Southern Baptists elected a new leader who has decried a “decline and drift” within the denomination. His supporters include an outspoken faction seeking to move the solidly conservative body even further to the right. Delegates elected Florida pastor Willy Rice to be its next president by a decisive margin over South Carolina pastor Josh Powell. The vote happened on the opening day of the Southern Baptist Convention's two-day annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. Delegates from across the nation's largest Protestant denomination are expected to vote on a constitutional amendment to formally ban churches with women pastors. The meeting will also address resolutions on antisemitism and immigration.

The Vatican says that Pope Leo XIV has met with six survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Madrid and vowed to consider their suggestions for how the Catholic Church can improve its response to the crisis. The meeting on Monday, which followed in the tradition of popes meeting with abuse survivors during their foreign trips, lasted about an hour and took place at the Vatican Embassy in Madrid, the Vatican said in a statement. Spain’s Catholic hierarchy has only recently begun reckoning with its legacy of abuse and cover-up after long dismissing the severity of the scandal that came to light thanks to reporting by the newpaper El País.

Former Oregon Sen. Bob Packwood has died. First elected to the Senate in 1968, Packwood was often considered a maverick by fellow Republicans — a fiscal conservative but social moderate, with Packwood a vocal supporter of abortion rights. Packwood often voted across party lines and considered running for president in 1980. He stepped down from the Senate in 1995 after multiple women accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. Packwood was 93.

The courtroom battle between Blake Lively and Justice Baldoni, minus the actors, has returned to a Manhattan federal courtroom. That's despite the recent settlement of Lively's claims against him stemming from the 2024 movie “It Ends With Us.” The two sides were battling Monday over whether Baldoni owes Lively attorney fees and damages because he filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against Lively after she claimed he subjected her to sexual harassment and defamation. Lively's lawyers claim a California law means she can collect attorney fees and damages because a judge tossed out Baldoni's countersuit last year. Baldoni's lawyers say it is not so. A judge reserved decision.

Public demand and the increasingly outspoken calls from the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse have driven Congress to mostly set aside party politics in an effort to search for accountability. That search has even led to interviews with some of the highest-ranked officials to ever appear before a congressional investigation, including a former president. Yet lawmakers have little to show in terms of criminal culpability for Epstein’s crimes or a definitive acknowledgment of government failure. Lawmakers and survivors of his abuse are still grasping for a sense of finality. Some lawmakers say there should still be criminal investigations.

A judge has ruled that President Donald Trump’s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center and blocked the administration from closing it for major renovations. Hours later the president said via social media that he would cease involvement in Kennedy Center renovations and return control of it to Congress. Also Friday the president held a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers as he looks to make a “final determination” on moving forward on a deal to extend a ceasefire with Iran. And former Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer questions on Trump’s involvement in the release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein as she defended the administration’s actions in a closed-door interview before House lawmakers.