Pius XI issues the encyclical Quadragesimo anno, on the "reconstruction of the social order".source
• 1931December 5 – The original Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (1883) is demolished, by order of Joseph Stalin.source
• 1932February 11 – Pope Pius XI meets Benito Mussolini in Vatican City.source
• 1932September 11 – A bronze statue of Youssef Bey Karam is erected in his memory outside the Cathedral of Saint Georges, Ehden in Lebanon.source
• 1932December 3 – Hindenburg names Kurt von Schleicher as German chancellor after he ousts Papen. Papen is deeply angry about how his former friend Schleicher has brought him down and decides that he will do anything to get back into power.source
• 1932December 4 – Chancellor Schleicher meets with Gregor Strasser and offers to appoint him Vice-Chancellor and Reich Commissioner for Prussia out of the hope that if faced with a split in the NSDAP, Hitler will support his government.source
• 1933July 20 – Reichskonkordat: Vatican state secretary Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) signs an accord with Germany.source
• 1933The first dated Inter-School Christian Fellowship group is started in Australia at North Sydney Boys High School, with the group continuing into the 21st century.source
• 1934May 31 – The Barmen Declaration, largely drafted by Karl Barth, is signed by Christians in Nazi Germany who are opposed to the pro-Nazi German Christian movement.source
• 1935April 17 – Sun Myung Moon, a teenage Presbyterian convert in Korea under Japanese rule, claims to have a revelation from Jesus, telling him to complete his mission from almost 2,000 years ago.source
• 1935December 27 – In Germany, Regina Jonas becomes the first woman ever to receive semikhah (ordination) as a rabbi within Judaism. She will be killed in Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944 and the next such ordination will be in 1972.source
• 1937February 19 – Yekatit 12: During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Eritrean nationalists attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades. Italian security guards fire into the crowd of Ethiopian onlookers. Authorities exact further reprisals, which include indiscriminately slaughtering native Ethiopians over the next 3 days, detaining thousands of Ethiopians at Danan and slaughtering almost 300 monks at the Debre Libanos Monastery.source
• 1937March 10 (dated March 14 (Passion Sunday)) – The encyclical Mit brennender Sorge ("With burning concern") of Pope Pius XI is published in Germany in the German language. Largely the work of Cardinals von Faulhaber and Pacelli, it condemns breaches of the 1933 Reichskonkordat agreement signed between the Nazi government and the Catholic Church, and criticises Nazism's views on race and other matters incompatible with Catholicism.source
• 1937March 19 – The encyclical Divini Redemptoris of Pope Pius XI, critical of communism, is published.source
• 1937May 12 – George VI and Elizabeth are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor and Empress of India at Westminster Abbey, London.source
• 1937September 17 – Abraham Lincoln's head is dedicated at Mount Rushmore.source
• 1938March 30 – Italy's Duce Benito Mussolini is granted equal power over the Italian military to that of King Victor Emmanuel III, as First Marshal of the Empire.source
• 1938Majlis Khuddam-ul Ahmadiyya is established by Khalifat-ul Masih II, Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, the second Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.source
• 1939March 2 – Pope Pius XII (Cardinal Pacelli) succeeds Pope Pius XI to become the 260th pope, holding office until 1958.source
• 1939May 18 – The Hòa Hảo religious sect is established in Vietnam, by Huỳnh Phú Sổ.source
• 1939September 8 – The Little Sisters of Jesus is founded in Algeria, by Little Sister Magdeleine.source
• 1939The Reichstag passes a statement, stating that Adolf Hitler's second-in-command Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring should be appointed as Hitler's successor as Führer, should Hitler die during the war. Rudolf Hess is to be appointed in Göring's place, should anything befall Göring.source
• 1940February 22 – In Tibet, province of Ando, 4-year-old Tenzin Gyatso is proclaimed the tulku (rebirth) of the 13th Dalai Lama.source
• 1940September 25 – Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany: German Reichskommissar Josef Terboven appoints a provisional council of state from the pro-Nazi Nasjonal Samling party, under Vidkun Quisling, as a puppet government for Norway.source
• 1940November 14 – WWII: Coventry Blitz – The city centre of Coventry, England is destroyed by 500 Luftwaffe bombers; 150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives and 130 parachute mines level 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people are killed. The city's cathedral is gutted.source
• 1941January 3 – A decree (Normalschrifterlass) promulgated in Germany by Martin Bormann, on behalf of Adolf Hitler, requires replacement of blackletter typefaces by Antiqua.source
• 1941June 6 – WWII: The Commissar Order is issued by Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, requiring all Soviet political commissars identified in Operation Barbarossa among captured forces to receive summary execution.source
• 1941July 13 – Clemens August Graf von Galen, Catholic Bishop of Münster in Germany, preaches the first of 3 sermons against Nazi brutality.source
• 1942January 20 – The Holocaust: Nazis at the Wannsee Conference convened by Reinhard Heydrich in Berlin decide that the "Final Solution (Endlösung) to the Jewish problem" is deportations to extermination camps.source
• 1942April 23 – Exeter-born William Temple is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
• 1943July 25 – Benito Mussolini, Fascist Prime Minister of Italy since 1922, is arrested after the Grand Council of Fascism withdraws its support. "Il Duce" is replaced by General Pietro Badoglio.source
• 1943September 30 – Pope Pius XII issues the encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu calling for Catholic scholars to produce new Bible translations based on the source languages.source
• 1943October 16 – The Holocaust: Raid of the Ghetto of Rome – Over a thousand Jews are rounded up in Rome by the Gestapo; only 16 will survive their deportation to Auschwitz concentration camp. The public silence of Pope Pius XII on the raid becomes a matter of historical controversy.source
• 1943November 15 – Porajmos: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in Nazi concentration camps".source
• 1943November 29 – The second session of AVNOJ, the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia, is held in Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to determine the post-war ordering of the country.source
• 1944March 15 – WWII: The National Council of the French Resistance approves the Resistance programme.source
• 1944May 30 – Princess Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet Grimaldi of Monaco, heir to the throne, resigns in favor of her son Prince Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, who later reigns as Prince Rainier III of Monaco.source
• 1944The First Assembly of ASNOM (the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the People's Liberation of Macedonia) is held in the Prohor Pčinjski monastery.source
• 1944October 16 – WWII: American bombing of Salzburg destroys the dome of the city's cathedral and most of a Mozart family home.source
• 1945March 22 – The Cathedral and the historic centre of Hildesheim in Germany are destroyed in a bombing of the city.source
• 1945May 12 – Argentinian labour leader José Peter declares the Meat Industry Workers Federation dissolved.source
• 1945October 2 – George Albert Smith becomes president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.source
• 1946January 10 – The first meeting of the United Nations is held, at Methodist Central Hall Westminster in London.source
• 1946January 17 – The United Nations Security Council holds its first session, at Church House, Westminster in London.source
• 1946September 19 – The idea of the Council of Europe is introduced in a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich.source
• 1946December 10 – John Peters Humphrey, main author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, becomes Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights.source
• 1947November 20 – Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh: Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II), the daughter of George VI of the United Kingdom, marries The Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey in London.source
• 1948March 8 – McCollum v. Board of Education: The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violates the U.S. Constitution.source
• 1948May 25 – The United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) is founded at Ellinwood Malate Church in Manila.source
• 1948July 13 – The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Churches reach an agreement, leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. Five bishops are immediately consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria and the successor to Abuna Qerellos IV is granted the power to consecrate new bishops, who are empowered to elect a new Patriarch for their church.source
• 1948August 23 – The World Council of Churches is established in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.source
• 1948September 20 – The city of Rabwah is established in Pakistan.source
• 1948November 1 – Athenagoras I is elected the 268th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.source
• 1948November 17 – Whittaker Chambers produces secret government papers, handwritten and typewritten by Alger Hiss, during pretrial examination.source
• 1949June 6 – With the passage of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act by the Indian government, Mahabodhi Temple is restored to partial Buddhist control.source
• 1949August 21 – The Vatican announces that bones uncovered in its catacombs could be those of the apostle Peter; 19 years later, Pope Paul VI announces confirmation that the bones belong to this first pope.source
• 1949August 29 – The Council of Europe meets for the first time.source
• 1949September 25 – U.S. Christian evangelist Billy Graham starts his Los Angeles Crusade, his first great evangelistic campaign. It runs for eight weeks during which Graham speaks to 350,000 people and the event is subsequently described as the greatest revival since the time of Billy Sunday. After this, Graham becomes a national figure in the United States.source
• 1950June 6 – In Turkey, the Adhan (call to prayer) in Arabic is permitted by law after a ban of 18 years.source
• 1950August 12 – In his encyclical Humani generis, Pope Pius XII requires Catholic theologians to defer to the teachings of the Church as a whole but declares evolution to be a serious hypothesis that does not contradict essential Catholic views.source
• 1950August 22 – The Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary is founded in Tagbilaran City, Philippines.source
• 1950November 1 – Pope Pius XII witnesses the "Miracle of the Sun" at the Vatican and defines a new dogma of Roman Catholicism, the Munificentissimus Deus, which says that God took Mary's body into Heaven after her death (the "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary").source
• 1950November 17 – Tenzin Gyatso, 15, is formally enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama, becoming temporal ruler of Tibet.source
• 1950November 29 – The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA is founded.source
• 1951April 11 – After its clandestine removal from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1950, the Stone of Scone resurfaces at Arbroath Abbey in Scotland.source
• 1952May 6 – Farouk of Egypt has himself announced as a descendant of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.source
• 1953June 2 – Elizabeth II is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, at Westminster Abbey.source
• 1954May 1 – The Unification Church is founded in South Korea.source
• 1954June 14 – The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance.source
• 1955September 14 – Pope Pius XII elevates many of the apostolic vicariates in Africa to Metropolitan Archdioceses.source
• 1956February 25 – Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin, in a speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", at a secret session concluding the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This is not officially made public in the Soviet Union at this time but becomes known in the West in June.source
• 1956March 9 – The British deport Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus to the Seychelles.source
• 1956March 23 – Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic, and a national holiday is observed in the country, including the state of East Pakistan.source
• 1956May 2 – The United Methodist Church in America decides, at its General Conference, to grant women full ordained clergy status. It also calls for an end to racial segregation in the denomination.source
• 1956The first interfaith dialogue between Christians, Jews and Muslims with over 850 participants takes place at the monastery of Toumliline in Azrou, Morocco.source
• 1957January 14 – Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher), after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.source
• 1957February 4 – A coal gas explosion at the giant Bishop Coal Mine in Bishop, Virginia, United States, kills 37 men.source
• 1957March 1 – Arturo Lezama becomes President of the National Council of Government of Uruguay.source
• 1957May 2 – "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika", written by Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven, becomes the South African national anthem, replacing "God Save the Queen", which is retained as a royal anthem.source
• 1957July 11 – His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV becomes the 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims at age 20. His grandfather Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan III appoints Prince Karim in his will.source
• 1958October 28 – Pope John XXIII succeeds Pope Pius XII, as the 261st pope.source
• 1959January 25 – Pope John XXIII announces that the Second Vatican Council will be convened in Rome.source
• 1959March 1 – Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.source
• 1959March 28 – The Kashag, the government of Tibet, is abolished by an order signed by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai. The Dalai Lama is replaced in China by the Panchen Lama.source
• 1960June 5 – The First Vatican Council, adjourned in 1870, is officially closed.source
• 1961February 26 – Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco.source
• 1961March 3 – Hassan II is crowned King of Morocco.source
• 1961April 5 – The New Guinea Council of Western Papua is installed.source
• 1961September 14 – The religious Focolare Movement opens its first North American center in New York (state).source
• 1962January 3 – The office of Pope John XXIII announces the excommunication of Fidel Castro for preaching communism and interfering with Catholic churches in Cuba.source
• 1962May 25 – The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated in England. On 30 May, Benjamin Britten's War Requiem is premiered here.source
• 1962October 11 – Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.source
• 1962December 8 – The first period of the Second Vatican Council closes.source
• 1963April 11 – Pope John XXIII issues his final encyclical, Pacem in terris, entitled On Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty, the first papal encyclical addressed to "all men of good will", rather than to Roman Catholics only.source
• 1963April 21–23 – The first election of the Supreme Institution of the Baháʼí Faith (known as the Universal House of Justice, whose seat is at the Baháʼí World Centre on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel) is held.source
• 1963May 8 – Huế Phật Đản shootings: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam opens fire on Buddhists who defy a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha, killing 9. Earlier, President Ngô Đình Diệm allowed the flying of the Vatican flag in honour of his brother, Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục, triggering the Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam.source
• 1963June 17 – In Abington School District v. Schempp, the US Supreme Court ruled that compulsory prayer and Bible-reading violated the First Amendment.source
• 1963June 21 – Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) succeeds Pope John XXIII as the 262nd pope.source
• 1963September 29 – The second period of the Second Vatican Council in Rome opens.source
• 1963December 4 – The second period of the Second Vatican Council closes.source
• 1964January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople meet in Jerusalem.source
• 1964July 22 – The second meeting of the Organisation of African Unity is held.source
• 1964September 14 – The third period of the Second Vatican Council opens.source
• 1964November 21 – Second Vatican Council: The third period of the Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes. Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is promulgated.source
• 1964The Vishva Hindu Pariṣad is founded in India.source
• 1965January 30 – The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill takes place in London with the largest assembly of dignitaries in the world until the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II.source
• 1965March 7 – Mass in the Catholic Church worldwide is said in local languages (rather than Latin) for the first time.source
• 1965April 18 – Consecration of Saint Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral in Toronto, Canada.source
• 1965September 14 – The fourth and final period of the Second Vatican Council opens.source
• 1965October 4 – Pope Paul VI makes the first papal visit to the United States. He appears for a Mass in Yankee Stadium and makes a speech at the United Nations.source
• 1965October 8 – The 7 Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent are adopted at the XX International Conference in Vienna, Austria.source
• 1966March 4 – In an interview with London Evening Standard reporter Maureen Cleave, John Lennon of the Beatles states: "We're more popular than Jesus now."source
• 1966March 24 – Pope Paul VI meets Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in Rome, and gives him an episcopal ring.source
• 1966April 27 – Pope Paul VI and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko meet in the Vatican (the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and the Soviet Union).source
• 1966June 14 – The Vatican abolishes the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.source
• 1966August 11 – the Beatles hold a press conference in Chicago, during which John Lennon apologizes for his "more popular than Jesus" remark, saying, "I didn't mean it as a lousy anti-religious thing."source
• 1966October 5 – UNESCO signs the Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers. This event is to be celebrated as World Teachers' Day.source
• 1966The World Buddhist Sangha Council is convened by Theravadins in Sri Lanka, with the hope of bridging differences and working together.source
• 1967March 28 – Pope Paul VI issues the encyclical Populorum progressio.source
• 1967June 13 – Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall is nominated as the first African American justice of the United States Supreme Court.source
• 1967June 26 – Pope Paul VI ordains 27 new cardinals (one of whom is the future Pope John Paul II).source
• 1967October 23 – Charles de Gaulle becomes the first French Co-Prince of Andorra to visit his Andorran subjects. In addition to being President of France, de Gaulle is a joint ruler (along with Spain's Bishop of Urgel) of the tiny nation located in the mountains between France and Spain, pursuant to the 1278 agreement creating the nation.source
• 1967St Christopher's Hospice, the world's first purpose-built secular hospice specialising in palliative care of the terminally ill, is established in South London by Dame Cicely Saunders with the support of Albertine Winner.source
• 1967Albania is officially declared an atheist state by its leader, Enver Hoxha.source
• 1968April 23 – The United Methodist Church is created by the union in Dallas, Texas, of the former Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches.source
• 1968July 25 – Pope Paul VI publishes the encyclical Humanae vitae, reaffirming the Catholic Church's opposition to artificial birth control.source
• 1969January 27 – Reverend Ian Paisley, Northern Irish Unionist leader and founder of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster is jailed for three months for illegal assembly.source
• 1969February 14 – Pope Paul VI issues Mysterii Paschalis, a motu proprio, deleting many names from the Roman calendar of saints (including Valentine, who was celebrated on this day).source
• 1969March 28 – Pope Paul VI increases the number of Roman Catholic cardinals by one-third, from 101 to 134.source
• 1969April 3 – The Mass of Paul VI is promulgated in the Catholic Church by the Pope.source
• 1969July 22 – Spanish dictator and head of state Francisco Franco appoints Prince Juan Carlos to be his successor as head of state following his death.source
• 1969July 31 – Pope Paul VI arrives in Entebbe, Uganda for the first visit by a reigning Pope to Africa.source
• 1970September 27 – Pope Paul VI names Saint Teresa of Ávila (d. 1582) as the first female Doctor of the Church.source
• 1970October 3 – Pope Paul VI names Saint Catherine of Siena (d. 1380) as the second female Doctor of the Church.source
• 1970December 5 – The Asian and Australian tour of Pope Paul VI ends.source
• 1971February 7 – Władysław Gomułka is expelled from the Central Council of the Polish Communist Party.source
• 1971November 14 – Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is enthroned.source
• 1972January 31 – King Birendra succeeds his father as King of Nepal.source
• 1972March 2 – The Club of Rome presents the research results leading to its report The Limits to Growth, published later in the month.source
• 1972March 4 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference Charter is signed (effective February 28, 1973).source
• 1972June 3 – Sally Priesand becomes the first American woman (and the second known woman anywhere) to be ordained as a rabbi within Judaism.source
• 1972June 12 – Popeyes was formed in Arabi, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana, in St. Bernard Parish.source
• 1972October 5 – The United Reformed Church in England is founded out of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches.source
• 1973December 18 – The Islamic Development Bank is created as a specialized agency of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) (effective August 12, 1974).source
• 1975September 15 – The French department of Corse, comprising the entire island of Corsica, is divided into two departments: Haute-Corse (Upper Corsica) and Corse-du-Sud (Southern Corsica).source
• 1975September 20 – The term of Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, as the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, ends.source
• 1975September 21 – Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra of Kelantan, becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.source
• 1976July 19 – Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.source
• 1977February 23 – Óscar Romero, an outspoken opponent of violence, becomes Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador.source
• 1978August 26 – Pope John Paul I succeeds Pope Paul VI as the 263rd Pope.source
• 1978October 16 – Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I as the 264th pope, resulting in the first Year of Three Popes since 1605. He is the first Polish pope in history, and the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523).source
• 1979January 25 – Pope John Paul II arrives in Mexico City for his first visit to Mexico, mainly for 1979's Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) or Conference of Puebla.source
• 1979February 3 – Ayatollah Khomeini creates the Council of the Islamic Revolution.source
• 1979March 13 – Maurice Bishop leads a successful coup in Grenada. His government will be crushed by American intervention in 1983.source
• 1979June 2 – Pope John Paul II arrives in his native Poland on his first official, nine-day stay, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country. This visit, known as nine days that changed the world, brings about the solidarity of the Polish people against Communism, ultimately leading to the rise of the Solidarity movement.source
• 1979September 1 – Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps is formed.source
• 1979October 1–7 – Pope John Paul II makes a six-city visit to the United States, starting in Boston.source
• 1979October 2 – Pope John Paul II arrives in New York City for his first papal tour where he addresses the U.N. General Assembly against all forms of concentration camps and torture.source
• 1979October 7 – Pope John Paul II ends his first U.S. papal visit in Washington, D.C., with his first-ever visit to the White House.source
• 1979December 3 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini becomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran.source
• 1979Hànyǔ Pīnyīn is widely adopted as the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, leading to changes in Western spelling of Chinese toponyms.source
• 1980April 1 – The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) is formed in Lusaka, Zambia.source
• 1980July 9 – Pope John Paul II visits Brazil; seven people are crushed to death in a crowd waiting to see him at afternoon Mass at the stadium in Fortaleza.source
• 1980September 22 – The command council of Iraq orders its army to "deliver its fatal blow on Iranian military targets", initiating the Iran–Iraq War.source
• 1981January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican.source
• 1981February 17–22 – Pope John Paul II visits the Philippines.source
• 1981July 29 – A worldwide television audience of over 750 million people watch the Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London, UK.source
• 1981November 12 – The Church of England General Synod votes to admit women to holy orders.source
• 1981Scots songwriter and singer, Dick Gaughan recorded Scottish poet, Robert Burns 1783 poem Now Westlin' Winds"source
• 1981The State Council of the People's Republic of China lists the cities of Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Guilin as those where the protection of historical and cultural heritage, as well as natural scenery, should be treated as a priority project.source
• 1982May 12 – Spanish priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn tries to stab Pope John Paul II with a bayonet during the latter's pilgrimage to the shrine at Fátima.source
• 1982June 12 – The Nuclear Disarmament Rally, an event against nuclear weapon proliferation, draws 750,000 to New York City's Central Park. Performers include Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Linda Ronstadt. An international convocation at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine features prominent peace activists from around the world and afterward participants march on Fifth Avenue to Central Park for the rally.source
• 1983January 6 – Pope John Paul II appoints a bishop over the Czechoslovak exile community, which the Rudé právo newspaper calls a "provocation." This begins a year-long disagreement between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Vatican, leading to the eventual restoration of diplomatic relations between the two states.source
• 1983January 26 – 1983 Code of Canon Law: Pope John Paul II revises Roman Catholic canon law, the first such revision since 1917. Among the changes is a reduction in the number of offenses qualifying for automatic excommunication, from 37 to only seven.source
• 1983March 15 – Reform rabbis in the U.S. vote to affirm both patrilineal and matrilineal descent for determining Jewish identity. While Jewish tradition defines a Jew as someone with a Jewish mother, this decision by the Central Conference of American Rabbis amends this principle to mean one Jewish "parent."source
• 1983March 25 – Sweden re-establishes diplomatic ties with the Vatican after a 450-year interruption. Sweden broke off relations in 1534 in keeping with the rise of Lutheranism.source
• 1983December 27 – Pope John Paul II visits Rebibbia prison to forgive his would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca.source
• 1985February 16 – The ideology of Hezbollah is declared in a program issued in Beirut.source
• 1985March 25 – The Organization Commune Africaine et Malgache is officially dissolved.source
• 1985December 20 – Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day for Catholic youths.source
• 1986April 13 – Pope John Paul II officially visits the Great Synagogue of Rome, the first time a modern Pope has visited a synagogue.source
• 1986July 23 – In London, the then Prince Andrew, Duke of York (later Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.source
• 1986September 7 – Desmond Tutu becomes the first black Anglican Church bishop in South Africa.source
• 1987August 26 – Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County decision: The U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturns the earlier ruling of a lower court which found that certain public school textbooks promoted the "religion" of secular humanism; in this final ruling, the court finds that the plaintiffs have not proven that the state is presenting secular humanism as a religious ideology.source
• 1987December 30 – Pope John Paul II issues the encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (On Social Concern).source
• 1988January 26 – Upon request of Hubert Michon, archbishop of Rabat, two Trappist monks come to Fez and start a community that will later become the Priory of Our Lady of the Atlas.source
• 1988June 30 – Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrates four bishops at Écône, Switzerland, for his apostolate, along with Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, without a papal mandate.source
• 1989February 11 – Barbara Harris is the first woman consecrated as a bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (and also the first woman to become a bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion).source
• 1989February 24 – The Satanic Verses controversy: Iran places a $3,000,000 bounty on the head of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.source
• 1989April 26 – Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu, Sultan of Perak, becomes the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, succeeding Baginda Almutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail.source
• 1989June 1–10 – Pope John Paul II visits Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Sweden.source
• 1989September 19 – The Catholic Church calls for removal of the Carmelite convent located near the former Auschwitz concentration camp, whose presence has offended some Jewish leaders.source
• 1989November 5 – Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir is attacked by Maronite demonstrators loyal to Michel Aoun and who reject the nomination of Rene Moawad as president of the country. One of the demonstrators asks the Patriarch to kiss the picture of General Aoun raised above his head, and many follow him saying: "Kiss the picture, kiss the picture". The Patriarch refuses. The scene is hysterical and tragic to the point that Archbishop Bechara Boutros al-Rahi leaves the Patriarch's side and heads to the church of the Patriarchate because he can no longer bear the sight.source
• 1989December 1 – In a meeting with Pope John Paul II, General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev pledges greater religious freedom for citizens of the Soviet Union.source
• 1989December 6 – Egon Krenz resigns as Chairman of the State Council of the German Democratic Republic, and is replaced by Manfred Gerlach, the first non-Communist to hold that post.source
• 1990January 25 – Pope John Paul II begins an eight-day tour of Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad.source
• 1990February 5 – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. excommunicates George Augustus Stallings for starting the controversial Imani Temple congregation.source
• 1990February 21 – Spain grants Protestantism and Judaism legal equality with the Roman Catholic Church.source
• 1990March 25 – Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie announces his intention to retire at the end of the year.source
• 1990May 1 – The former Episcopal Church in the Philippines (supervised by the Episcopal Church) is granted full autonomy and raised to the state of an Autocephalous Anglican province and renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines.source
• 1990June 7 – Metropolitan Alexy of Moscow is elected Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'.source
• 1990June 24 – Kathleen Margaret Brown and Irene Templeton are ordained as priests in St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, becoming the first female Anglican priests in the United Kingdom.source
• 1990July 25 – George Carey, Bishop of Bath and Wells, is named as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England.source
• 1990September 1–10 – Pope John Paul II visits Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and Ivory Coast.source
• 1990September 29 – Washington National Cathedral is finished.source
• 1990September 30 – The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is officially introduced.source
• 1990October 1 – The Soviet Union enacts a law permitting religious freedom, ending government interference in religious activity and permitting Soviet citizens to engage in private religious study in their homes.source
• 1990November 9 – The Parliament of Singapore enacts the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act.source
• 1991March 30 – French woman and supercentenarian Jeanne Calment surpasses the final age achieved by Easter Wiggins (1874–1990) of 116 years, 36 days and becomes the oldest verified person in history.source
• 1991April 19 – George Carey is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.source
• 1991September 5 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union self-dissolves, being replaced by Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and State Council of the Soviet Union.source
• 1991November 2 – Bartholomew I is enthroned as Patriarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, thus becoming the new spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox worldwide.source
• 1992January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General.source
• 1992March 31 – The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act of Singapore comes into force.source
• 1992October 3 – After performing a song protesting against alleged Catholic Church child sexual abuse, Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor rips up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on the US television programme Saturday Night Live, causing huge controversy.source
• 1992October 11 – The Catechism of the Catholic Church is promulgated by Pope John Paul II with his apostolic constitution, Fidei depositum.source
• 1992October 12 – In the Dominican Republic, Pope John Paul II celebrates the 500th anniversary of the meeting of two cultures.source
• 1992October 31 – Pope John Paul II issues an apology and lifts the 1633 edict of the Inquisition against Galileo Galilei.source
• 1992November 11 – The Church of England votes to allow women to become priests.source
• 1993Pope John Paul II makes an official visit to Albania, accompanied by Mother Teresa. He counsels Albanian Catholics against supporting nationalist violence in Kosovo.source
• 1994February 25 – Israeli Kahanist Baruch Goldstein opens fire inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank; he kills 29 Muslims before worshippers beat him to death.source
• 1994March 12 – The Church of England ordains its first female priests.source
• 1994April 25 – Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu ends his term as the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.source
• 1994April 26 – Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, becomes the 10th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.source
• 1994May 22 – Pope John Paul II issues the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis from the Vatican, expounding the Catholic Church's position requiring "the reservation of priestly ordination to men alone".source
• 1995December 8 – Five-year-old Gyaincain Norbu is enthroned as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo Monastery.source
• 1996July 22 – The first Gethsemani Encounter takes place at the abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani. This event, hosted by the DIMMID, is the first intermonastic dialogue between Buddhist and Christian monks and is attended by the Dalai Lama and Bishop Joseph John Gerry.source
• 1997March 13 – India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala, to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.source
• 1997September 6 – The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, takes place at Westminster Abbey, London, UK, watched by over two billion people worldwide.source
• 1998January 21 - Pope John Paul II begins a 5-day visit to Cuba; Fidel Castro releases 300 political prisoners in a gesture of goodwill.source
• 1999March 15 – The Santer Commission of the EU resigns over allegations of corruption.source
• 1999October 31 – The Catholic Church and several Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, attempting to resolve a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.source