Read an Aug. 12, 2009, Christianity Today article about megachurches training future pastors themselves rather than drawing from established seminaries.

Read a Sept. 25, 2009, Crosswalk.com article about the trend toward multisite megachurches.

April 8, 2013, National Catholic Reporter article about Pope Francis’ environmental beliefs.

June 5, 2013, Huffington Post article about Pope Francis’ speech on World Environment Day in which he cited scripture in calling for people to care for the environment and decried the influence of money in the world.

June 17, 2013, Reuters “FaithWorld” blog post about the historically slow pace of religions to embrace environmentalism and the possible increase in that pace thanks to the impact of religious leaders including Pope Francis.

See the website of the Bahá’í International Community, which has its headquarters in Haifa, Israel, where the faith’s holiest sites are.

The official website of the Bahá’ís of the U.S., which has its headquarters in Evanston, Ill., is a treasure trove of basic information about the faith’s beliefs and practices. Its online press kit includes statistical information and story ideas.

The Rev. Patrick Howell is vice president for mission and ministry at the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University. He co-edited the book Empowering Authority: The Charisms of Episcopacy and Primacy in the Church Today. He has frequently written about Pope Benedict XVI for the Seattle Times.

Sandra Yocum is chair of religious studies at the University of Dayton who specializes in the history of theology, which is Benedict’s forte.