tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/catholic-church-2871/articlesCatholic church – The Conversation2024-03-28T00:38:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2126982024-03-28T00:38:13Z2024-03-28T00:38:13ZA eucharist of sourdough or wafer? What a thousand-year-old religious quarrel tells us about fermentation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549735/original/file-20230922-28-twwr4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C447%2C3936%2C2150&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eucharist_mosaic_(Saint_Sophia_Cathedral_in_Kiev)_detail.jpg">Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy communion. </p>
<p>The view in Constantinople was the bread for the eucharist must be sourdough. But in Rome, an unleavened wafer had been used for longer than anyone could remember and the Vatican argued unleavened bread was more authentic.</p>
<p>It might sound like a storm in a chalice, but it mattered a lot because church authority seemed to be at stake. </p>
<p>Neither side could back down, and the grand fracas – known as the “azyme controversy of 1054” – became so divisive that it led, among other quibbles, to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism">the schism of east and west</a>. Today, the sourdough loaf in the Orthodox liturgy is cut up and mixed with wine, while the Catholic church still uses a small circular wafer.</p>
<p>Scholars have difficulty accounting for this unfortunate brawl. Was it politically motivated, or just an escalation of insults among bickering headstrong men that’s best forgotten? </p>
<p>But rather than reading the controversy as a case study in antagonism, it occurred to me the historical record is <a href="https://www.academia.edu/104057468/A_visceral_history_of_bread_from_First_Nations_Australia_to_Byzantium">useful in illuminating</a> medieval attitudes to bread and fermentation.</p>
<h2>Christ’s sacrifice</h2>
<p>The Byzantine Greeks had a gut reaction to the Latin wafer or matzo (<em>azymon</em>). They were disgusted by the idea of an inflexible board representing the Saviour. The Lord’s body had to be figured in a more flesh-like genuine bread. </p>
<p>They accused the Latin wafer of being like the clay of a brick; the Latin unleavened bread as being “dead” (<em>nekron</em>). Even in the 8th century, John of Damascus described this characterless wafer as “insipid” (<em>moron</em>).</p>
<p>Much of the debate concerned doctrine. </p>
<p>The Byzantines thought the Latins didn’t really understand the point of the sacrament, because their unleavened bread was a throw-back to Jewish practice. The Byzantines said they must not Judaicise (<em>ioudaïzein</em>) the holiest rite, which is all about Christ’s sacrifice that Jews don’t recognise.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549734/original/file-20230922-21-s3c85l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The original owner of this manuscript and his family kneel before an altar in adoration of the Eucharist, shown in an elaborate gold monstrance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549734/original/file-20230922-21-s3c85l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549734/original/file-20230922-21-s3c85l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549734/original/file-20230922-21-s3c85l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549734/original/file-20230922-21-s3c85l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549734/original/file-20230922-21-s3c85l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1180&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549734/original/file-20230922-21-s3c85l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1180&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549734/original/file-20230922-21-s3c85l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1180&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Adoration of the Eucharist, early 1460s, Willem Vrelant (Flemish, died 1481, active 1454– 1481).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103S6S">Getty Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Aside from these dogmatic arguments, an important part of the Greek revulsion against the wafer was aesthetic. The leaven in the sourdough process was identified with life and warmth and the bread itself – though technically sour – is endowed with sweetness (<em>hedytes</em>).</p>
<p>The Latin church retorted the fermentation of the dough introduces an impurity into the angelic substance of the eucharist. After all, they said, the process of sourdough must be a bit like rot or putrefaction. </p>
<p>It seemed to them the original unadulterated ingredients of wheat and flour are sullied by (the then) unknown alien substance that eventually results in degradation and spoiling (<em>vitiatio</em>).</p>
<h2>Observing the yeast</h2>
<p>Behind this disagreeable theological dispute between eastern and western churches, we gain precious insight into how the premodern mind understood fermentation, and especially what distinguishes it from rot and decay. </p>
<p>The debate brings out intuitions that anticipate the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur">findings of Louis Pasteur</a> 800 years later, who understood the action of yeasts as an additive process rather than a form of decay.</p>
<p>Actually, the positive interpretation of yeast begins with Jesus himself. In a Biblical verse quoted repeatedly during the squabble, Jesus <a href="https://biblehub.com/matthew/13-33.htm">compares heaven to sourdough</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven (<em>zyme</em>), which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the Byzantines argued, Jesus wouldn’t have proposed this analogy if he thought the leaven was some form of corruption that takes over and damages the food. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549737/original/file-20230922-31-rqcd5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549737/original/file-20230922-31-rqcd5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549737/original/file-20230922-31-rqcd5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549737/original/file-20230922-31-rqcd5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549737/original/file-20230922-31-rqcd5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549737/original/file-20230922-31-rqcd5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=994&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549737/original/file-20230922-31-rqcd5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=994&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549737/original/file-20230922-31-rqcd5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=994&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Adoration of the Magi, about 1240, unknown artist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/107TX3">Getty Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>His parable envisages good things (think divine love) spreading miraculously in the holy environment, in the same way the lump of dough is enriched by the discrete amounts of leaven that end up permeating it.</p>
<p>The Byzantines and Pasteur would agree with Jesus. Following Pasteur, we identify the wild yeast in sourdough as <em><a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/the-biology-of-sourdough">lactobacillus</a></em> – but there was no microscope in the middle ages and a scientific approach could only be based on what could be seen, which is marvellously enigmatic.</p>
<p>The Latin view rejected the homely Greek interpretation. Their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulgate">Vulgate Bible</a> mistranslates <a href="https://www.bibleref.com/Galatians/5/Galatians-5-9.htm">a line of Paul</a>, saying “a little leaven spoils (<em>corrumpit</em>) the whole lump”, instead of “a little leaven leaveneth (<em>zymoi</em>) the whole lump”. </p>
<p>A belligerent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humbert_of_Silva_Candida">Cardinal Humbert</a> dismissed the analogy of heaven and leaven, scoffing that Jesus also compares heaven to a seed of mustard. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549739/original/file-20230922-23-j03l4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549739/original/file-20230922-23-j03l4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549739/original/file-20230922-23-j03l4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549739/original/file-20230922-23-j03l4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549739/original/file-20230922-23-j03l4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549739/original/file-20230922-23-j03l4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549739/original/file-20230922-23-j03l4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549739/original/file-20230922-23-j03l4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mold for a Eulogia (Blessing) Bread, 600s-900s. Byzantium, Palestine, Byzantine period.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1951.152">The Cleveland Museum of Art</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Humbert argued the yeast in the leaven has to <a href="https://www.academia.edu/104057468/A_visceral_history_of_bread_from_First_Nations_Australia_to_Byzantium">come from somewhere</a>: its origins belong with similar yeasts in beer, and these in turn are related to the scum of foul organic matter.</p>
<p>Humbert also reminds us of what happens when you leave the leavened dough for too long: it goes off and becomes inedible.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-every-new-baker-should-know-about-the-yeast-all-around-us-137687">What every new baker should know about the yeast all around us</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Heavenly sourdough</h2>
<p>Today we might say that the Latins came to the wrong biochemical conclusions, but in many ways their approach was more empirical and scientific. Observing how leavened dough easily becomes foul, they reasoned that fermentation must involve impurities.</p>
<p>For those of us who haven’t looked at a microscope since high school, the Byzantine polemic in general helps us understand how we still <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-every-new-baker-should-know-about-the-yeast-all-around-us-137687">imagine microbiological processes</a> without being able to see or name the various bacteria and enzymes at work.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552214/original/file-20231004-23-befe4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552214/original/file-20231004-23-befe4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552214/original/file-20231004-23-befe4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552214/original/file-20231004-23-befe4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552214/original/file-20231004-23-befe4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552214/original/file-20231004-23-befe4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552214/original/file-20231004-23-befe4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552214/original/file-20231004-23-befe4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bread baked by the author, embossed with a bread-stamp from a monastery in Greece.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Nelson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even after <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-historical-roots-of-your-lockdown-sourdough-obsession-137528">peak sourdough</a> during the lockdowns, sourdough strikes me as mysterious as a process and seductive in its results, with a tough texture and pleasantly sour taste arising from unseen bugs. </p>
<p>And though our secular bakers are remote from the passionate theology of Byzantine clerics, we know deep down that sourdough is heavenly and the most charismatic of breads.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-communion-matters-in-catholic-life-and-what-it-means-to-be-denied-the-eucharist-163560">Why Communion matters in Catholic life -- and what it means to be denied the Eucharist</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Nelson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ‘azyme controversy of 1054’ became so divisive it contributed to the schism of east and west. But it has a lot to tell us about how we understand bread.Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2265722024-03-26T17:02:09Z2024-03-26T17:02:09ZExtinguishing lights and a great big bang: the ancient sights and sounds of the pre-Easter tenebrae service<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584208/original/file-20240325-18-saxwku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The crucifixion of Christ inside Chester Cathedral.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chester-cheshire-england-uk-26-march-2433472355">PhotoFires|Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Easter is a time of mixed emotions. According to <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/press-releases/church-attendance-rises-second-year-running">Church of England figures</a>, up to a million people will go to church on Easter Sunday to celebrate the joy and hope of the resurrection of Christ. But in the three days before that, churchgoers in many traditions come face to face with the darkest moments of the Christian story: <a href="https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-our-collection/highlights/context/subjects/judas">the betrayal</a> Jesus faced at the hands of Judas Iscariot, his death on the cross and his burial.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A priest extinguishes a candle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584205/original/file-20240325-9980-x5ion5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A symbolic darkening.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/25389408003/in/photolist-EFzmrR-qYG4Vv-rsNXi9-rD326R-qYJtLH-rCVpZw-rCVwuq-rBaqre-rD2YZB-rCU4QJ-rVq5Li-rBaCTZ-rVnevu-rVnbds-rVn54J-rCVt5u-rCU9Bh-qYutdC-qYGikB-rVpYFH-rVpZK6-9XFueb-rVuA3a-6dSFu4-rCUe3m-qYuwAu-rVuvSM-EFzmxT-SxBjRf-rCuHh7-7qWKHW-e6w8nR-7QK7Y4-e6FJya-rVsi1e-TNcwt5-5rUMHg-9AJeZS-TNcwqu-7Q8vmN-7QNq9G-4zM5yA-buGoW5-ngK9DK-ngK8v2-2gC1u1M-rUWund-rUZgjH-qYgu1p-nivvzB">Lawrence OP|Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Among the lesser known rituals of this pre-Easter period is an ancient exploration of darkness itself, known as <em>tenebrae</em>. Originally, this service took place late at night or early in the morning on the last three days of Holy Week, leading up to Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday).</p>
<p>For at least 1,200 years, the defining feature of tenebrae services has been the gradual <a href="https://alcuinclub.org.uk/product/175/">extinguishing of lights</a>. Enclosed in an increasingly darkened church, worshippers are reminded of the three days Jesus spent in the tomb following his death. </p>
<p>My research <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/departments/music/research/research-projects/music-in-the-shadows.aspx">shows</a> that in the past it was actually quite common for worshippers to attend church in the middle of the night. Before electric light, sunset forced most daily activities to cease. Long winter nights afforded plenty of time both to sleep and to pray. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white nitrate negative image of a church service in 1941." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584196/original/file-20240325-20-uwswqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tenebrae service on Spy Wednesday at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1941.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/matpc.21011/">Matson photograph collection|LOC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Darker than dark</h2>
<p>Since medieval times, the tenebrae ritual has had the feel of a funeral. It features <a href="https://archive.org/details/liberusualismiss00cath/page/302/mode/2up?view=theater">dirge-like chanting</a>, <a href="https://www.liturgies.net/Lent/Tenebrae.htm">doleful texts</a> and a pointed avoidance of ornament. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A large standing candelabra." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1190&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1190&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584194/original/file-20240325-28-8pnz7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1190&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antoni Gaudi’s tenebrae hearse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:(Barcelona)_Tenebrae_Candelabra_-_Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD_-_Museums_of_the_Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia.jpg">Didier Descouens|Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Latin verb <em>tenebrare</em> means “to darken” and this is probably the origin of the ritual’s name. A symbolic number of candles or lamps – historically this varied between five and 72, but is now most often 15 – is lit at the beginning of the service, and then, for each successive chant, reading or verse, one light is extinguished. </p>
<p>These are often placed on what is known as a “hearse” – a triangular or pyramidal frame that would also be placed above a coffin or tomb. (Only in the 17th century would this word be borrowed to describe a funeral vehicle.) By the end of the service, a single light remains, barely enough to see by. </p>
<p>The effect is hugely dramatic. There have been different interpretations of the ritual through the ages.</p>
<p>In his ninth-century commentary <a href="https://documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0776-0852__Symphosius_Amalarius__Liber_De_Ordine_Antiphonarii__MLT.pdf.html">On the Ordering of the Antiphoner</a>, the Frankish bishop Amalar of Metz understood the extinguishing of candles to represent the “the extinction of joy” brought about by Jesus’s crucifixion. Others saw a representation of the biblical figures and saints who had died bearing witness to this story, or a depiction of the waning light of Jesus the metaphorical sun.</p>
<p>Art objects have also provided layers of meaning. Standing some 25 feet tall, the giant <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75710752@N04/8758144549">16th-century tenebrae candelabra</a> of Seville Cathedral is comprised of a metal hearse topped with 15 candles and as many carved figures.</p>
<p>As each candle is extinguished, a person seems to disappear, as if the faith of Christians is draining away. Similar objects are found in many Catholic churches, including the one designed by Antoni Gaudi for the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. </p>
<p>Some medieval churches used a hand-shaped snuffer made of wax to put out the candles. Signifying the hand of Judas, this underlined the theme of betrayal.</p>
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<p>At the end of tenebrae, the final light is customarily hidden. In the eery, disorienting darkness that ensues, there is a long tradition of a loud sudden noise being made. This bang or clatter is known as the <em>strepitus</em>. People <a href="https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/282/tenebrae-best-ways-to-make-the-strepitus/">might</a> slam a door, bang a book, stamp their feet or use percussive instruments. </p>
<p>The strepitus is thought to represent the confusion or shock the disciples experienced after Jesus died, or the earthquake that followed the crucifixion. Like many aspects of ancient ritual, though, the strepitus was probably functional in origin.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/when-easter">By definition</a>, the days around Easter always enjoy the light of the moon. But finding your way out of an unlit church can be a struggle. It seems the original purpose of the sound, then, was to signal to the sacristan (the warden in charge of the church building and its contents) to reveal the hidden candle again, so that everyone could safely return home.</p>
<p>Inevitably, sometimes things got out of hand. In his Latin <a href="https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503044033-1">commentary on the liturgy</a>, the 13th-century French bishop <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/thib14180">Guillaume Durand of Mende</a> described a form of tenebrae service that ended with shouting, wailing and a “commotion of the people” as congregants enacted both the disciples’ grief and the ironic cheers of Jesus’s enemies. One 19th-century author <a href="https://archive.org/details/ancientenglishho00feas/page/90/mode/2up">reported</a> a volley of musket-fire being used for the strepitus in Seville.</p>
<p>Today, the sounds of tenebrae are much more respectable. Performances by the eponymous, Grammy-nominated choir, Tenebrae, make a feature of candlelight and ancient church spaces. </p>
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<p>The ritual has also inspired countless famous classical works. The 16th-century English royal composer Thomas Tallis crafted a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de_OPTtfZdw">sensuous vocal setting</a> of tenebrae readings from the Old Testament’s Book of Lamentations. </p>
<p>In 1585, his younger Spanish contemporary Tomás Luis de Victoria published almost three hours’ worth of <a href="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/4up2bNlUkQvQhPFAwsWhM1?utm_source=generator">tenebrae polyphony</a>. A more operatic style appears in François Couperin’s exquisitely anguished <a href="https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W7081_120622">Leçons de ténèbres</a>, composed around 1710.</p>
<p>More recent examples include Stravinsky’s angular and unrelenting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RpOOgOeab0">Threni</a>, a concert work from 1958, and Poulenc’s lesser-known <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZCnnK7bvfc">Seven Tenebrae Responsories</a>, commissioned by Leonard Bernstein in 1961. </p>
<p>Among the many cherished settings of one medieval Tenebrae text, O vos omnes (a Latin adaptation of Lamentations 1:12-18), is a version by Spanish and Puerto Rican composer Pablo Casals. Written in 1932, it is still widely performed today. </p>
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<p>Casals was a <a href="https://www.paucasals.org/en/pablo-casals-and-the-united-nations/">peace activist</a> as well as a cellist. His simple, heartfelt strains transform <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Lamentations+1.18&version=NIV">the words of the prophet Jeremiah</a> into an impassioned plea for our troubled times: “Listen, all you peoples; look on my suffering.” </p>
<p>On Easter Sunday, many Christians will return from church having received a vital injection of hope for the world. But the tenebrae tradition, which some will also experience this week, has a useful role too. It helps us to come to terms with darkness in human history, and to find beauty even when it seems that hope itself is being extinguished.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226572/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Parkes receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>The ancient tenebrae tradition brings churchgoers face to face with the darkest moments of the Christian story.Henry Parkes, Associate Professor, Department of Music, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2262932024-03-26T12:41:28Z2024-03-26T12:41:28ZAn annual pilgrimage during Holy Week brings thousands of believers to Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico, where they pray for healing and protection<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583549/original/file-20240321-30-z27kej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C4%2C2968%2C2182&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thousands of Catholics travel by foot to Santuario de Chimayo, in northern New Mexico, during an annual Good Friday pilgrimage.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CatholicPilgrimageNewMexico/27b7d518d220496e8911f7b0c20bf07d/photo?Query=Chimay%C3%B3%20New%20Mexico%20pilgrimage&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=14&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Morgan Lee</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, the people of northern New Mexico have marked the Christian observance of Good Friday with a walking pilgrimage to the Santuario de Chimayó in the village of Chimayó, New Mexico.</p>
<p>Referring to themselves as <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/hispano-music-and-culture-from-the-northern-rio-grande/articles-and-essays/nuevo-mexicanos-of-the-upper-rio-grande-culture-history-and-society/english/">Hispanos</a>, or Nuevomexicanos, they have lived in the region for generations, tracing their descent from Spanish colonists who arrived to New Mexico in the 17th and 18th centuries. Nuevomexicanos’ Catholicism developed at the far northern frontier of the Spanish Empire; a scarcity of priests led to the flourishing of many popular devotions in New Mexico, including the pilgrimage to Chimayó. </p>
<p>Built in the early 1800s, the santuario is a small church, built of adobe bricks, with a unique feature: In a little room adjacent to the church’s central worship space, there is a hole in the floor, the “pocito,” filled with the sandy earth of the area. </p>
<p>For at least 200 years, Nuevomexicano Catholics have used dirt from the pocito for its purported miraculous healing qualities. They rub it on their aches and pains, they hold it to focus their prayers, and, historically, ingested it. </p>
<p>In 2015, I participated in the annual pilgrimage as part of the research for <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479884278/the-healing-power-of-the-santuario-de-chimayo/">my book</a>, “The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó: America’s Miraculous Church.” The santuario’s story is not merely a curiosity but also a significant part of the shifting identity of the U.S. Catholic Church, which is on the verge of becoming <a href="https://vencuentro.org/consultation-report/">majority-Latino</a>.</p>
<h2>Legendary origins of santuario’s holy dirt</h2>
<p>The source of the pocito dirt’s power for Hispano pilgrims is linked to two images of Christ.</p>
<p>The first is a large crucifix called the Señor de Esquipulas, or Lord of Esquipulas. Named for a famous and much older <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803268432/">Guatemalan Christ</a> figure also known as the Señor de Esquipulas, the crucifix lies at the heart of the most common origin story for the santuario’s holy dirt. </p>
<p>The legend goes that in 1810, a Chimayó community leader and landowner named Bernardo Abeyta witnessed light coming out of the ground in one of his fields. Upon examination, he is said to have discovered the crucifix partially buried in the soil. He dug it up and brought it to the nearest church at the time, some 8 miles away. </p>
<p>The crucifix, however, is believed to have returned on its own to the hole in Abeyta’s field. Given this sign, Abeyta sought and received permission to build a chapel around the hole, a chapel today known as the Santuario de Chimayó.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A brightly painted church altar with Jesus on the cross." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583554/original/file-20240321-28-lsrlch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interior view of Santuario de Chimayo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/highsm.66247/">Carol M Highsmith/Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Señor de Esquipulas crucifix hangs on the main altar screen in the santuario, and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has promoted the story of its miraculous provenance. </p>
<p>A second Christ image, however, is by far the more popular among Hispano pilgrims. The <a href="https://www.unmpress.com/9780826347107/crossing-borders-with-the-santo-ninyo-de-atocha/">Santo Niño de Atocha</a> is a depiction of the Christ child dressed as a medieval pilgrim and is popular throughout northern Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border region. A statue of the Holy Child is ensconced in the santuario in a room adjacent to the pocito.</p>
<p>For pilgrims, a visit to the santuario typically includes time in prayer in front of the Holy Child, where they ask for healing and protection for themselves, their children and other loved ones. They take home dirt from the pocito as a reminder and vehicle of Christ’s power to answer their prayers.</p>
<h2>The annual pilgrimage</h2>
<p>Hispano residents in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado made pilgrimages to the santuario for healing throughout the 19th century, but the massive walking pilgrimage during Holy Week, culminating on Good Friday, did not begin until after World War II. </p>
<p>Hundreds of members of New Mexico’s 200th Coast Artillery had endured the 1942 <a href="https://historyinsantafe.com/200th-coast-artillery-bataan-death-march/#:%7E:text=New%20Mexico's%20Veteran's%20Administration%20is,joined%2075%2C000%20prisoners%20of%20war">Bataan Death March</a>, in which thousands of U.S. and Filipino prisoners of war were forced by the Japanese Imperial Army to walk for miles through the Philippines. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161130144025/http://www.bataanmuseum.com/bataanhistory/">Many died</a> from either torture or exhaustion.</p>
<p>Upon returning home, Nuevomexicano survivors organized a walking pilgrimage to the santuario in 1946 to commemorate their suffering and to mourn their lost comrades. <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/american_latino_heritage/el_santuario_de_chimayo.html">This pilgrimage</a> soon evolved into an annual observance not only for veterans but also for Hispano Catholics in general.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lrI7QxKpGHQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The pilgrimage of Santuario de Chimayo.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the santuario throughout the year, but the pilgrimage during Holy Week – the week before the celebration of Easter – is the high point. Good Friday, the day on which Christians believe that Jesus was crucified and died, attracts approximately <a href="https://stateecu.com/a-guide-to-holy-week-pilgrimages-to-el-santuario-de-chimayo/">30,000 walking pilgrims</a>, some coming from as far away as Albuquerque, 90 miles away. Others choose shorter routes, including a popular 9-mile walk from the nearby town of Española. </p>
<h2>Latino Catholics</h2>
<p>The santuario’s popularity continues to rise along with the numbers of Latino Catholics in the U.S.</p>
<p>The demographic shift in the U.S. Catholic Church toward a <a href="https://vencuentro.org/consultation-report/">Latino majority</a> is well underway. <a href="https://theology.nd.edu/people/timothy-matovina/">Timothy Matovina</a>, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, writes in <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691163574/latino-catholicism">his book</a>, “Latino Catholicism: Tranformation in America’s Largest Church,” that Latinos represent one-third of all U.S. Catholics and make up more than half of the U.S. Catholic population under the age of 25.</p>
<p>He also notes that, because of Latino population growth, the proportion of Catholics in California and Texas has increased since 1990, while the proportion in Massachusetts and New York has dropped. This demographic shift means devotional sites, like the santuario, that have Latino Catholic origins and immense popularity can expect to grow in importance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Hendrickson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the Santuario de Chimayó throughout the year, but the pilgrimage during the week before the celebration of Easter is the high point.Brett Hendrickson, Professor of Religious Studies, Lafayette College Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230932024-02-28T19:15:48Z2024-02-28T19:15:48ZPope Gregory XIII gave us the leap year – but his legacy goes much further<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578180/original/file-20240227-22-e28jpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C32%2C5363%2C3548&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On this day, February 29, conversations the world over may conjure the name of Pope Gregory XIII – widely known for his reform of the calendar that bears his name. </p>
<p>The need for <a href="https://palazzoboncompagni.it/en/podcast/the-gregorian-calendar/">calendar reform</a> was driven by the inaccuracy of the Julian calendar. Introduced in 46 BC, the Julian calendar fell short of the solar year – the time it takes Earth to orbit the Sun – by about 12 minutes each year. </p>
<p>To correct this, Gregory convened a commission of experts who fine-tuned the leap-year system, giving us the one we have today.</p>
<p>But the Gregorian calendar isn’t the only legacy Pope Gregory left. His papacy encompassed a broad spectrum of achievements that have left a lasting mark on the world. </p>
<h2>Rise to papacy</h2>
<p>Born in 1502 as Ugo Boncompagni, Gregory made many contributions to the life of the Catholic Church, the city of Rome, education, arts and diplomacy.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.unibo.it/en/university/who-we-are/our-history/famous-people-and-students/gregory-xiii">Before ascending</a> to the papacy, Boncompagni had a distinguished career in law in Bologna where he received his doctorate in both civil and canon law. He also taught jurisprudence, which is the theory and philosophy of law.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575809/original/file-20240215-26-rm5ni5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of Pope Gregory XIII by Lavinia Fontana" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575809/original/file-20240215-26-rm5ni5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575809/original/file-20240215-26-rm5ni5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575809/original/file-20240215-26-rm5ni5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575809/original/file-20240215-26-rm5ni5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575809/original/file-20240215-26-rm5ni5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575809/original/file-20240215-26-rm5ni5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575809/original/file-20240215-26-rm5ni5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An oil portrait of Pope Gregory XIII painted by Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lavinia_Fontana_-_Portrait_of_Pope_Gregory_XIII.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>His intellectual influence positioned him as a trusted figure in legal and diplomatic circles even before his election as pope in the 1572 conclave. Upon being elected he adopted the name Gregory, in honour of Pope Gregory the Great who lived in the sixth century.</p>
<h2>Movement in the Church</h2>
<p>One of Gregory’s major undertakings was reforming the Catholic Church in response to the Reformation, a movement which established a distinct new branch of Christianity, Protestantism, <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/protestant-reformation/">separated</a> from the Catholic Church. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-the-reformation-how-passions-sparked-a-religious-revolution-500-years-ago-86048">Revisiting the Reformation: how passions sparked a religious revolution 500 years ago</a>
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<p>Gregory aimed to implement the decisions of the Council of Trent, which met between 1545 and 1563, and defined key Christian doctrines and practices, including scripture, original sin, justification, the sacraments and saint veneration. Its outcomes directed the church’s future for centuries.</p>
<p>Gregory’s administrative reforms were aimed at <a href="https://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam033/2002038836.pdf">centralising church governance</a> and its operations. As pope, he relished the practice of law, personally engaging in judicial deliberations and surprising his contemporaries with his legal acumen. </p>
<p>His papacy also marked a revision of Gratian’s Decretals, a collection of 12th-century church laws that served as a textbook for lawyers. Gregory aimed to correct numerous errors and unify the various versions of this foundational text of canon law. This culminated in the publication of an amended edition in 1582. </p>
<h2>Gregory’s dragon</h2>
<p>Pope Gregory lived at a time when emblematic and symbolic interpretations were central to the political and cultural discourse. In particular, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-91869-3_6">monsters</a> were interpreted as omens or divine signs and played a significant role in religious and political debate. </p>
<p>Gregory’s coat of arms, the heraldic emblem of the Boncompagni family, featured a dragon. As such, it <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25750536">drew criticism</a> from Protestant propaganda. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575810/original/file-20240215-30-fdl88e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575810/original/file-20240215-30-fdl88e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575810/original/file-20240215-30-fdl88e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575810/original/file-20240215-30-fdl88e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575810/original/file-20240215-30-fdl88e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575810/original/file-20240215-30-fdl88e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575810/original/file-20240215-30-fdl88e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575810/original/file-20240215-30-fdl88e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The coat of arms of Pope Gregory XIII has a dragon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_arms_of_Pope_Gregorius_XIII_-_Ceiling_of_Santa_Maria_in_Aracoeli_-_Rome_2016.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Anti-Catholic publications featured the Boncompagni dragon as an emblem of the Antichrist, drawing on the seven-headed monster in the Book of Revelation.</p>
<p>Rooted in biblical and mythological references, the negative imagery of Gregory’s dragon became a focal point for debates over the nature of papal authority, the legitimacy of Protestant criticisms, and the broader struggle to define truth and meaning in a rapidly changing world. </p>
<h2>A legacy enshrined in art</h2>
<p>Gregory’s legal legacy is celebrated in art, particularly in the <a href="https://factumfoundation.org/our-projects/digital-restorations/the-sala-bologna-the-vatican-palace/">Sala Bologna of the Vatican Palace</a>, which commemorates his and other popes’ contributions to the study and codification of law.</p>
<p>Gregory XIII’s pontificate (term of office) was marked by a comprehensive effort to renew and beautify Rome, improving both the city’s functionality and aesthetics. He had a particular focus on the <a href="https://www.turismoroma.it/en/places/campidoglio-capitoline-hill">Capitoline Hill</a>, the political and religious heart of Rome since the Antiquity.</p>
<p>Gregory’s initiatives – which included restoring essential infrastructure such as gates, bridges and fountains – were part of a broader vision to emphasise the centrality of law in Rome’s history and culture. </p>
<p>This is demonstrated by him being honoured by a statue in the Aula Consiliare of the <a href="https://www.turismoroma.it/en/places/senatorio-palace">Senator’s Palace</a>. This hall was designed to showcase the importance of judicial proceedings.</p>
<p>Alongside his urban planning initiatives, Gregory’s commissioning of <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/76012/9781000865509.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">artworks and architectural projects</a> showcased his commitment to fostering a city that was not only the spiritual centre of Catholicism, but also a beacon of Renaissance culture.</p>
<p>In the Sala Regia hall in Vatican City, he commissioned a series of mural frescoes showcasing the triumph of Christianity over its enemies. He also commissioned an entire map gallery for the Apostolic Palace, to demonstrate the extent of Christianity’s spread over the world.</p>
<h2>Reforming the calendar</h2>
<p>Because the Julian calendar fell short by about 12 minutes each year, it was increasingly out-of-sync with the solar year. By the time Gregory’s reign began, this discrepancy had accumulated to more than 10 days.</p>
<p>To correct this, Gregory convened a commission of experts. Their work led to the publication of a formal papal decree in the form of the bull <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar/The-Gregorian-calendar#ref793372"><em>Inter Gravissimas</em></a> on February 24 1582.</p>
<p>This decree not only fine-tuned the leap-year system, but also mandated the elimination of ten days to realign the calendar with the solar year.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575813/original/file-20240215-32-4r21bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575813/original/file-20240215-32-4r21bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575813/original/file-20240215-32-4r21bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575813/original/file-20240215-32-4r21bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575813/original/file-20240215-32-4r21bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575813/original/file-20240215-32-4r21bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575813/original/file-20240215-32-4r21bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The first page of the bull <em>Inter Gravissimas</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_gravissimas#/media/File:Inter-grav.jpg">Wikimeia</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The Gregorian calendar reform signified a monumental shift in timekeeping. In 1582, October 4 was followed directly by October 15, correcting the calendar’s alignment with astronomical reality. </p>
<p>This adjustment, slowly adopted by Protestant nations, has had a lasting impact on how the world measures time.</p>
<h2>Faith, intellect and reform</h2>
<p>In St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, you will find a remarkable funerary monument to Pope Gregory XIII. Completed in 1723 by Milanese sculptor Camillo Rusconi, it incorporates representations of both Religion and Wisdom, personified by two statues flanking the pope.</p>
<p>Wisdom is shown drawing attention to a relief beneath the enthroned pope which illustrates the promulgation of the new calendar – the pope’s most significant achievement. At the base of the monument, a dragon crouches unapologetically.</p>
<p>It’s a fitting tribute to a pope whose tenure was characterised by the interaction of faith, intellect and reform – and which can now be marked as a cornerstone in European history.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578181/original/file-20240227-30-vjoxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578181/original/file-20240227-30-vjoxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578181/original/file-20240227-30-vjoxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578181/original/file-20240227-30-vjoxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578181/original/file-20240227-30-vjoxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578181/original/file-20240227-30-vjoxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578181/original/file-20240227-30-vjoxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578181/original/file-20240227-30-vjoxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A dragon, the heraldic emblem of the Boncompagni family, is carved into the base of the monument.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/The Conversation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223093/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darius von Guttner Sporzynski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pope Gregory XIII was patron of Rome’s renaissance, and a legal luminary whose influence transcends the ages.Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Historian, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222312024-02-01T17:20:55Z2024-02-01T17:20:55ZIrish referendum: how the Catholic church shaped Ireland’s constitution to define the status of women<p>It has been 87 years since feminist and activist Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09612029700200154">declared</a> that the new 1937 Irish constitution was based on a “fascist model, in which women would be relegated to permanent inferiority”. </p>
<p>Several clauses were labelled “sinister and retrogressive” by women’s groups who feared gender bias embedded within the constitution would restrict Irish women to their domestic roles as wives and mothers.</p>
<p>Since the constitution entered into force, it has been amended 32 times. The ban on abortion, for example, was overturned in 2018 – a move that the current Irish Taoiseach (prime minister), <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44265492">Leo Varadkar</a>, described as the latest step in a “quiet revolution” towards modernity.</p>
<hr>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/according-to-irelands-constitution-a-womans-duties-are-in-the-home-but-a-referendum-could-be-about-to-change-its-sexist-wording-222477">According to Ireland’s constitution, a woman's duties are in the home – but a referendum could be about to change its sexist wording</a>
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<p>On March 8 2024 (also International Women’s Day), the Irish electorate will vote once again to amend the constitution and formally change the status of women in Ireland. This time the choice is to either retain Article 41.2 – the “woman in the home” clause – or to replace it with Article 42B that acknowledges the wider concept of family care. </p>
<p>According to Article 42B, the state “recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and shall strive to support such provison”.</p>
<p>The fact that it has taken 87 years for this to happen would have astounded the women who raised the alarm about Article 41.2 in 1937. Their overarching concern was that the text used reflected a prescriptive presumption that the primary function of women in Irish society was that of wife and mother. </p>
<p>Article 41.2 states that: “by her life within the home, woman gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved”. It also asserts that mothers “shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home”.</p>
<p>What women’s groups quickly recognised in 1937 was the inherent danger of assigning women a specific “social function” that was different from men. This perceived difference had already been used to limit the choices of women prior to 1937. The <a href="https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0219/1116230-ireland-women-juries/">1927 Juries Act</a>, for example, made women exempt from automatic consideration for jury service. </p>
<p>Article 41.2 therefore had the potential to further restrict women’s lives, especially with regards to the right to engage in paid work outside the home. But where did the phrasing for Article 41.2 come from? And what ideology underpinned the assertion that the “natural” role for women was that of wife and mother? </p>
<h2>The ‘natural’ social function of Irish women</h2>
<p>The answer is simple. The text of Article 41.2 comes directly, nearly word for word, from Catholic doctrine. </p>
<p>Pope Leo XIII set out the “natural” duty of women in <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html">Rerum Novarum</a>, a pastoral letter issued in 1891. It stated: “woman is by her nature fitted for home work and it is this which is best adapted to preserve her modesty and promote the good upbringing of children and the wellbeing of the family.” </p>
<p>In 1931, another papal letter, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19310515_quadragesimo-anno.html">Quadregesimo Anno</a>, was published by Pope Pius XI. The pope proclaimed that: “Mothers, concentrating on household duties, should work primarily in the home or in its immediate vicinity.”</p>
<p>Six years later, in 1937, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera oversaw the drafting of the new Irish constitution. The influence of his Catholic advisors is self-evident. </p>
<p>In the archives of the Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, a document reflecting on the position of women in the constitution stated that: “it is an unreality to imagine that the position of an electoral vote abolishes for either men or women…diversity of social function. Nothing will change in law and fact of nature that woman’s natural sphere is in the home.” </p>
<p>Another pope, Benedict XV, was cited in the same document giving the opinion that no “new state of things, nor course of events can ever snatch woman, if she realises her mission, from that sphere which is natural to her – the family”.</p>
<h2>Finish the ’quiet revolution’</h2>
<p>We shouldn’t be surprised that the vernacular of Catholic social teaching, with its pronouncements on the “natural” and prescribed social function of women as wives and mothers, became entrenched in the Irish constitution. The influence of the Catholic church was omnipresent in Irish homes, schools, the media and every aspect of public life throughout the 1920s and 1930s. </p>
<p>Its power was evident in the passing of legislation outlawing divorce, access to birth control and abortion. It infiltrated all aspects of social and cultural life, banning dances or censoring Hollywood films and literature deemed to be a moral danger.</p>
<p>What we should be surprised about is that Article 41.2 is still in the Irish constitution. Today, Ireland is a secular nation. Its citizens now have access to divorce, birth control, legal abortion and equal marriage rights. </p>
<p>Ireland is also a nation slowly, and painfully, coming to terms with the trauma inflicted by the abuses of the Catholic church in schools, mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries. And yet it still has Article 41.2. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-woman-in-the-wall-bbc-drama-about-irelands-magdalene-laundries-is-essential-viewing-212061">The Woman in the Wall: BBC drama about Ireland's Magdalene Laundries is essential viewing</a>
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<p>If Ireland is to fully shake off the shackles of its Catholic past and achieve its ambition to be a modern and progressive nation, then Article 41.2 must be consigned to the annals of history on March 8 2024.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caitriona Beaumont receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
She is a Visiting Full Professor at University College Dublin, Ireland (2023-2025).</span></em></p>Ireland is to vote on modernising its conservative Catholic constitution in March.Caitriona Beaumont, Professor of Social History, London South Bank UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2201262023-12-19T13:17:40Z2023-12-19T13:17:40ZPope Francis’ approval of blessings for LGBTQ+ couples is a historic gesture, according to a Catholic theologian<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566409/original/file-20231218-20-apod48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C3%2C2141%2C1329&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis speaks during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VaticanLGBTQ/8556ca299dda4df394f5e8864e86a1c1/photo?Query=pope%20francis%20same%20sex&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=46&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pope Francis’ <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=in%20lingua%20inglese-,Declaration,Presentation,-This%20Declaration%20considers">Dec. 18, 2023, announcement</a> that Catholic priests may bless LGBTQ+ couples and others in “irregular” situations marks a definitive shift in the Roman Catholic Church’s posture toward many types of loving relationships. It may also mark a definitive turning point within the Roman Catholic Church.</p>
<p>Across the last few years, Francis has <a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-support-for-civil-unions-is-a-call-to-justice-and-nothing-new-148607">made gesture</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-shouldnt-seem-so-surprising-when-the-pope-says-being-gay-isnt-a-crime-a-catholic-theologian-explains-198566">after gesture</a> indicating his desire to find a way for the Catholic Church to accompany and welcome people whose loving relationships do not fit into the church’s sacramental understanding of marriage as between a man and a woman, ordered toward procreation and ended only by death.</p>
<p>He has telegraphed <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-7b465b60945f40deb3a68b3de742f84a">for a long time</a> his desire to come to some new arrangement that would welcome loving relationships in the church without transforming the church’s doctrine on marriage and sexuality all at once – the Dec. 18 declaration seems to do exactly that. </p>
<h2>Pastoral emphasis</h2>
<p>First, let’s be clear about what this new declaration is not. The declaration does not permit the marriage of LGBTQ+ couples, or couples where parties are divorced without annulment of the marriage. Neither does the declaration permit any recognition of a civil marriage.</p>
<p>The declaration is specific that the blessing of relationships outside marriage must not be done in any way that might be confused with a marriage ceremony. In fact, the declaration encourages priests to be <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=prayer%20preceding%20this-,spontaneous,-blessing%2C%20the%20ordained">responsive to “spontaneous</a>” requests for a blessing, and it forbids the creation of “<a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=The%20popular%20understanding%20of%20blessings%2C%20however%2C%20also%20values%20the%20importance%20of%20descending%20blessings.%20While%20%E2%80%9Cit%20is%20not%20appropriate%20for%20a%20Diocese%2C%20a%20Bishops%E2%80%99%20Conference%2C%20or%20any%20other%20ecclesial%20structure%20to%20constantly%20and%20officially%20establish%20procedures%20or%20rituals%20for%20all%20kinds%20of%20matters">procedures or rituals</a>” that would provide anything like a script for a blessing ceremony.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people stand in front of a cathedral while another man in white priestly garments blesses them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Same-sex couples take part in a Catholic public blessing ceremony in Cologne, Germany, on Sept. 20, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VaticanLGBTQExplainer/fd76861aa59c4f43ab97ac397e74b082/photo?Query=pope%20francis%20same%20sex&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=46&currentItemNo=13">AP Photo/Martin Meissner</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Still, the declaration is remarkable for what it does do. Sidestepping difficult doctrinal questions that <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255544/the-5-cardinals-behind-the-latest-dubia-issued-to-pope-francis">divide Catholics</a>, the document’s emphasis is pastoral – it is oriented toward caring for and ministering to people rather than teaching doctrine.<br>
The word “pastoral” appears 20 times in the declaration. Francis’ emphasis is unmistakable: The subject of the declaration is not marriage or sexual morality; the declaration is about something else.</p>
<h2>What ‘blessings’ mean in the church</h2>
<p>In fact, the declaration is about blessings and what they mean in the Catholic Church.</p>
<p>A long stretch of the document is devoted to defining and clarifying what the Roman Catholic Church means by the word “blessing.” <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_risposta-dubia-2023_en.html#:%7E:text=For%2C%20when%20one%20asks%20for%20a%20blessing%2C%20one%20is%20expressing%20a%20petition%20for%20God%E2%80%99s%20assistance%2C%20a%20plea%20to%20live%20better%2C%20and%20confidence%20in%20a%20Father%20who%20can%20help%20us%20live%20better">Francis has said that</a> “when one asks for a blessing, one is expressing a petition for God’s assistance, a plea to live better, and a confidence in a Father who can help us live better.” A blessing is an “<a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=a%20superabundant%20and-,unconditional%20gift,-.">unconditional gift</a>” that “<a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=divine%20gift%20that%20%E2%80%9C-,descends,-%2C%E2%80%9D%20the%20human%20thanksgiving">descends</a>,” while our human thanksgiving “ascends” to God. </p>
<p>Blessings, in this pastoral sense, are events when our human dependence on God’s mercy is expressed as a desire for closeness with God. God, in Catholic belief, responds through the church. “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2020/documents/papa-francesco_20201202_udienza-generale.html#:%7E:text=It%20is%20God%20who%20blesses">It is God who blesses</a>” in these situations, Francis has written. God’s blessing manifests through priests and ministers.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://b2c-cbp-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs/9780899425603.pdf">Book of Blessings</a> provides formulas for everything from blessing a new home or a safe voyage to blessings for elderly people and seeds at planting time. Yet often enough in Catholic life, blessing is requested for an object like a rosary or Bible. </p>
<p>When these desires for blessing arise spontaneously, the church’s ministers always accommodate them. The church’s doctrine says blessing is abundant and inexhaustible. “Such blessings are meant for everyone; no one is to be excluded from them,” <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=Such%20blessings%20are%20meant%20for%20everyone%3B%20no%20one%20is%20to%20be%20excluded%20from%20them">the Dec. 18 declaration says</a>.</p>
<h2>Sidestepping difficult issues</h2>
<p>These meanings of “blessing” are distinct from the blessing in the Rite of the Sacrament of Marriage, which is specific to the “union of a man and a woman, who establish an exclusive and indissoluble covenant.” </p>
<p>Yet, within the scope of that much more broad, pastoral understanding of blessing, Francis has said with this declaration that blessing should not be withheld from LGBTQ+ couples or anyone else.</p>
<p>In this way, the pope has sidestepped the more difficult doctrinal questions while still inviting all couples to present themselves for the blessings they desire. </p>
<p>But the pope has not sidestepped the controversy. In recent decades, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/anglican-church-lgbtq-issues-4f635708fdb24df166ac8237f9473f00">Anglican Communion</a> and the <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/08/27/lutheran-split">Lutheran Church</a> have been roiled by controversy over LGBTQ+ acceptance. More recently, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/congregations-leaving-united-methodist-church-lgbtq-bans-70b8c89ea49174597f4548c249bab24f">Methodist Church</a> in the United States has split over the issue. </p>
<p>Catholics are divided in a similar way, and this declaration is not likely to cool down divisions. In fact, I believe, those divisions will likely deepen – especially in the United States, where Catholic bishops <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/statement-usccb-vaticans-document-addressing-pastoral-blessings">have been tepid</a> in their response to the declaration and <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/11/02/cardinal-christoph-pierre-interview-246416">Francis has not been embraced enthusiastically</a>. </p>
<p>Yet for now, the Roman Catholic Church has made a historic gesture of welcome that invites all people to experience the love of God in a community of believers devoted toward building up a more just and equitable world. “The Church is … the sacrament of God’s infinite love,” <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=The%20Church%20is%20thus%20the%20sacrament%20of%20God%E2%80%99s%20infinite%20love">the declaration says</a>. </p>
<p>Pope Francis has been constant in that loving, pastoral emphasis. For as much as the Dec. 18 declaration has changed, it has not changed that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven P. Millies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In emphasizing the church’s love for all, including people in LGBTQ+ relationships, the pope has sidestepped thorny doctrinal issues.Steven P. Millies, Professor of Public Theology and Director of The Bernardin Center, Catholic Theological UnionLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2149892023-10-10T14:53:40Z2023-10-10T14:53:40ZCatholic synod: the voices of church leaders in Africa are not being heard – 3 reasons why<p>The Catholic church today is <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-11/pope-polarization-is-not-catholic-dialogue-is-the-only-way.html">deeply polarised</a>. This has created doctrinal fissures that are seemingly unbridgeable. </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/polarization-in-the-church-how-can-it-be-overcome">many rumbling contestations</a> on questions of identity, mission, faith and morality. Other questions touch on pastoral life, the nature of marriage and family life, denial of holy communion to divorced and remarried Catholics, clerical celibacy, authority in the church and reproductive rights. </p>
<p>There is also a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-is-increasingly-diverse-and-so-are-its-controversies-189038">serious erosion of religious authority</a>. Many church leaders have lost their credibility because of what Pope Francis calls the “<a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/13/pope-francis-says2ofcatholicclergyarepaedophiles.html">leprosy of clerical sexual abuse</a>” and <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-04/pope-papal-foundation-scandals-damage-church-charity-work.html">financial scandals</a>. </p>
<p>The church in Africa hasn’t been spared these issues. In parts of the continent, the <a href="https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/bishop-who-was-victim-of-tribalism-is-to-be-nigerias-next-cardinal/16161#:%7E:text=The%2059%2Dyear%2Dold%20bishop,him%20to%20assume%20his%20office.">challenges</a> of ethnocentrism, abuse of religious authority and internal division are hurting the church’s credibility and effectiveness. And some national churches seem silent on rising crises of democracy and leadership across Africa.</p>
<p>There have always been divisions in the church, but its effectiveness and credibility <a href="https://concilium-vatican2.org/en/original/ilo/">in Africa</a> have been affected by clannish divisions and internal fights over money, power and position. This raises the question: how can the church be <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Health-African-Christian-Religion/dp/1498561276">the conscience of the continent</a> if it’s ravaged by the same internal problems found in political institutions? </p>
<p>Most of the controversies that faced the church in its first 500 years were resolved through basic synodal principles – the word synod means “walking together”. These principles were developed by African scholars and church leaders like Cyprian, Athanasius, Aurelius and Augustine.</p>
<p>In 2021, Pope Francis convened a <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-synod-of-bishops-a-catholic-priest-and-theologian-explains-168937">worldwide consultation on the future of the Catholic church</a>. This synod will conclude in 2024. Decisions made this year and next will define the future of modern Catholicism for many years to come. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-the-first-post-colonial-papacy-to-deliver-messages-that-resonate-with-africans-201638">Pope Francis: the first post-colonial papacy to deliver messages that resonate with Africans</a>
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<p>Sadly, in the <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231004-pope-opens-church-meeting-amid-tensions-with-conservatives">process</a> so far, there seems to be no clear African agenda articulated through African Catholic church leaders. </p>
<p>I have <a href="https://www.logos.com/product/209729/faith-in-action-volume-1-reform-mission-and-pastoral-renewal-in-african-catholicism-since-vatican-ii">observed</a> the preparations of Africa for this synod. I’m afraid that the mistakes made by the continent’s church leaders in previous synods – including two held specially to address Africa’s challenges in <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_14091995_ecclesia-in-africa.html">1994</a> and <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20091023_elenco-prop-finali_en.html#top">2010</a> – are being repeated. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://addisababa.synod2023.org/#:%7E:text=AFRICA%20SYNODAL%20CONTINENTAL%20ASSEMBLY%20Final,to%206th%20of%20March">African continental meeting</a> that took place in Ethiopia in March 2023 didn’t come up with a clear agenda to address the challenges facing African Catholics.</p>
<p>African delegates are faced with three major challenges going into the current consultations. First, they are simply responding to what is tabled in the <a href="https://www.synod.va/en/highlights/working-document-for-the-continental-stage.html">working document for the synod</a> rather than setting their own agenda. Second, they are treating the continent like a homogeneous entity. Third, they’re failing to demonstrate the changes that African Catholic leaders wish to make in their leadership styles, and pastoral and social ministries in local dioceses and religious congregations, without constantly looking up to Rome for instructions and directions.</p>
<h2>Drowned voices</h2>
<p>The latest synodal process began in 2021 with grassroots consultations, and national and continental assemblies. It has now entered the most decisive moment. </p>
<p>This is why it is important that African voices are heard. As a <a href="https://works.bepress.com/stanchuilo/">theologian</a> who has studied the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/009182961204000303?journalCode=misb">development of the synodal process in Africa</a>, I worry that African Catholic voices may instead be drowned.</p>
<p>First, African delegates at the synod are not formulating their own agenda. During the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20151026_relazione-finale-xiv-assemblea_en.html">two consultations on the family in 2014 and 2015</a>, Africans framed their responses to the synod’s working document as a rejection of a western agenda for change to the traditional family. They pushed back against a perceived attempt to impose on the rest of the church a new understanding of marriage that includes the blessing of same-sex relations. </p>
<p>African delegates have failed to present their position on how to deal with issues of marriage, polygamy, denial of communion to polygamists, childlessness, burial rites and widowhood practices. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-visit-to-africa-comes-at-a-defining-moment-for-the-catholic-church-197633">Pope Francis' visit to Africa comes at a defining moment for the Catholic church</a>
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<p>Second, the problems that face Africa are often localised. They require contextualised solutions. Yet, African delegates often treat the continent as homogeneous, with similar social, economic and political challenges. In the 2015 synod, Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea appealed to the delegates from Africa to <a href="https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2015/09/30/news/synod-africans-are-singing-from-different-songsheets-1.35228596/">speak with one voice</a>, as if Africa had one voice. </p>
<p>There is a need to present Africa in its diversity and richness. The churches of Europe, for instance, have always presented their issues in a more localised, national and specific sense – the German Catholic Church is implementing its <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/catholic-church-germanys-controversial-synodal-path/a-64971479#:%7E:text=In%20Germany%2C%20the%20Synodal%20Path,or%20remarry%20after%20a%20divorce.">own synodal path</a>. African delegates must resist the continued colonial structure, racialised thinking and mentality that sees Africa as one country rather than a continent of diversity and dynamic pluralism. </p>
<p>Finally, African delegates must move away from constantly asking Rome and the pope to help solve the issues within the church in Africa. The delegates must focus attention on the current situation of the church and society in Africa, and how African Catholics can solve their own problems by courageously confronting the internal challenges facing the church in the continent. </p>
<p>The Catholic church is witnessing its fastest growth in Africa (<a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/2022/04/30/global-christianity/#:%7E:text=April%2030%2C%202022&text=Following%20recent%20trends%2C%20the%20Catholic,growth%20in%20Europe%20(0.3%25)">2.1%</a> between 2019 and 2020). Out of a global population of <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250362/number-of-catholics-in-asia-and-africa-continues-to-rise">1.36 billion Catholics, 236 million are African</a> (20% of the total). This growth is happening alongside a rise in poverty, social unrest, coups, wars and illiberal democracy.</p>
<h2>What next</h2>
<p>African delegates must demonstrate a deeper understanding of the continent’s social and religious challenges. They must capture the hopes and dreams of their congregants, and articulate how the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-popes-new-letter-isnt-just-an-exhortation-on-the-environment-for-francis-everything-is-connected-which-is-a-source-of-wonder-213135">Catholic church can support social transformation</a> through authentic and credible religious experiences and practices.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Poor-Merciful-Church-Illuminative-Ecclesiology/dp/1626982651">Pope Francis</a> has said the future of the church and the world will be determined by how those who <a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-visit-to-africa-comes-at-a-defining-moment-for-the-catholic-church-197633">inhabit the peripheries of life are lifted up</a>. African delegates need to speak up for the millions of Africans who are poor and marginalised. </p>
<p>The Catholic church in Africa must become a champion for human rights, good governance and women’s empowerment. It needs to model the image of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worldwide-consultations-for-the-global-synod-reflect-pope-francis-efforts-toward-building-a-more-inclusive-catholic-church-213129">inclusive church</a> in its structures and priorities. It needs to nurture a new generation of Africans who understand the diverse challenges facing the continent and seek African solutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stan Chu Ilo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Divisions and tensions in the global church are affecting the church in Africa.Stan Chu Ilo, Research Professor, World Christianity and African Studies, DePaul UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2108052023-09-24T20:01:47Z2023-09-24T20:01:47Z‘An insatiable and unrestrained desire for passionate love’: the holy slut-shaming of Mary of Egypt<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542262/original/file-20230811-15-ar75o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C1850%2C2252&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mary of Egypt, The Pantanassa Monastery, Mystras, Peloponnese, Greece</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Olympia Nelson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mary of Egypt, a fourth-century saint with a large medieval following, had a thriving and active sex life. But we only find out about Mary’s past from her repudiation of it. </p>
<p>She lived in poverty, earning a living by begging and spinning flax. For over 17 years, she enjoyed erotic liaisons with as many men as she liked: according to her male biographer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophronius_of_Jerusalem">Sophronios</a>, her life was all about libidinous pleasure.</p>
<p>Sophronios takes over her voice in an outpouring of shame. In his account, Mary says she is “ashamed even to think about how I corrupted my virginity” and reflects on “how recklessly and immodestly I lived with my passion for sexual intercourse”.</p>
<p>She admits to having had “an insatiable and unrestrained desire for passionate love”. She “was drawn to wallow in filth”.</p>
<p>Even today, Mary’s salacious past is understood by the church as reprehensible, something to atone for and repent over. </p>
<p>Why should we talk about Mary of Egypt today? I was drawn to her multifaceted identity as a woman desert saint, an ascetic, a highly sexual individual navigating her own redemption. Is there something edifying about Mary’s story – or does it go into the feminist shame file?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-promiscuous-she-pope-with-a-dilated-cervix-the-legend-of-pope-joan-who-gave-birth-on-a-horse-155378">'A promiscuous she-pope with a dilated cervix': the legend of Pope Joan, who gave birth on a horse</a>
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<h2>The antithesis of seductress</h2>
<p>Mary’s rejection of her previous life came when she was unable to enter a church.</p>
<p>One day, she encountered a group of young sailors bound for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to venerate the Holy Cross. She went along for the ride, seducing the young men entirely for the fun and excitement of it. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545898/original/file-20230901-19-6t1m2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Wall painting of a gaunt woman with a halo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545898/original/file-20230901-19-6t1m2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545898/original/file-20230901-19-6t1m2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545898/original/file-20230901-19-6t1m2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545898/original/file-20230901-19-6t1m2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545898/original/file-20230901-19-6t1m2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1681&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545898/original/file-20230901-19-6t1m2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1681&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545898/original/file-20230901-19-6t1m2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1681&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Mary of Egypt, Monastery of the Virgin Mary of Arakas, Lagoudera, Cyprus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Olympia Nelson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>Upon attempting to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, an invisible barrier prevented her from crossing the threshold. In that moment she experienced an epiphany. Her life of pleasure was redefined as a life of sin. She looked up and saw an icon of the Virgin Mary above her. She vowed to forsake all her worldly desires and follow wherever the Virgin would guide her. </p>
<p>In Sophronios’ biography, Mary then embraced the life of solitude and asceticism in the desert that would make her famous – and a saint. </p>
<p>Physically and psychologically, she became the antithesis of seductress. She endured harsh conditions without clothing, becoming sunburnt and only eating meagre portions of bread for over 40 years. </p>
<p>In Byzantine frescoes, Mary is depicted as old and gaunt, emaciated and with unkempt grey hair. You’ll never see Mary enjoying her own beauty and sexuality as a young woman; rather, she embodies virtue as a wraith who forswears her former happiness. </p>
<p>When she was canonised as a saint, it was because she fulfilled the Christian ideal of repentance to an extreme degree.</p>
<p>Over the centuries, Mary’s narrative has been preserved and shared through various mediums, including <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Lions_and_Souls/yPpTCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0?">literature</a>, art and at <a href="https://youtu.be/bVyJe1-W9qE?si=khCxL-yJQw28U-vV">least one hammed-up film</a>. </p>
<h2>Repentance and redemption</h2>
<p>Sophronius indicates her promiscuity had a corrupting influence on men. But her past is understood as reprehensible within Mary herself: the relish she obtained from sexual pleasure is described as wantonness (ἀσελγεία) and debauchery (πορνεία). </p>
<p>Because these qualities are within you and your joy, they are the opposite of devotion and sacrifice expected by God. They therefore must be spurned. </p>
<p>But with the focus on repentance and redemption in Mary’s story, two strange qualities emerge.</p>
<p>First, Mary’s repentance is proportional to her suffering in the desert. The more abject her physical condition, the greater her new devotion. </p>
<p>Second – and this is the lurid paradox – Mary’s repentance is proportional to the extent of her previous lust. The lustier she was, the greater is her holiness now, because she has rejected it. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"980426733248802817"}"></div></p>
<p>In the Judeo-Christian tradition, contrition is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Prodigal_Son">especially meaningful</a> when someone has done something especially wayward in the past. To understand the holiness of our repentant saint, we have to have a live picture of their previous transgressions.</p>
<p>This tells us a lot about society. For a woman, the saint can never altogether transcend her past. It stays with her, haunting her right down to the symbolic nakedness: once a vehicle for her pleasure; now a monument to her shame.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/madonna-or-whore-frigid-or-a-slut-why-women-are-still-bearing-the-brunt-of-sexual-slurs-99292">Madonna or whore; frigid or a slut: why women are still bearing the brunt of sexual slurs</a>
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<h2>Purity and piety</h2>
<p>Since the sixth century, Mary’s story has served as a means of control over women’s behaviour and sexuality. </p>
<p>Shame over erotic behaviour is not unique to Mary. Other women saints, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagia">Pelagia of Antioch</a>, who was a reformed harlot, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tha%C3%AFs_(saint)">St Thaïs of Egypt</a>, who underwent a profound conversion, similarly had their narratives framed in terms of wrongfulness atoned for. </p>
<p>Thanks to contemporary feminist discourse, we can start to approach Mary’s story through a new lens: is the way we talk about Mary simply a form of <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/slut-shaming-subtle-ways-unslut">slut-shaming</a>?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545900/original/file-20230901-15-db42h5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Orthodox icon of the Byzantine style" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545900/original/file-20230901-15-db42h5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545900/original/file-20230901-15-db42h5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545900/original/file-20230901-15-db42h5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545900/original/file-20230901-15-db42h5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545900/original/file-20230901-15-db42h5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545900/original/file-20230901-15-db42h5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545900/original/file-20230901-15-db42h5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Saints Zosima and Mary of Egypt in Odessa, Ukraine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mary’s story reflects the belief a woman’s worth and virtue were intrinsically tied to an ideal of sexual purity. It reinforces long-held expectations of women as chaste, obedient and pious individuals. Women were either seen as temptresses, associated with sin and debauchery, or as virtuous saints, embodying purity and piety. </p>
<p>Paradoxically, to go from one to the other can make you a saint. </p>
<p>Mary’s story no longer holds the sway in the church it once did. The desert saints have not travelled well because it is harder to see what they should be ashamed of. </p>
<p>Yet it is possible to find Mary’s story touching in its own terms: the pathetic frail figure of the saint in Byzantine art captures the pathos of a person wrestling with the burden of piety.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/standards-for-sainthood-what-defines-a-miracle-26160">Standards for sainthood: what defines a 'miracle'?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olympia Nelson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>I was drawn to Mary as a saint, an ascetic, a highly sexual individual navigating her own redemption. Is there something edifying about her story – or does it go into the feminist shame file?Olympia Nelson, PhD Candidate in Modern Greek & Byzantine Studies specialising in Byzantine art and literature, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2120612023-08-25T10:04:01Z2023-08-25T10:04:01ZThe Woman in the Wall: BBC drama about Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries is essential viewing<p>“This isn’t a prison,” a nun in the new BBC drama The Woman in the Wall says. “You can leave anytime you want. But where would you go? Who would have you? No one wants you. You’re a sinner.”</p>
<p>Set in the fictional town of Kilkinure in 20th-century Ireland, the show captures the story of Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson), an unmarried mother who was formerly detained in a Magdalene Laundry. Established in the 18th century, the laundries catered for so-called “fallen women” who had engaged in sex work or had a child outside of wedlock. <a href="https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/45749/4e93b6e33db541d49d2de2774a6c692a.pdf#page=null">Ten of these institutions</a> operated in post-independence Ireland between 1922 and 1996 and <a href="http://jfmresearch.com/home/preserving-magdalene-history/about-the-magdalene-laundries/#:%7E:text=What%20were%20the%20Magdalene%20Laundries,maltreatment%20in%20Ireland's%20Magdalene%20Institutions.">at least 10,000 women</a> spent time in them. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4JxAIKRCuF8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for BBC drama, The Woman in the Wall.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Laundries were just one of many mechanisms by which the Catholic Church and the Irish state regulated behaviour that was perceived as deviant. The official <a href="https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/d4b3d-final-report-of-the-commission-of-investigation-into-mother-and-baby-homes/">investigation into Mother and Baby Homes</a> (institutions similar to laundries where women who had children outside of wedlock were confined) forms the backdrop to events in Kilkinure. This serves as an important reminder that the laundries were part of a broader <a href="https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268182182/irelands-magdalen-laundries-and-the-nations-architecture-of-containment/">architecture of containment</a> that included institutions such as industrial schools and <a href="https://theconversation.com/mother-and-baby-homes-inquiry-now-reveal-the-secrets-of-irelands-psychiatric-hospitals-153608">psychiatric hospitals</a>. By the 1950s, 1% of Ireland’s population was contained in institutions of <a href="https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719095450/">coercive confinement</a>.</p>
<p>Flashbacks to Kilkinure Laundry punctuate the drama to demonstrate the soul-destroying <a href="http://jfmresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/State_Involvement_in_the_Magdalene_Laundries_public.pdf">conditions</a> experienced by detainees. They suffered forced labour, beatings, inadequate nutrition and various forms of abuse. Their hair was cut off, they were often assigned new “house names” and they were sequestered from the outside world.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://jfmresearch.com/home/oralhistoryproject/">Magdalene Oral History Project</a> and <a href="https://www.waterfordmemories.com/home">Waterford Memories Project</a> address not only what it meant to experience these institutions, but also <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-0424.12667">“what it meant to survive the laundries”</a>. </p>
<h2>Dramatising the laundries</h2>
<p>For Lorna, surviving the laundry results in visceral hallucinations and sleepwalking, in addition to separation from her child (who was taken from her and presumably given up for adoption). While further research is needed into the <a href="https://theconversation.com/irelands-shame-reforming-an-adoption-system-marked-by-secrecy-and-trauma-160897">system of secret adoptions</a> in Ireland, one estimate places the number of illegal adoptions of children at a <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/adoption-controversy-only-one-person-was-ever-charged-over-bogus-birth-certificates-1.3515329">staggering 15,000</a>. </p>
<p>Although not all women in the laundries were unmarried mothers – many were victims of domestic and sexual abuse, were destitute or deemed “at risk” of immorality – <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14780887.2017.1416803">trauma</a> is a common experience among survivors. <a href="http://childabusecommission.ie/?p=853">As one recalled</a> to the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse: “The older I get I find these years haunt me, I will carry it to the grave with me … The nuns made you feel as if you’re a nobody and you never have any roots.”</p>
<p>The theme of recurrent injustice surfaces throughout the series. Lorna and her contemporaries have not been recognised by the state as detainees of a laundry. Instead, Kilkinure Convent has been classified as a training centre. </p>
<p>The survivors meet with a representative of a lobby group called <em>Éadrom</em> (the Irish word for “light”). This storyline closely mirrors reality. The state’s initial response to the laundries was to claim that they were private institutions and the state was not involved. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://jfmresearch.com/aboutjfmr/">Justice for Magdalenes</a> group, whose <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Ireland_and_the_Magdalene_Laundries/QcY4EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=magdalene+laundry+ireland+10,000+1922+to+1996&printsec=frontcover">campaign</a> was most active between 2009 and 2013, sought to secure a state apology for women detained in these institutions in addition to a redress scheme. An interdepartmental committee was established and its <a href="https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/45745/46c6e60af9ad4a42afafe6da158121b5.pdf#page=null">2013 report</a> found “evidence of direct state involvement” in the laundries. The report, however, was <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/department-of-justice-rejects-magdalene-group-s-criticism-of-mcaleese-report-1.1576048">criticised</a> for minimising the harm suffered by women and marginalising their experiences.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FvwhU3OJKk">formal state apology</a> was offered in February 2013 by taoiseach <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enda-Kenny">Enda Kenny</a>, who described the laundries as the “nation’s shame”. A redress scheme was established with women given ex gratia payments based on how long they were in the laundries. But survivors who worked in laundries and lived in nearby training centres or industrial schools were <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/spotlight/arid-40324277.html#:%7E:text=The%20terms%20of%20the%20scheme,payment%20offered%20was%20%E2%82%AC100%2C000.">excluded</a> (this was later addressed in 2018). </p>
<p>The religious orders who ran the institutions did not contribute to the redress scheme, nor did they offer a formal apology. Their silence speaks volumes. Like Sister Eileen (Frances Tomelty), the fictional Mother Superior at the time of Lorna’s detention, this failure to engage (or to accept responsibility) communicates a profound lack of repentance for the abuses that occurred in the laundries.</p>
<h2>Other depictions of the laundries</h2>
<p>The Woman in the Wall is not the first cultural representation of a Magdalene Laundry. Films such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318411/">The Magdalene Sisters</a> (2002) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2431286/">Philomena</a> (2013) have also explored this powerful subject matter. But the BBC show’s creator and writer Joe Murtagh is the first to use the medium of a <a href="https://www.hotpress.com/film-tv/bbc-to-explore-magdalene-laundries-in-new-series-starring-ruth-wilson-daryl-mccormack-22925149">“gothic thriller”</a> to explore the laundries’ painful nature and legacies – and the effect is unnerving. </p>
<p>Jolting shots of a room in Lorna’s house (where she stores a box of photos and newspaper clippings relating to Kilkinure Laundry) are filmed in an ominous crimson hue. Red devil horns are placed on Lorna’s head by a drunken member of a hen party. References are made to a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/banshee">banshee</a> (a female spirit in Irish folklore whose wailing foretold impending death). </p>
<p>Lorna’s world is one where nightmares become reality, where ghosts haunt the living, and where the line between sanity and insanity is blurred and uncertain. The Woman in the Wall exposes the horrors of the Magdalene Laundries and in doing so seeks to ensure that such horrors will not be repeated in the future. It does not make for comfortable viewing and nor should it. But it is essential viewing in every sense.</p>
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<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ciara Molloy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Set in the fictional town of Kilkinure in western Ireland, the BBC drama captures the story of an unmarried mother who was formerly detained in a Magdalene Laundry.Ciara Molloy, Lecturer in Criminology, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2107022023-08-15T01:48:07Z2023-08-15T01:48:07ZAmid dreadful sexual abuse, sport brings grace in a school memoir that resists easy judgement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540385/original/file-20230801-15-ewgsbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C3817%2C2160&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A friend likes to remind me about the one time I attended an Ashes test in Melbourne, Boxing Day, 1974. The crowd was waiting, excited, to watch the English team, and Dennis Amiss particularly, front up to the wicket. On he came, bravely facing just eight balls. Then he was caught out, having scored a paltry four runs. I cried. How humiliating and soul-shrivelling for him, I thought. But my Australian (male) friends couldn’t understand at all. Crying? For an Englishman!</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: The Empty Honour Board: a school memoir – Martin Flanagan (Viking)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Then there were all those years growing up with a father who insisted on watching <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine%27s_Wide_World_of_Sports">Wide World of Sports</a> every Sunday at lunchtime. The kitchen table would be carried in to the TV and we were made to sit in religious silence, eating our roast, watching grown men hand-balling through a hole in the wall, and rehashing the events/scores/heroes of the previous day’s matches. </p>
<p>These anecdotes are not random. They were part of my personal mythology, my long dislike of the Australian religion of sport. Back then I saw it all as being at the expense of, say, literature, or intellectual debate, or spiritual depth. </p>
<p>I am deciding in later life that pitting sport against culture, or intellect, or spirituality is not a very productive idea. That kind of oppositional mentality chisels down your options and your enjoyments. I have writer Martin Flanagan to thank for shaking my narrowness. He hasn’t completely set me free (I’m sure that wasn’t his aim); but life, and sons, and what Flanagan in his memoir <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-empty-honour-board-9780143779131">The Empty Honour Board</a> describes as “the athletic grace” of sport and sportspeople, have contributed to my education.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540382/original/file-20230801-29-a5tyah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540382/original/file-20230801-29-a5tyah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540382/original/file-20230801-29-a5tyah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540382/original/file-20230801-29-a5tyah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540382/original/file-20230801-29-a5tyah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540382/original/file-20230801-29-a5tyah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540382/original/file-20230801-29-a5tyah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540382/original/file-20230801-29-a5tyah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Martin Flanagan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin Random House Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This book, described by Flanagan as “a school memoir” is that, and much more – spanning the 1960s of Flanagan’s childhood to the present. </p>
<p>The famous Flanagan sports-writing flair is given plenty of scope; but at this book’s centre are stories from a boy’s world: the Tasmanian Catholic boarding school he attended as a child in the 1960s and ‘70s, the priests who taught there, and the camaraderie of boys who felt themselves constantly under threat from male violence (regular canings, bashings, enforced piety, touchings, and full-on abuse).</p>
<p>From 1966 to 1971, from the ages of 10 to 16, Flanagan went to this school, not named in the book for privacy reasons. Many boys – Flanagan to a minor extent – were sexually abused to differing degrees. Others were bullied and traumatised at this school, which has since been disbanded. </p>
<p>As the violent, dreadful stories of sexual abuse are slowly told in the book, often in ragged, little images that say it all, we are also given many sports stories, and wider Flanagan life experiences. They made this reader listen, these stories of on-field valour and sporting prowess of the past. Playing football and cricket was the escape and joy of many boys, as sport became a free space:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In this grey world, I discovered sport… Sport, unlike school and religion, had <em>life!</em> I discovered sport like others I have read discover theatre - as a magical space where aspects of humanity otherwise kept hidden away come out to play. For the first time I saw grace … athletic grace that took my breath away, acts of skill and daring that imprinted themselves indelibly on my brain. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Empty Honour Board is also a book about the way memory and the past and one’s boyhood passions and nightmares can collide, often unexpectedly, later in life, resulting in new readings of the self. We see that for Flanagan “the self” is a hard-won, self-questioning and restless entity. One memory, retrieved in later life by the author, is startling in its openness about the struggle for self:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the end, one hot day I was standing beside a Blackwood tree in the paddock beside our little home, when a shadow hurried across the grass towards me. With it came a great fear that I was about to be extinguished or swallowed up, and I cried out: ‘I have a right to be!’</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This memory is told in a straightforward, non-self-dramatising way, not blaming any one person for “the negative imprint of those early years”, but registering the life-long impact nevertheless. It is the act of writing, we are told, which gave (and gives) Flanagan his “sanity”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540386/original/file-20230801-19-q5gdci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540386/original/file-20230801-19-q5gdci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540386/original/file-20230801-19-q5gdci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540386/original/file-20230801-19-q5gdci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540386/original/file-20230801-19-q5gdci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540386/original/file-20230801-19-q5gdci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540386/original/file-20230801-19-q5gdci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540386/original/file-20230801-19-q5gdci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flanagan writes of the breathtaking athletic grace of sport,</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Morgan Hancock/AAP</span></span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-believe-or-not-to-believe-child-witnesses-and-the-sex-abuse-royal-commission-55561">To believe or not to believe: child witnesses and the sex abuse royal commission</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Pity for the loneliness of priests</h2>
<p>Flanagan the writer emerges with many selves: poet, passionately non-Catholic thinker (despite his mother’s desires), journalist of eclectic scope, traveller, and most interestingly, perhaps, someone who refuses to be judgemental even in the face of awful and dire life situations.</p>
<p>Yet we are given plenty to judge: a full blast of life as a child from a Catholic family landed in a boarding school from the age of 11, where multiple forms of violence are always hovering, and where religious faith is not experienced as real for the boy. </p>
<p>However, this doesn’t turn into a story of victimhood. The boy (and the man) does not resent his parents for sending him away, but remembers feeling ready to face the freedom of being out of home. He doesn’t even despise the priests who inflict such violence on the boys in their “care”. There is more a sense of pity for the loneliness of such priests.</p>
<p>In the words of “celebrity barrister” Geoffrey Robertson, at the time of the 2019 trials of several of the priests, (quoted by Flanagan), most accused priests</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] are not even paedophiles, but rather sexually maladjusted, immature and lonely individuals unable to resist the temptation to exploit their power over children who are taught to revere them as agents of God. </p>
</blockquote>
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<span class="caption">There is more pity than judgement.</span>
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<p>There is more human pity than judgement informing this stance. For Flanagan, judgementalism is usually produced by simplistic thinking, in the “current realm”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] now termed binary thinking where issues about deeply sensitive subjects like race and sexuality and gender are reduced almost immediately to black-and-white terms […] So much contemporary media – particularly social media – reduces human dramas to scenarios in which the forces of darkness are pitted against the forces of light. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Flanagan’s expressed wish in this book is to be “uplifting”. He sees himself as an optimist, and asks humbly, from the wells of his human experience: “Whose light didn’t come with a shadow?” </p>
<p>As the book proceeds to unpack the offences and trials of the different priests from his school, placing his narrative in the larger context of sexual abuse allegations surrounding <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/30/george-pell-returns-to-rome-after-acquittal-on-child-abuse-charges">Archbishop George Pell</a> and others, Flanagan maintains both his pity, but also his sense of justice.</p>
<p>He continued to like some of the priests who later turned out to be abusers, but still delivered “my testimony hard and exact”, 30 years later when he agreed to testify in court about abuse in the school. </p>
<p>As Flanagan narrates, in straightforward, factual prose at the beginning of the book: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Three of the 12 priests on the staff when I arrived have since gone to prison for sexual crimes committed while I was there, and allegations have been publicly directed against others. Further sexual abuse cases occurred at the school after I left, so that as it now stands six former staff members have been sent to jail. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Spiritual depth</h2>
<p>The last section of the book is poised between pity and optimism, with a straightforward, straight-talking sense of realism peeling back to reveal the brutishness of which humans are capable. Placing his work in the context of literature and the genre of boyhood education – Lord of the Flies, Tom Brown’s School Days, Huckleberry Finn – is helpful for readers thinking about what kind of text this is.</p>
<p>There are many heroes named along the way. Flanagan never exaggerates his own personal story of abuse, but bullying and cowardice and outright violence were the air all the boys breathed at the school. Yet there is also hope, with moving tributes made to heroes. These tributes buoy up Flanagan’s memoir with grace and strength, embodying what is possible beyond the shabbiness of predatory human actions. </p>
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<p>Many figures stand out as cherished influences in Flanagan’s story, some of them beacons of hope: Indigenous leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Dodson">Patrick Dodson</a>, Martin’s wife Polly, his brothers, especially Tim, his parents, writers such as Howard Goldenberg, George Orwell and William Golding, musician Archie Roach, and a long, long roll call of sportsmen, and fellow students who bravely rode the waves of the dark world that was school life: Paul and Steve O’Halloran, Rinso, Peter Rowe, and others.</p>
<p>Finally, there is one subtext of this memoir which needs highlighting: Flanagan’s broken, often angry, but ongoing relationship with spirituality. When it boils down to the institution of the Catholic church – its priesthood, schools, rituals and disciplines – there is little warmth. And who can blame him? </p>
<p>But in his honouring of people’s warmth, his tributes to the church’s joyful priests, its service to the marginal, its rituals of memory, Flanagan is still alive to the need for spiritual depth. </p>
<p>He finds this depth in Aboriginal spirituality and the example of Pat Dodson. And as he tells us, when meeting the late <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu">South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu</a> and hearing his “raucous cackle”, he asked him “Does God laugh?” Flanagan reports Tutu’s response:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>He took my forearm solemnly in his hands and said slowly and with emphasis: ‘Yes, my friend. God laughs – and God cries,’ and I saw within him, as deep as a mine-shaft, where despair has taken him … In South Africa I got seriously scared by the evil of torture and in South Africa I saw that hope, like love, can be made. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This nonjudgmental equanimity crowns Flanagan’s memoir. He tells a bleak set of stories, but the volume is indeed uplifting in the face of so much darkness. I’m even tempted to seek out some more of his sports writing.</p>
<p><em>Correction: an earlier version of this article mis-spelt the name of the barrister Geoffrey Robertson. It has now been corrected.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210702/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lyn McCredden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Martin Flanagan’s school memoir describes bullying, male violence and abusive priests. But rather than a story of victimhood, it explores the grace and release of sport, finding hope amid darkness.Lyn McCredden, Personal Chair, Literary Studies, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2104892023-07-27T15:56:31Z2023-07-27T15:56:31ZSinéad O'Connor: a troubled soul with immense talent and unbowed spirit<p>Few artists have straddled the boundaries between acclaim, controversy and public affection as effectively as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/26/sinead-oconnor-obituary">Sinéad O’Connor</a> who died yesterday at the age of 56.</p>
<p>Her status as a household name belied a comparatively brief commercial peak in the early 1990s, thanks to her mesmerising interpretation of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U. But she was never in any danger of being relegated to being a one-hit wonder.</p>
<p>O’Connor’s life and career were characterised by irregularity and a sense of being at odds with her surroundings. Her childhood was fraught. After her parents separated when she was young, O’Connor lived mostly with her mother, who she claimed was abusive, and involved her in shoplifting and fraudulent charity collecting.</p>
<p>Truancy and crime led to a spell in the Catholic church-run Grianán Training Centre, a harsh rehabilitation centre associated with the infamous <a href="http://jfmresearch.com/home/preserving-magdalene-history/about-the-magdalene-laundries/">Magdalene Laundries</a>. Although traumatic, the centre provided her with an entry into music when a teacher asked her to sing at a wedding, which led to encounters with musicians who encouraged her to write lyrics and pursue the guitar.</p>
<p>Adversity infused her music with a punk spirit, an oppositional attitude that was writ large throughout the rest of her career. By the time her mother died in a car crash when O’Connor was 18 years old, the singer was well on her way. She had dropped out of school and formed a band called Ton Ton Macoute – with typically spiky attitude – a name derived from a mythical Haitian bogeyman, and also the dictator Papa Doc Duvalier’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tontons-Macoutes">feared secret police</a>.</p>
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<h2>A distinctive template as a singer-songwriter</h2>
<p>Having captured the attention of former U2 label boss Fachtna O'Ceallaigh, and collaborated with The Edge on a song for the film Captive, her solo career began in grand style with <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-lion-and-the-cobra-mw0000194018">The Lion and the Cobra</a> in 1987. A gold record in the UK, US, Canada and the Netherlands – featuring the Top 40 single <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h08pCvyKfbs">Mandinka</a> – it marked out her image and distinctive voice, clear and pure, but never demure.</p>
<p>Her trademark cropped hair and forthright bearing set her apart from prevailing female singer-songwriters. Shunning both overtly sexualised imagery and quirky hippie-chick vibes, O’Connor’s aesthetic was blunt and raw, although the clarity of her voice gave it commercial traction.</p>
<p>This reached a pinnacle on her next album, 1990’s <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/album/i-do-not-want-what-i-havent-got-mw0000654778">I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got</a> – a multi-platinum worldwide number one that featured her best-known recording, Nothing Compares 2 U which she made completely her own. Propelled by a stark video in unflinching close-up, tears running down her face, it made her an international star. But O’Connor’s predilection for musical exploration, political confrontation and emotional honesty meant that her mainstream career quickly self-combusted.</p>
<p>Despite the success of her early recordings she took a counter-intuitive turn on her next album, 1992’s <a href="https://ew.com/article/1992/09/25/am-i-not-your-girl/">Am I Not Your Girl?</a>, which featured lush versions of jazz standards. While her voice was more than up to the task of interpreting the classics she had grown up with, the departure from her previous work saw a critical and commercial step down from the trailblazing success of her previous album. More significantly, she used her promotional activity in America to showcase her status as a protest singer rather than a pop star.</p>
<p>Given the centrality of her personal, and musical, voice to her career, it’s perhaps apt that two of her most notable live performances are both a cappella, and confrontational. An <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LcmJErI8IQ">appearance on TV show Saturday Night Live</a> in October 1992 saw her drop the planned performances of standards from the album and replace them with a version of Bob Marley’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHEPoMNP0I">War</a>. She wanted to re-tool it as a protest against child abuse in the Catholic church, and the cover up that followed. The change of song was agreed by the show’s producers.</p>
<p>What they hadn’t planned on was for O’Connor to tear up a picture of the Pope at the denouement of the performance. The subsequent furore was swift and intense. O’Connor was vilified in the press, and the NBC network received over 4,000 complaints. Two weeks later, at a star-studded <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeJifOXAnA%22">tribute to Bob Dylan</a>, she was booed by the crowd and stopped the band to shout another rendition of War before leaving the stage in tears, comforted by Kris Kristofferson.</p>
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<h2>Unbowed and iconic</h2>
<p>Even if her career never quite acquired equilibrium, O’Connor the artist remained unbowed and exploratory. Taking lessons in Italian <a href="https://www.operasense.com/what-is-bel-canto/">bel canto singing</a>, her subsequent seven albums tacked across genres – reggae, hip-hop, rock, soul and folk – placing her voice at the centre of original material and distinctive interpretations of an eclectic range of artists from Curtis Mayfield to Kurt Cobain.</p>
<p>Her later releases were stronger on critical acclaim than commercial clout, and her well-publicised <a href="https://www.today.com/health/sinead-oconnor-mental-health-bipolar-disorder-rcna96488">mental health difficulties</a> led to hiatuses in her music. Ever the controversialist, she continued to weigh in on points of principle, such as her <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/03/sinead-o-connor-open-letter-miley-cyrus">critique of Miley Cyrus</a> over the sexualised video for Wrecking Ball, and the subsequent <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24395755">public spat</a>.</p>
<p>Despite these gaps, and the personal tragedies like her son’s suicide in 2022, O’Connor’s fierce adherence to her principles of self-expression saw her win considerable public affection. She was, of course, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-44209971">vindicated</a> over her accusations of abuse in the Catholic church. But her uneven approach to public life – <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40308401.html">announcements of retirement followed by retractions</a>, a spell as a “<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/328709.stm">priest</a>” followed by her <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/music/sinead-o-connor-i-had-been-a-muslim-all-my-life-and-didn-t-realise-it-i-am-home-1.907708">conversion to Islam</a> (she went by the name Shuhada’ Sadaqat from 2019) – did little to dim her appeal in the long term.</p>
<p>Ultimately despite her difficulties, or even because of them, she exemplified what it was to be an icon. Her visual distinctiveness, determination and refusal to meet the mainstream half-way mean that her instantly recognisable voice cut through the shifts and uncertainty of her personal life and public debate. In the end, nothing quite compares to her.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Behr has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. </span></em></p>Spirited, defiant and always at the mercy of her mental health issues, the Irish singer will be forever remembered for her pure, clear voice and willingness to speak out on injustice.Adam Behr, Senior Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2069652023-06-08T12:29:50Z2023-06-08T12:29:50ZWhat is incorruptibility? A scholar of Catholic worship explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530195/original/file-20230605-7458-6wa3q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C15%2C5232%2C3391&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People pray over the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster at the abbey of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, near Gower, Mo., in April 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PicturesoftheWeek-NorthAmerica-PhotoGallery/d32f680364ec4c5b97171fe0ba54f042/photo?Query=sister%20lancaster&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=45&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Charlie Riedel</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Catholic tradition <a href="https://laycistercians.com/incorruptible-catholic-saints/">offers occasional examples</a> of holy men and women whose bodies, exhumed some years after death, remained completely or partially untouched by the natural process of decay. </p>
<p>Sometimes witnesses have also <a href="https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/sta23.htm">reported the scent of flowers</a> instead of the odor of decay from the open coffin; others have <a href="https://cnewa.org/magazine/a-saint-without-borders-33388/">described seeing a bright light</a> illuminating the grave itself. </p>
<p>These are examples of a rare phenomenon referred to as <a href="https://www.tektonministries.org/incorrupt-saints/#">incorruptibility</a>.</p>
<p>Clergy and laypeople sometimes argue these are special signs from God that the person should be venerated as a saint. Officially, however, <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-becomes-a-saint-in-the-catholic-church-and-is-that-changing-81011">incorruptibility is no longer considered a miracle</a>, a requirement for proclaiming someone a saint.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">specialist in Catholic liturgy and ritual</a>, I know that these occurrences have a long and complicated history. </p>
<h2>Past evidence</h2>
<p>Techniques for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12160">anointing and embalming the bodies of the dead</a> were well known in the ancient Near East and were used occasionally in Greek and Roman antiquity. However, in early medieval Europe, these techniques were rarely used until they were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0167988">rediscovered in the later Middle Ages</a> and practiced well into the Renaissance. </p>
<p>As medical knowledge expanded, these procedures became more sophisticated. Since the 18th century, church officials seriously considered other factors that <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20010610014402/http:/www.discover.com/june_01/featsaints.html">could have rendered a body more immune from decay</a>, like attempts at embalming or burial conditions supporting natural mummification. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, for many Catholics, incorruptibility was a sign of sanctity. There were also instances of partial incorruptibility, when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780195098259.003.0087">only a part of the body would remain untouched by decay</a>. These would also be preserved in a church or shrine and venerated by pilgrims. </p>
<p>Thousands of Catholics turned up to view the right arm of the 16th-century Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier, which <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/st-francis-xavier-forearm-canada-tour-1.4469974">was taken on a pilgrimage tour of Canada</a> in 2017 and 2018. This saint, who became famous for baptizing thousands of people in Asia, was buried on an island off China upon his death. His body, considered incorrupt, was later returned to Goa in India, where the <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/relics-of-st-xavier-still-a-draw/articleshow/5294078.cms">right arm was cut off</a> and sent to the Jesuits in Rome. Over time, other parts of the body were also removed for veneration in other locations. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman holds the crucifix close to a sacred Catholic relic encased in glass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Catholics venerate the forearm of Saint Francis Xavier in Toronto in 2018.</span>
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<p>Today, the incorrupt body of a saint is no longer considered a miracle in support of a canonization, although a report can still prompt Catholics to travel to venerate it. In April 2023, for example, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/missouri-nun-wilhemina-lancaster-exhumed-pilgrimage/">thousands of pilgrims traveled to Missouri</a> to view the body of the founder of the <a href="https://religiouslife.com/vocation/benedictines-of-mary-queen-of-apostles-gower">Benedictine sisters of Gower</a>, an independent monastic community of women following precepts set by sixth-century Italian monk <a href="https://osb.org/our-roots/saint-benedict/">St. Benedict of Nursia</a>. Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster died in 2019, but her <a href="https://apnews.com/article/missouri-catholic-nun-decomposed-wilhelmina-lancaster-50f099ca4346fd7192c78a8b5e22ae01">body and religious clothing were found to be virtually intact</a> when her coffin was opened in 2023.</p>
<h2>Why it matters today</h2>
<p>Contemporary Catholic teaching situates the phenomenon of incorruptibility in the context of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A+1-12&version=NRSVCE">Christ’s resurrection from the dead</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+1%3A9-11&version=NRSVCE">ascension into heaven</a>. </p>
<p>Elsewhere in the New Testament, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A+35-44&version=NRSVCE">St. Paul stresses this</a>, and, like most Christian churches, the Catholic Church emphasizes that the resurrection of the faithful from the dead at the end of time will be like “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2H.HTM">Christ’s own resurrection</a>.” The incorrupt bodies of some saints are <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Incorruptibles.html?id=2NlINwAACAAJ">understood to be a sign of that promise</a>. </p>
<p>Usually, the incorrupt body is taken to a nearby church soon after its discovery and displayed to the faithful, often in a glass tomb. Since these remains frequently decay naturally after exhumation, the face and other parts may be covered with wax or silicone. </p>
<p>Catholics have always viewed <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-patron-saints-and-why-do-catholics-venerate-them-148508">saints as intercessors and partners in prayer</a>, whether in gathering by their graves <a href="https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/church-teaching-on-relics.html">or venerating their relics</a>, which could include pieces of bone, hair, ashes or clothing they have left behind. Even today, pilgrims travel miles to pray by the remains of these “incorruptibles.” </p>
<p>This is understood to be an exceptional expression of what Pope Francis has called the “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2021/documents/papa-francesco_20210407_udienza-generale.html#:%7E:text=A%20saint%20is%20a%20witness,they%20have%20left%20on%20earth">mysterious solidarity in Christ</a>” between the living and the dead in expectation of eternal life to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206965/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne M. Pierce does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People are congregating in Missouri after news spread that the exhumed body of a nun had not decayed four years after her death. There is a long history to these claims.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2046112023-05-24T12:17:41Z2023-05-24T12:17:41ZVatican centralizes investigations on claims of Virgin Mary apparitions – but local Catholics have always had a say<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527303/original/file-20230519-22530-a54gyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C0%2C5988%2C4007&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The shrine at Lourdes, France, where the Virgin Mary is venerated as 'Our Lady of Lourdes,' following several apparitions reported in 1858.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/our-lady-of-lourdes-royalty-free-image/505115655?phrase=virgin+mary+apparition&adppopup=true">LandFoto/iStock / Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Vatican recently announced its plan to <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/papal-academy-launches-study-center-evaluate-marian-apparitions">set up an “observatory</a>” at one of its several academic institutions, the Pontificia Academia Mariana Internationalis, to investigate claims of apparitions and other mystical phenomena attributed to the Virgin Mary. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/history/people/faculty/ddelac.html">scholar of global Christianity</a> whose first book focused on <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo22053864.html">apparitions and miracles of Mary in the modern Philippines</a>, I’ve spent years studying the ins and outs of how the Catholic Church authenticates apparitions and the impact of these decisions on devotion to the Virgin Mary. I believe that the creation of this office signals a major shift in how apparitions of Mary have been evaluated and authenticated in modern times. </p>
<p>Contrary to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6559390/">depictions in popular media</a> that show the Vatican as the first and only arbiter in these matters, the actual process almost always takes place at the local level and only rarely reaches the Holy See.</p>
<h2>Official and unofficial judgment</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/trent/twenty-fifth-session.htm">Council of Trent</a>, held between 1545 to 1563, first gave bishops the authority to recognize new miracles or relics. In the 1970s, the Vatican’s <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_pro_14071997_en.html">Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith</a>, the office charged with defending and promulgating Catholic doctrine, established <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19780225_norme-apparizioni_en.html">a set of norms</a> prescribing how alleged apparitions should be judged at the local level. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/a/apparitions-statistics-modern.php">most apparition claims</a> don’t rise to the level of being investigated. Of the countless apparitions that have been reported throughout church history, only 25 have been <a href="https://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/bishop.html">approved by the local bishop</a>, and 16 of those have been <a href="https://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/vatican.html">recognized by the Vatican</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, throughout the Catholic world, <a href="http://mariandevotions.org/portal/most-popular-marian-shrines-in-the-world/">hundreds of shrines</a> commemorating a miraculous appearance of Mary enjoy devotional followings. What accounts for the difference between tacit and official church approval, and what is at stake when the church investigates an alleged sighting? </p>
<h2>When personal revelations become public</h2>
<p>Catholics the world over engage in deep <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691127767/between-heaven-and-earth">relationships with Mary and the saints</a> and take it for granted that their presence is real. In many places, furthermore, <a href="http://www.caysasay.com/Caysasay%20Home/storyOfCaysasay.html">Catholic beliefs blended with Indigenous cultures</a> and practices to produce apparition legends around which devotion has flourished for centuries. </p>
<p>Local priests and bishops navigate a fine line between popular religiosity and doctrinal orthodoxy. They readily accept <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-many-faces-of-mary">diversity in how believers venerate Mary</a>. But they also must remain <a href="https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/a/apparitions-approval-process.php">vigilant against phenomena and messages</a> that contradict the church’s teachings and threaten to undermine their authority. For many supernatural claims, the tipping point for investigation comes when a limited experience turns into a mass phenomenon.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527304/original/file-20230519-21-4p33y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A statue of the Virgin Mary draped in a blue robe." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527304/original/file-20230519-21-4p33y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527304/original/file-20230519-21-4p33y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527304/original/file-20230519-21-4p33y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527304/original/file-20230519-21-4p33y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527304/original/file-20230519-21-4p33y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527304/original/file-20230519-21-4p33y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527304/original/file-20230519-21-4p33y6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A statue of the Virgin Mary outside the Sariaya Church in Quezon Province, Philippines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/the-virgin-mary-with-an-old-church-behind-royalty-free-image/1219146141?phrase=virgin+mary+Philippines+apparition&adppopup=true">Mariano Sayno/Moment</a></span>
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<p>To take two examples from my research in the Philippines: In Quezon City, northeast of Manila, in the early 2000s, a neighborhood group that met weekly to <a href="https://www.usccb.org/how-to-pray-the-rosary">pray the rosary</a> was led by a woman who, while in trance, claimed to channel the Virgin Mary. Although officials from the Archdiocese of Manila were aware of the group’s activities, <a href="https://anthropology.columbia.edu/content/all-his-instruments-mary-miracles-philippines">they left them alone</a>, since their devotional practice had little impact beyond their immediate circle, and the content of Mary’s messages gave no cause for concern. </p>
<p>By contrast, after tens of thousands of people journeyed to the small Philippine coastal town of Agoo, in the northwestern province of La Union, to witness <a href="https://apnews.com/article/be6062cf0ae3881362f3429dacf2e560">an appearance of Mary</a> foretold by the visionary Judiel Nieva in March 1993, the presiding bishop immediately formed an official commission to investigate. Two years later, the commission <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/09/06/Church-Philippine-miracle-a-hoax/5408810360000/">declared it a hoax</a>. </p>
<p>The difference between how local church authorities treated the two cases came down to the scale of the phenomenon, whether profit was made from people’s beliefs, and the content of the messages allegedly spoken by Mary. As with most apparitions found “not worthy of belief” – that is, not supernatural in origin – the Agoo phenomenon eventually died down. </p>
<h2>Who determines devotion?</h2>
<p>Occasionally, however, devotees remain steadfast in their belief that Mary appeared despite a negative judgment from the Catholic Church. For example, the devotional figure of Mary as the “<a href="https://theladyofallnations.info/en/">Lady of All Nations</a>,” a title associated with the visions of Dutch woman Ida Peerdeman, who claimed to have sighted the Virgin <a href="https://wrldrels.org/2016/10/08/lady-of-all-nations/">56 times</a> between 1945 and 1959, maintains a robust global following to this day. This is in spite of the fact that Dutch bishops and the Vatican’s doctrinal office have urged Catholics <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/47024/vaticans-doctrinal-office-dont-promote-alleged-apparitions-connected-to-lady-of-all-nations">not to promote the apparitions</a> associated with that particular title.</p>
<p>Likewise, in Lipa, the Philippines, there was in the 1990s a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfT_wfsO_Xk">revival of devotion</a> and belief that <a href="https://ourladymarymediatrixofallgrace.com/">Mary had appeared to a Filipino novice</a> of the religious order of the Carmelites in 1948. The devotion continued even though a commission of Filipino bishops <a href="https://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/statements/lipa_statement_1951.html">investigated the phenomenon and declared</a> that it “excluded any supernatural intervention” in 1951. </p>
<p>In both cases, popular support for the apparitions influenced <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/in-response-to-inquiries-concerning-the-lady-of-all-nations-apparitions-3828">sitting bishops to reconsider</a>, and even <a href="https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/721615/archbishop-declares-1948-lipa-mediatrix-apparitions-worthy-of-belief">overturn, a previously negative judgment</a>. </p>
<p>But the bishops’ approval didn’t last long. Asserting the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Vatican’s doctrinal office stepped in to uphold the original rulings that the apparitions were not authentic. Even so, many devotees remain undeterred in their belief. </p>
<h2>Balancing act</h2>
<p>According to the proposed Vatican observatory’s president, the Rev. Stefano Cecchin, the new office will serve both <a href="https://www.ewtnvatican.com/articles/vatican-creates-observatory-to-study-possible-apparitions-of-virgin-mary-856">academic and pastoral purposes</a>, acting as a centralized task force for the systematic and multidisciplinary study of apparition claims worldwide. </p>
<p>It remains to be seen how precisely they will coordinate with local bishops who have until now enjoyed the authority to determine whether the “Mother of God,” as Mary is often called, appeared in their jurisdiction.</p>
<p>For those of us observing from the outside, the new observatory is an intriguing development in the long history of balancing the universal claims of the Catholic Church with the myriad expressions of local devotion and belief.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204611/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deirdre de la Cruz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Vatican plans to set up an ‘observatory’ to investigate apparitions of the Virgin Mary. A scholar of global Christianity explains why this is a major shift in how apparitions are authenticated.Deirdre de la Cruz, Associate Professor of History and Asian Languages and Culture, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994142023-05-01T03:30:49Z2023-05-01T03:30:49ZAbusive orphanages and forced adoption: delving into past child welfare practices that haunt the present<p>Recent <a href="https://nit.com.au/05-04-2023/5500/childrens-commission-urges-action-as-new-data-shows-exploitation-of-children-in-care">publicity</a> about the continuing abuse of children in out-of-home care may be a source of shame for Australians, but it does not come as a surprise. </p>
<p>A series of inquiries at both state and Commonwealth level over the last quarter century exposed such “care” as inherently abusive. The <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate/community_affairs/completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/report/index">inquiries</a> also <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/">detailed</a> the lengths to which the governing institutions were prepared to go to deny this reality.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Ghosts of the Orphanage – Christine Kenneally (Hachette); Crazy Bastard – Abraham Maddison (Wakefield Press)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The United States has resisted the “age of inquiry” that has swept across much of the western world, leaving former orphanage residents to pursue their cases through the courts as individuals. </p>
<p>It is this struggle that forms the core of journalist Christine Kenneally’s latest book, <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/christine-kenneally/ghosts-of-the-orphanage">Ghosts of the Orphanage</a>. Her focus is on St Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington, Vermont, where generations of children were under the control of untrained and often cruel nuns, and a series of paedophilic priests. </p>
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<p>A reunion in 1994 provided the opportunity for former residents to share their memories of cruel and sometimes bizarre punishments. They engaged a lawyer and were able to show commonalities across these memories. But they were forced to pursue redress as individuals at a time when the community was disinclined to believe that the church would lie. Most settled out of court. </p>
<p>The reputation of the Catholic Church has since been damaged by clerical sexual abuse scandals across the world, which have raised awareness of the lengths to which the Church has been prepared to go to keep its secrets. </p>
<p>Kenneally’s book thus addresses a more sympathetic audience than survivors faced in the past. She has also uncovered material that was not available at the time of the original cases. This new evidence has allowed her to validate the survivors’ memories and document systematic failures, not only within St Joseph’s Orphanage, but in similar institutions within and beyond the United States. </p>
<p>The most concerning of the scandals Kenneally has uncovered involves the persistent rumours that some institutionalised children died as a result of their abuse and that their deaths were covered up: these children are the “ghosts of the orphanage”. </p>
<p>Similar rumours have circulated wherever children have been kept in closed institutions beyond the public gaze. And children did often disappear from such institutions. They were returned to their families or taken to hospitals or assigned alternative placements, without any explanation being offered to their fellow residents. </p>
<p>Children also died in care from illness, accident or neglect, and were buried without ceremony in the unmarked plots which, until recently, institutions maintained at local cemeteries. </p>
<p>Such deaths were rarely investigated. In the few cases where an allegation that the death was a result of abuse proceeded to trial, <a href="https://safeguardingchildren.acu.edu.au/research-and-resources/history-of-australian-inquiries-reviewing-institutions-providing-care-for-children">the sympathy of the courts</a> tended to lie with the orphanage authorities, rather than with the children.</p>
<p>In Australia, there are some notable historical examples of abuses that became public. In 1896, the Brisbane Courier reported that an Aboriginal child named Casey was beaten to death at Queensland’s Myora Mission by the matron, who was charged with manslaughter. In 1911, George Jones <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26341629">died from neglect</a> at Western Australia’s Swan Orphanage. In 1933, the Age reported that Rex Simpson <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203353990">died from unrecognised tetanus</a> at Victoria’s Seaside Garden Home for Boys. </p>
<p>Yet these publicised cases are rare exceptions in a environment in which institutional deaths were widely ignored. Surrounded by such silences, it is not surprising that rumours of unmarked graves abound among survivor communities, including in Australia. </p>
<p>Investigations around institutions such as <a href="http://www.brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/291">Bindoon</a> in Western Australia and <a href="https://www.ballaratorphanagechildrenshome.com/investigation-into-site.html">Ballarat Orphanage</a> have so far failed to validate such stories. But the shocking disclosures from Ireland’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/03/mass-grave-of-babies-and-children-found-at-tuam-orphanage-in-ireland">Tuam Mother and Babies Home</a>, and the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/crown-indigenous-relations-northern-affairs/news/2022/05/statement-on-the-anniversary-of-locating-unmarked-graves-at-kamloops-residential-school.html">Canadian Residential Schools</a> have added credibility to the unofficial accounts. </p>
<p>Kenneally’s investigation of similar allegations from St Joseph’s adds fuel to the fire. Her account goes beyond accepted stories of abuse to examine deaths in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60464447">Tuam</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/23/nuns-charged-in-investigation-into-child-abuse-at-smyllum-park">Smyllum Park</a>, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/28/world/children-remains-discovered-canada-kamloops-school/index.html">Kamloops</a>, and other institutions in Canada and the United States. She contrasts survivors’ memories with public accounts of orphanage operations, while acknowledging the distorting influence of trauma on memory and the perils of cross examination.</p>
<p>Her book exposes orphanages as hidden places which keep their secrets. Their residents effectively became citizens of a separate realm, irrespective of where the orphanage was located, part of an abusive system Kenneally describes as “an invisible archipelago”. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522521/original/file-20230424-14-osk3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522521/original/file-20230424-14-osk3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522521/original/file-20230424-14-osk3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522521/original/file-20230424-14-osk3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522521/original/file-20230424-14-osk3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522521/original/file-20230424-14-osk3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522521/original/file-20230424-14-osk3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522521/original/file-20230424-14-osk3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<h2>The promotion of adoption</h2>
<p>The promotion of adoption, particularly in the postwar era, would suggest that the negative aspects of orphanages were not unknown. Authorities assumed that single mothers would not be able to provide for their children, so they advanced a clean break theory. Adoption at birth, it was argued, would prevent children from “languishing” in orphanages when their mothers were forced to surrender them later in life. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product.php?productid=1853">Crazy Bastard</a>, journalist and adoptee Derek Pedley, writing under his birth name Abraham Maddison, sets out to show that this assumption was fraught. He sees his life as broken by his forced adoption.</p>
<p>Following the <a href="https://adopteerightsaustralia.org.au/product/the-primal-wound-understanding-the-adopted-child/">primal wound theory</a> expounded by Nancy Verrier, Maddison views his adoption as the major explanation for the dysfunction that followed his discovery of his adopted status at 15. When a reunion with his mother – Joye Maddison – and her wider family failed due to his disruptive behaviour, exacerbated by his alcohol abuse and mental health issues, he interpreted this as a second abandonment. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523121/original/file-20230427-18-yjanau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523121/original/file-20230427-18-yjanau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523121/original/file-20230427-18-yjanau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523121/original/file-20230427-18-yjanau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523121/original/file-20230427-18-yjanau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523121/original/file-20230427-18-yjanau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1094&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523121/original/file-20230427-18-yjanau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1094&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523121/original/file-20230427-18-yjanau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1094&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Joye Maddison in the early 1970s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wakefield Press</span></span>
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<p>But a letter written by his mother at the time of his birth, but not given to Maddison until after her death, overturns this narrative of multiple abandonment. He also gains access to his mother’s diaries, which document her struggles over relinquishing her child and her continuing concern for his fate throughout the years when access to him was denied. </p>
<p>These documents lead Maddison to reevaluate their relationship. In Crazy Bastard, he reviews his life, interweaving his personal story with psychological insights, his recollections augmented by this mother’s writings and discussion with friends. He concludes that he and his mother were both victims. </p>
<p>Another crucial element in Maddison’s reevaluation is the evidence that emerged from the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate/community_affairs/completed_inquiries/2010-13/commcontribformerforcedadoption/report/index">Senate Inquiry into Former Forced Adoptions</a>. Here Maddison was able to hear the voices of many women whose lives were also shaped, and harmed, by the practice of forced adoption. His own experiences were validated.</p>
<p>Crazy Bastard is the story of Maddison rebuilding his life. It is a valuable addition to the growing list of adoption memoirs that disrupt the happy-ever-after narrative on which the practice was based.</p>
<p>By locating his experiences within this wider narrative, Maddison has been able to move beyond the dysfunction that marred his past. Part of his rebuilding process has also involved a reunion with his father’s family – a reunion far less troubled than his original contact with his mother. </p>
<h2>Voices of survivors</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523122/original/file-20230427-18-e42c9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523122/original/file-20230427-18-e42c9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523122/original/file-20230427-18-e42c9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523122/original/file-20230427-18-e42c9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523122/original/file-20230427-18-e42c9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523122/original/file-20230427-18-e42c9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523122/original/file-20230427-18-e42c9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523122/original/file-20230427-18-e42c9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Abraham Maddison, August 1974.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wakefield Press</span></span>
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<p>Ghosts of the Orphanage and Crazy Bastard address child welfare practices of the past, but they have continuing relevance for the present. As the recently opened <a href="https://aomuseum.com.au/">Australian Orphanage Museum</a> shows us, the legacy of such practices lives on for the survivors, whose adult experiences have been shaped by the disruptions of their childhood. </p>
<p>We need to continue to listen to the voices of these survivors. Their voices provide a valuable counterbalance to politicians and experts who seek to impose simplistic solutions to the complex problems in child protection that continue to face society today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199414/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shurlee Swain receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Social Services. </span></em></p>The voices of survivors are a valuable counterbalance to those who seek simplistic solutions to complex problems in child protection.Shurlee Swain, Professor of Humanities, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2042862023-04-24T02:01:41Z2023-04-24T02:01:41ZIf the camera was there with the blessing of Father Bob Maguire, people felt safe: my relationship with a marvellous man<blockquote>
<p>They told me the church was my mother. I learned that at school, and in the seminary. ‘Holy Mother Church’, they said. But I soon discovered that she was a bitch.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was one of the first things <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-19/father-bob-maguire-catholic-priest-dies/101814184">Father Bob Maguire</a> ever said to me in a background interview I did with him in 1990 as part of my research for a television documentary about youth homelessness. </p>
<p>I guffawed, and I could see by the sparkle in his eyes he knew he had drawn me into his comical, satirical, deeply serious take on the world – and that I was intently listening.</p>
<p>What he always had to say, as I would learn, often after an opening zinger like this, was in his actions as much as in his marvellous wordplay. </p>
<p>He may have been comically scathing of the institutional church, but there was another church he really believed in: the community of people who worked together to advance the welfare, dignity and just treatment of the disadvantaged, the homeless, the addicted and the forgotten. </p>
<p>Everyone was welcome in this church. Very aptly, the charitable foundation Father Bob established in 1979 was named the Open Family Foundation. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1648576184291299328"}"></div></p>
<p>In 1990, I was a junior television producer who had found my way into filmmaking after some years as a youth worker. Father Bob had established a profile as a champion of “street kids” through his work at Open Family, so he seemed like a good place to start my research into homelessness.</p>
<p>Meeting him was like walking through a portal. Father Bob and his team of outreach workers took me with them into derelict squats, seedy back alleys, soup kitchens and dumpster bins. </p>
<p>One of our interviewees took us on a tour of the Fitzroy backstreet doorways and dumpsters he slept in on cold nights. He even had a ratings system for them.</p>
<p>Then there was the trans sex worker who earned her living in and around Darlinghurst’s notorious beat, “The Wall”. In a dingy late-night café around the corner, she told me her poignant, funny story. Initially, she wanted her face blurred on camera, but after five minutes she changed her mind and became quite expansive. </p>
<p>If the camera was there with the blessing of Father Bob or his team, people felt safe. </p>
<p>To be trusted like this with a television camera – which for many we met was normally a symbol of intrusive voyeurism – was an incredible privilege. I went over that interview perhaps 100 times while editing the program, looking for the right moments. I recall crying as I did so, at the raw honesty and the pain.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1648645753521201158"}"></div></p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/religious-groups-are-embracing-technology-during-the-lockdown-but-can-it-replace-human-connection-135682">Religious groups are embracing technology during the lockdown, but can it replace human connection?</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<hr>
<h2>‘They are one of us’</h2>
<p>A key member of Father Bob’s team was Henry Nissen, an ex-boxer whose concern for the disadvantaged had led him into outreach work with Open Family. </p>
<p>“The most Christian person I have ever met is a Jewish pugilist,” said Father Bob of his protégé.</p>
<p>Nissen would be paid by Open Family whenever the organisation could afford it, but pay or not he spent many nights a week scouring the streets of inner-city Melbourne making contact with itinerant young people. </p>
<p>He knew all the haunts, drug dens and under-bridge camps. A figure would emerge from the shadows and in the gentlest of voices, Henry would call: “Is that you X….?”, and they would step out into a beam of moonlight or streetlamp. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1648555743807696898"}"></div></p>
<p>At a little distance, I could see and hear Nissen encouraging, advising and sometimes admonishing or pleading. He might offer a lift to a hostel or entry to a detox centre or one of the many emergency services Father Bob had established. </p>
<p>Around the same time, I was also researching another project on the newly emerging scandal of the stolen generations. My investigations led me to a simple weatherboard house in Preston where a young Indigenous man gave me three hours and five cups of tea as he told me his story of losing and finding his family. </p>
<p>His name was Archie Roach and he had just recorded an album of songs inspired by these experiences. A few months later, Charcoal Lane was released and became a huge hit. </p>
<p>One of the songs, Down City Streets, was written by Roach’s partner, Ruby Hunter, about her experience as a street kid. As I sat in the edit suite, reviewing all the material we had gathered over many months with Father Bob, that song seemed to encapsulate the many stories I was trying to weave together. </p>
<p>Roach very kindly gave us permission to use this song in the program and eventually as the title of the documentary. <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/the-screen-guide/t/down-city-streets-1991/7661?stxt=down%20city%20streets">Down City Streets</a> was broadcast on the Seven Network in 1991.</p>
<p>Father Bob made a telling comment in the program, which we had treated with a reverb effect: “No matter who a person is, what they have done, what has happened to them […] they are one of us.” </p>
<p>That reverb continues 30 years later.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/archie-roach-the-great-songman-tender-and-humble-who-gave-our-people-a-voice-187974">Archie Roach: the great songman, tender and humble, who gave our people a voice</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204286/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Luby owns and operates the film production company Ruby Entertainment.</span></em></p>I met Father Bob Maguire as a young filmmaker in 1990. The words he spoke to me then still reverberate today.Stephen Luby, Lecturer, Master of Screen Producing, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2029152023-04-21T12:41:15Z2023-04-21T12:41:15ZBoy Scouts of America can now create $2.4 billion fund to pay claims for Scouts who survived abuse – a bankruptcy expert explains what’s next<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518556/original/file-20230330-1211-2pnq14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=54%2C46%2C2757%2C1918&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The alleged sexual abuse that led to this settlement occurred from 1944 through 2016. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/boy-scouts-of-america-dressed-in-uniforms-carry-american-news-photo/1159640147">Newsday LLC via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>On April 19, 2023, the <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-boy-scouts-of-america-bsa-announces-confirmation-of-plan-of-reorganization-and-emergence-from-chapter-11-bankruptcy-to-equitably-compensate-survivors-while-ensuring-scouting-continues-across-the-country-301802086.html">Boy Scouts of America declared that it has exited its bankruptcy</a> case after <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/boy-scouts-emerges-chapter-11-bankruptcy-2023-04-19/">clearing one of the last legal hurdles</a> in its way. Some insurance companies and sex abuse claimants objected to the Boy Scouts’ plan to pay claimants, but the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the plan can go ahead anyway while the insurers’ appeal is pending. It’s now possible to begin the process of paying at least US$2.45 billion to resolve about 82,000 claims against the Boy Scouts and affiliated entities asserted by people who allege that they were <a href="https://abusedinscouting.com/history-of-abuse/">sexually abused as children</a> over the <a href="https://vaumc.org/blog/2022/07/08/important-positive-news-regarding-the-boy-scouts-and-our-local-churches/">past 80 years</a>.</em> </p>
<p><em>The Boy Scouts operate through the national organization known as the BSA, which includes hundreds of separate but affiliated organizations known as <a href="https://www.scouting.org/about/local-council-locator/">local councils</a>, and faith-based or civic groups called <a href="https://scoutingmagazine.org/2021/04/scouting-faq-chartered-organizations">chartered organizations</a>. Because these troop-sponsoring nonprofit organizations across the country are responsible for ensuring the safety of children in scouting, all of them faced child sexual abuse claims.</em></p>
<p><em>The BSA <a href="https://cases.omniagentsolutions.com/?clientId=3552">filed for bankruptcy in February 2020</a> to halt the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-delaware-dover-lawsuits-religion-38c9b9db99c491bec9e1bd31d26ea63d">hundreds of lawsuits that were then pending</a> in state courts. More than two years later, the BSA reached an agreement with many of its insurers, all of the local councils, some of the chartered organizations and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/first-payments-to-sex-abuse-victims-in-boy-scouts-bankruptcy-could-take-18-months-11648077889">roughly 85% of all sex abuse claimants</a> on a plan to pay claims.</em> </p>
<p><em><a href="https://pennstatelaw.psu.edu/faculty/reilly">The Conversation asked Marie T. Reilly</a>, a Penn State law professor who studies bankruptcy cases involving child sex abuse claims against Catholic dioceses, to explain what this means.</em></p>
<h2>What happens next?</h2>
<p>The plan the court approved in the BSA’s bankruptcy case will <a href="https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com/cmsvol2/pub_47373/6cfcb7aa-d181-40ec-aad1-5543a02babcd_BSA_Plan_Summary_and_FAQs.pdf">create a settlement trust</a> to process and pay sexual abuse claims.</p>
<p>Two retired judges and a committee made up of lawyers who represent sex abuse claimants will administer the trust, which will be <a href="https://www.bsarestructuring.org/event/district-court-rules-in-favor-of-bsa-upholding-the-order-to-confirm-the-bsas-plan-of-reorganization/">the largest sexual abuse compensation fund</a> ever established in the U.S. It will operate independently of the BSA. </p>
<p>The trust will take over responsibility for all claims against the BSA. All parties that contribute to it will be relieved of their liability.</p>
<h2>Where will the money come from?</h2>
<p>The BSA will contribute to the trust property estimated to be worth $220 million. Local councils will contribute about $515 million in cash, property and money obtained from their insurers. Chartered organizations, including the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/boy-scouts-revises-bankruptcy-plan-to-remove-250-million-mormon-church-settlement-11660589753">Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-religion-delaware-sexual-abuse-by-clergy-dover-287019e3686c8b0005ffe6ee715a4a04">Roman Catholic and Methodist</a> churches, schools and other affiliated institutions, will also contribute and receive a release from liability for claims.</p>
<p>The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, still sometimes called the Mormon Church, used to participate in the Boy Scouts but <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/09/us/boy-scouts-mormon-church.html">severed ties to it in 2018</a>. It will contribute <a href="https://www.bsarestructuring.org/event/bsa-marks-progress-with-chartered-organizations-and-announces-new-agreements-for-1-037-billion-in-contributions-to-trust/">$250 million</a>.</p>
<p>Insurance companies that issued policies covering the BSA will contribute about $1.6 billion. The trustee of the settlement trust has the authority to sue the insurance companies that have not agreed to the settlement to try to get more money to pay claims.</p>
<h2>How much money will survivors get and when will payments begin?</h2>
<p>People who have filed sex abuse claims have three options:</p>
<p>1) Accept a $3,500 payment based on the information already submitted about their claim in the bankruptcy case. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/first-payments-to-sex-abuse-victims-in-boy-scouts-bankruptcy-could-take-18-months-11648077889">About 6,700 survivors have already elected</a> this option.</p>
<p>2) Submit additional information and have the trustee determine the amount based on <a href="https://www.bsarestructuring.org/estimated-potential-payment-calculator/">agreed-upon factors</a>, including the severity of the abuse.</p>
<p>3) Sue in state court and have a jury determine the amount.</p>
<p>Payments will not start to flow until the trust determines the payment amount of each claim. If the fund is not big enough to pay every claim in full, the trust will reduce the amount of each claim to reflect the estimated shortfall. </p>
<p>It’s hard to say how long it will take to process the nearly 75,000 claims that have not elected the $3,500 option.</p>
<p>Among other things, the trust will need to hire and onboard staff and to set up secure systems to gather and evaluate personal information from tens of thousands of people.</p>
<p>This is likely to be both expensive and slow.</p>
<h2>How will this settlement affect the Boy Scouts?</h2>
<p>The Boy Scouts face an uncertain future after the bankruptcy case.</p>
<p>The organization’s <a href="https://www.ncacbsa.org/who-pays-for-scouting/">revenue depends on membership dues</a>, contributions from its troop sponsoring organizations, product sales, service fees and donations. And the dues are lower because of a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/only-on-ap-health-coronavirus-pandemic-7afeb2667df0a391de3be67b38495972">sharp decline in membership</a>. The BSA now has a little <a href="https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2023/01/05/1-million-and-growing-bsa-membership-is-on-the-rise/">more than 1 million members</a> across the country – about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/us/boy-girl-scouts-membership-decrease-covid.html">half as many as in 2019</a>.</p>
<p>Trying to convert some of the Boy Scouts-owned properties into cash to meet the organization’s obligations under the bankruptcy plan is complicated. It may take years to accomplish, dragging out the timeline.</p>
<p>Local councils are already selling property to raise the cash they need to make the contribution to the fund.</p>
<p>For example, a local council in New Jersey is <a href="https://www.poconorecord.com/story/news/environment/2022/12/21/boy-scout-camp-sale-in-poconos-would-go-towards-victims-of-sex-abuse/69734886007/">selling its land in the Pocono Mountains</a> to pay its share of the contribution to the compensation fund. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/poconos-coal/monroe-county-group-hoping-to-keep-former-boy-scout-camp-from-being-sold-to-developers/article_ec0bc5be-9135-11ed-bbcb-c7ebc89469f6.html">Local residents are concerned</a> that the pristine land, estimated to be worth $4 million, will end up lost to developers.<br>
The same controversy is unfolding regarding the <a href="https://www.curbed.com/2022/07/boy-scouts-open-space-for-sale.html">sale of local council property in Connecticut</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/loss-of-open-space">U.S. Forest Service estimates</a> that 6,000 acres (24 square kilometers) of open space are lost every day to other uses. <a href="https://www.scouting.org/outdoor-programs/properties/">Local Boy Scouts councils own</a> a significant portion of open space in the U.S., and much of it may be lost.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518559/original/file-20230330-17-vzefiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A lakeside structure in the wilderness with a large rustic building in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518559/original/file-20230330-17-vzefiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518559/original/file-20230330-17-vzefiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518559/original/file-20230330-17-vzefiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518559/original/file-20230330-17-vzefiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518559/original/file-20230330-17-vzefiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518559/original/file-20230330-17-vzefiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518559/original/file-20230330-17-vzefiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Deer Lake Boy Scout Reservation in Killingworth, Conn., is among the many properties nationwide being sold by local councils.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BoyScouts-CampSelloff/02f7fcf4e1234edebf58bc56a493144b/photo?boardId=37be9465fcce45d283d5431cccb20a6a&st=boards&mediaType=audio,photo,video,graphic&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=331&currentItemNo=4">AP Photo/Pat Eaton-Robb</a></span>
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<h2>Are there precedents for this?</h2>
<p><a href="https://elibrary.law.psu.edu/bankruptcy/">Catholic organizations have resolved liability</a> for child sexual abuse in bankruptcy cases with plans that are similar to the BSA’s. But the scale of the Boy Scouts’ case in terms of the number of claims and the size of the settlement trust fund is much larger than any case involving a single diocese, or any other nonprofit organization bankruptcy case.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202915/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie T. Reilly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This is a green light for creating the largest-ever compensation fund for sex abuse claims.Marie T. Reilly, Professor of Law, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2039142023-04-19T05:11:11Z2023-04-19T05:11:11ZHow can art respond to stories on institutional child sexual abuse?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521431/original/file-20230417-26-ycs5d9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=328%2C196%2C1428%2C1008&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Damien Linnane Bob (Dominoes) 2022. Graphite on paper 42 x 29cm</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Lock-Up</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On entry to Newcastle’s The Lock-Up contemporary art space is a textile artwork by institutional child sexual abuse survivor and artist Elizabeth Seysener. </p>
<p>Produced as part of the community arts program running alongside the Loud Sky exhibition, the triptych depicts the three major events in her story of recovery: carrying the burden of shame for over 50 years, the traumatising year of disclosure to the Catholic Church, and finding a place of being free to speak out.</p>
<p>In the entry to the next room, a loop of primary school photos of survivors reminds us it is children who were harmed. </p>
<p>Another room features a large timeline produced by graphic design students at the University of Newcastle. It depicts the central events of two public inquiries and court cases as they unfolded between 1995 and 2022. </p>
<p>Television footage captures the major events. A framed document expresses the heartfelt responses of family members of survivors, whose voices are rarely heard. </p>
<p>This exhibition, titled Loud Sky, addresses institutional child sexual abuse through the eyes of five professional artists commissioned to work with the local survivor community. </p>
<p>“Loud Sky” is a riff on the <a href="https://www.loudfence.org.au/about-us">Loud Fence Movement</a>, which began in 2015 in Ballarat as a community response to the harrowing details emerging from the hearings. Community members <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-28/loud-fence-ribbons-in-show-of-solidarity-for-sexual-abuse-cut/11830160">tied coloured ribbons</a> on the fences of Catholic churches and schools where children had been harmed. </p>
<p>This has since become an international movement.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/royal-commission-recommends-sweeping-reforms-for-catholic-church-to-end-child-abuse-89141">Royal commission recommends sweeping reforms for Catholic Church to end child abuse</a>
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<h2>Community art works</h2>
<p>The Newcastle region is recognised as an epicentre in the ongoing catastrophe of church-based institutional child sexual abuse. </p>
<p>From the 1950s, schools and parishes harboured clerical perpetrators who were constantly moved around to avoid detection. Families of devout Catholics were socialised not to question priests and brothers. Local Catholic managers put protection of perpetrators and the reputation of the church <a href="https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/6883709/searching-for-the-truth-in-a-horrific-history-of-clerical-child-sex-abuse/">above the safety</a> of children. </p>
<p>In 2022, the Loud Sky project ran community art workshops for anyone impacted by institutional child sexual abuse. Participants enrolled in painting, drawing and photography classes with experienced art therapists. The resulting artworks range from photographs of precious objects to paintings of the safety of home, and are on display at <a href="https://library.lakemac.com.au/Whats-On/Festivals-Exhibitions/LaunchpadLake-Mac-Libraries/Current-and-upcoming-exhibitions/The-Healing-Power-of-Art-Artworks-from-those-impacted-by-child-sexual-abuse">Belmont Library</a>. </p>
<p>A second community arts program, the <a href="https://mnnews.today/your-diocese/2023/56297-field-of-flowers-to-support-survivors/">Field of Flowers</a>, has been “planted” at Christ Church Cathedral and Sacred Heart Cathedral. School students, survivors, supporters and parishioners made over 8,000 ribbon flowers. The field is an act of remembrance and signals the hope for healing. </p>
<p>Loud Sky visitors have the option to sit in the gallery and make a ribbon flower to be “planted” in one of the cathedral fields. </p>
<h2>Listening to survivors</h2>
<p>These community programs complement the artwork from five commissioned artists. These artists began their commission with training in trauma-informed art practice to prepare for hearing the stories from the royal commission documents and the survivor community. </p>
<p>Each artist worked in collaboration with the survivor community, mostly members of the Clergy Abused Network, the central survivor support group in the Hunter region.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521433/original/file-20230418-16-no88ai.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521433/original/file-20230418-16-no88ai.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521433/original/file-20230418-16-no88ai.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521433/original/file-20230418-16-no88ai.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521433/original/file-20230418-16-no88ai.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521433/original/file-20230418-16-no88ai.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521433/original/file-20230418-16-no88ai.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521433/original/file-20230418-16-no88ai.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Damien Linnane Roslyn (Boots) 2022. Graphite on paper 42 x 29cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Lock-Up</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Damien Linnane asked survivors to bring in a treasured object accompanied by a story of the object. His detailed, beautiful drawings focus on the power of memory to evoke the resilience of survival. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521435/original/file-20230418-28-rydizx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521435/original/file-20230418-28-rydizx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521435/original/file-20230418-28-rydizx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521435/original/file-20230418-28-rydizx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521435/original/file-20230418-28-rydizx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521435/original/file-20230418-28-rydizx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521435/original/file-20230418-28-rydizx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521435/original/file-20230418-28-rydizx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lottie Consalvo Silent Film 2023. Single-channel video 4 min 1 sec.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Lock-Up</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lottie Consalvo worked with a survivor and his partner to produce a beautiful video around the small everyday gestures that had sustained their lives through years of pain. The slow-moving, deeply contemplative silent film evokes the power of stillness and beauty. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521475/original/file-20230418-26-d6yi11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521475/original/file-20230418-26-d6yi11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521475/original/file-20230418-26-d6yi11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521475/original/file-20230418-26-d6yi11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521475/original/file-20230418-26-d6yi11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521475/original/file-20230418-26-d6yi11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521475/original/file-20230418-26-d6yi11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521475/original/file-20230418-26-d6yi11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peter Gardiner The Fire 2023. Oil on 300gsm arches 250 x 550cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Lock-Up</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Peter Gardiner’s epic oil paintings depict the power of fire to both destroy and recreate, following his reading of the stories of survival from the royal commission transcripts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521477/original/file-20230418-21-k177vt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521477/original/file-20230418-21-k177vt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521477/original/file-20230418-21-k177vt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521477/original/file-20230418-21-k177vt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521477/original/file-20230418-21-k177vt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521477/original/file-20230418-21-k177vt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521477/original/file-20230418-21-k177vt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521477/original/file-20230418-21-k177vt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fiona Lee Why Bother 2023. Latex, acrylic paint 98 x 167cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Lock-Up</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fiona Lee’s three casement windows evoke being both inside and outside, born from Lee asking survivors what motivated them to get up in the morning and find the courage of facing each new day and reaching out to connect with others.</p>
<p>Clare Weeks invited survivors to take a piece of paper and imagine a word that reflected their sense of resilience and hope. Each piece of blank paper was folded and scanned, the surface revealing idiosyncratic features. Large images of these scans span the walls. We are invited to take our own square of paper and imagine our own response before placing it in a large glass bowl.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521476/original/file-20230418-20-zy1au9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521476/original/file-20230418-20-zy1au9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521476/original/file-20230418-20-zy1au9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521476/original/file-20230418-20-zy1au9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521476/original/file-20230418-20-zy1au9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521476/original/file-20230418-20-zy1au9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521476/original/file-20230418-20-zy1au9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521476/original/file-20230418-20-zy1au9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Clare Weeks notes to self, #14, #19, #11, #09, #07, #23, #08, #24 2023. Digital inkjet print from scanned silver gelatin photograph 79.5 x 59.5cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Lock-Up</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The power of art</h2>
<p>Visual art can be an important means by which affected communities come to understand the impacts of harmful events in <a href="https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-4438-5342-2">creative and regenerative ways</a>. </p>
<p>Art helps process trauma and plays a vital role in restorative justice and truth telling. </p>
<p>It is a powerful corrective to dominant narratives often told by influential institutions with investments in protecting corporate reputations.</p>
<p>How we represent these stories of injustice and pain reflects our humanity and commitment to changing damaging social practices. </p>
<p>Through art, we can remain awake to the impacts of child sexual abuse and listen to the stories of those who survived such harm as children. </p>
<p>Perhaps the final words can be given to the visitor who wrote in the exhibition logbook: “We see you, we hear you, we believe you.”</p>
<p><em>The Loud Sky is at The Lock-Up, Newcastle, until May 21.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-altar-boys-new-questions-about-suicides-of-clergy-abuse-survivors-should-spark-another-inquiry-144962">The Altar Boys: new questions about suicides of clergy abuse survivors should spark another inquiry</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen McPhillips receives funding from the Marist Brothers, Australia.</span></em></p>Loud Sky, at Newcastle’s The Lock-Up, brings together new commissions and community artworks to explore institutional abuse by the Catholic Church.Kathleen McPhillips, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2032292023-04-06T19:32:12Z2023-04-06T19:32:12ZThe Vatican just renounced a 500-year-old doctrine that justified colonial land theft … Now what? — Podcast<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/a51538ad-52c3-4f39-b060-550a73ea8017?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>Last week, the Vatican finally <a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-indigenous-papal-bulls-pope-francis-062e39ce5f7594a81bb80d0417b3f902">distanced itself from the Doctrine of Discovery</a> — a hundreds of years old decree that justified land theft and enslavement of people who were not Christian. </p>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/the-vatican-just-renounced-a-500-year-old-doctrine-that-justified-colonial-land-theft-now-what">In this episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>, political and Indigenous studies scholar Veldon Coburn explains why the Vatican’s repudiation of the Doctrine is a huge symbolic victory. We also examine what this repudiation may mean for members of Indigenous Nations, what prompted this renouncement, and what still needs to happen.</p>
<p>Coburn said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“For an Indigenous person like myself, it’s profound because after four, five hundred years, since the first Papal Bull was issued, I didn’t think I’d see it. Even though it may not have great material influence over my relationship with the colonial state, I do know that it’s very difficult to get the church to change positions on things because, I mean, you had to twist their arm for a long time to get them to see that the sun was at the centre of the solar system and not the Earth.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Moral justifications for settler colonialism</h2>
<p>Coburn explained how the Doctrine became the ideological justification for settler colonialism and enslavement in the Americas, Africa and much of the former colonies as well as the basis of a legal framework that continues to operate and support land dispossession today. </p>
<p>For example, Coburn brings up a 2005 court case involving the Oneida Nation. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I know people cherished Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but she wrote the decision for the courts in 2005… It was kind of a cruel decision too. It’s like, we stole your land. We get it. You’re not getting it back. And then she explicitly cites the Doctrine of Discovery [denying] Indigenous title to the Oneida Nation in New York State.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We also get into the difference between western ideas about land and Indigenous Knowledge. And how ownership and commodification were central to this decree.</p>
<p>Coburn explained how the original decree declared Indigenous territories ready to be claimed because, under western Christian philosophies, land was to be used to generate profit. Coburn said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“They viewed our ‘non-usage’ of the whole territory as wasting God’s gifts. So these were to be exploited … in market exchange for the creation of wealth.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A protest sign is held up. It says: Rescind the Doctrine of Discovery (sic)." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A protester holds a sign as Pope Francis takes part in a public event in Iqaluit, Nunavut, July 29, 2022, during his papal visit across Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The legacy of the Doctrine</h2>
<p>While the Church’s role in land theft was quickly taken up by new political entities, the lingering effects of the Doctrine are still evident in current legislative practices. </p>
<p>Christian and European supremacist ideas are evident in the decree: Indigenous Peoples and their existence on land was not sufficient evidence of proper governance. These ideas continue to function as a rationale for ongoing colonial practices. </p>
<h2>A welcome symbolic gesture</h2>
<p>For followers of the church, Coburn said, the Vatican’s official repudiation may work to alleviate the moral stain of colonial plunder. It may also serve as an admittance of culpability. </p>
<p>Mostly, Coburn suggests, the repudiation is a symbolic gesture offered alongside many others. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“…as we’ve seen with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau … the symbolic has moved ahead quite quickly [while] the material aspects of our lived existence still linger in a state that’s more resembling of the worst times of colonial assertions of sovereignty over it. So it really hasn’t changed. They’re still holding onto our land and saying, well, we said we’re sorry. What more can we do? There’s a lot more… the rightful return, restorative justice means: land back.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Read more</h2>
<p><a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/capitalism-and-dispossession"><em>Capitalism and Dispossession</em> by Veldon Coburn</a></p>
<p><a href="https://humanrights.ca/story/doctrine-discovery">What is the Doctrine of Discovery?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.afn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/18-01-22-Dismantling-the-Doctrine-of-Discovery-EN.pdf">Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery</a>:
Recommendations from the Assembly of First Nations on how to dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery</p>
<p><a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/capitalism-and-dispossession"><em>Corporate Canada at Home and Abroad</em> (May 2022) (edited by David P. Thomas and Veldon Coburn)</a>: “This edited collection brings together a broad range of case studies to highlight the role of Canadian corporations in producing, deepening and exacerbating conditions of dispossession both at home and abroad.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/30/1167056438/vatican-doctrine-of-discovery-colonialism-indigenous?tpcc=nlraceahead">The Vatican repudiates ‘Doctrine of Discovery,’ which was used to justify colonialism</a>:
“The ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ that was used to justify snuffing out Indigenous people’s culture and livelihoods is not part of the Catholic faith.”</p>
<p><a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/rcmp-arrests-wetsuweten-gidimten-camp/">RCMP arrest five land defenders on Wet’suwet’en territory as Coastal GasLink construction continues</a>: Dinï ze’ (Hereditary Chief) Gisday’wa says: “There’s no such thing as Crown land in Canada … It belongs to us, the Natives.” In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the Wet’suwet’en never gave up their Rights and Title to the territory in a landmark case called Delgamuukw-Gisdaywa.</p>
<h2>Listen and Follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203229/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Vatican has repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, a 500-year-old decree used to justify settler colonialism. Scholar Veldon Coburn explains this symbolic victory and what still needs to happen.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientBoké Saisi, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2013832023-04-05T20:03:34Z2023-04-05T20:03:34ZGabriele Amorth conducted over 60,000 exorcisms and believed Hitler was possessed. Meet the man who inspired The Pope’s Exorcist<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518113/original/file-20230329-24-nr9cga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C4%2C2973%2C1989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sony Pictures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Father Gabriele Amorth (1925-2016) was undoubtedly the most famous Catholic exorcist of the modern era. By his account, Amorth performed at least <a href="https://sophiainstitute.com/product/the-devil-is-afraid-of-me/">60,000 exorcisms</a> during the course of his ministry, sparking a renewed interest for exorcism within Catholicism.</p>
<p>Amorth was also known for his controversial statements. </p>
<p>He claimed Hitler and Stalin were <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/news/vatican-exorcist-hitler-knew-the-devil">possessed by the Devil</a>. In 2012 he made headlines for asserting <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/emanuela-orlandi-vatican-sex-parties_n_1536531">paedophilic cults</a> operated within the Vatican. </p>
<p>Modern popular culture was also an affront to Amorth. He railed against ouija boards, yoga and Harry Potter, believing them to be a gateway to the demonic.</p>
<p>Now, Russell Crowe’s new supernatural horror film The Pope’s Exorcist fictionalises Amorth’s exorcism ministry, adding in a centuries-old Vatican cover up for good measure. </p>
<figure>
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<h2>Exorcism and the church</h2>
<p>Exorcism has been a prominent rite of the Christian faith since its inception. </p>
<p>During the first few centuries exorcism could be performed by all believers and it played an <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/_/nkgWDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">important role</a> in attracting outsiders to the burgeoning faith. </p>
<p>As Christianity took hold across the Roman Empire, exorcism shifted from a form of charismatic lay-healing into a miracle carried out by figures of exceptional spiritual authority. From the 4th century, the liturgy of exorcism was refined as the early church assumed full authority over the ritual.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Francisco de Goya, St. Francis Borgia Helping a Dying Impenitent, c. 1788.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Valencia Cathedral</span></span>
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<p>The use of exorcism has waxed and waned over the centuries. During the mid-20th century, many clergy thought exorcism had <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/why-exorcism-went-out-of-fashion-and-why-its-back/">no place</a> in modern Catholic theology.</p>
<p>Vatican II, an international conference of Catholic bishops held between 1962 and 1965, signalled a move away from exorcism as <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-10/vatican-ii-council-60th-anniversary-video-history-background.html">the church attempted to modernise</a>. </p>
<p>The 1960s and early 1970s represented a historical low point in the practice of this ritual.</p>
<p>The period following witnessed a backlash of conservative <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-charismatic-catholicism-146741">charismatic Catholicism</a> with exorcism at the forefront. The work of Catholic exorcists such as Amorth played a significant role in legitimising the modern practice of this ritual. </p>
<p>This growing popularity provoked the Vatican to publish a new set of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jan/27/religion.uk">exorcistic guidelines in 1998</a> and increase the number of priests trained to address demonic possession.</p>
<p>While many clergy remain sceptical, support for exorcism is present at all levels of the Catholic Church. And in the last decade, the practice has experienced a worldwide <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/catholic-exorcisms-on-the-rise/573943/">surge in demand</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-churchs-views-on-exorcism-have-changed-a-religious-studies-scholar-explains-why-182212">The Catholic Church's views on exorcism have changed – a religious studies scholar explains why</a>
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<h2>What’s in an exorcism?</h2>
<p>The Catholic Church divides exorcism into “minor” and “major”. </p>
<p>A minor exorcism consists of sacraments and blessings used to treat demonic influence. The priest will usually deliver a prayer, invocation or litany upon the afflicted. Lay people may also pray on the afflicted’s behalf. </p>
<p>Typically, a minor exorcism is applied to all individuals being baptised into the Catholic Church. </p>
<p>A Major Rite of Exorcism is only carried out when there is a perceived case of demonic occupation. </p>
<p>These rituals <a href="https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/sacramentals-blessings/exorcism">encompass</a> readings of the Psalms and Gospel, reciting of specific “exorcistic prayers”, holy water, a crucifix and the performing of the sign of the cross.</p>
<p>The exorcist might also use “the imposition of hands, as well as the breathing on the person’s face (exsufflation)”. </p>
<p>In this instance Hollywood’s sensationalist depiction of exorcism does at least get the basics right.</p>
<p>The church requires a thorough medical and psychiatric examination before a major exorcism can be implemented. <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann1166-1190_en.html#TITLE_II.">Canon Law</a>, the code of laws governing the church, dictates exorcisms can only be performed with “express permission” from the local <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinary_(church_officer)">ordinary</a>, a church officer who can execute these laws.</p>
<p>Amorth, however, believed the need for exorcising demons was so great he advocated all Catholic clergy should be permitted to perform major exorcisms without acquiring permission. </p>
<p>Amorth seems to have had carte blanche in fulfilling his exorcism ministry.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/exorcism-how-does-it-work-and-why-is-it-on-the-rise-93459">Exorcism – how does it work and why is it on the rise?</a>
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<h2>Amorth’s exorcisms</h2>
<p>Amorth led a colourful life. As a teenager, he was part of the Italian resistance against the Nazis and their fascist collaborators. After the war, he studied law and was briefly deputy to the future Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti. </p>
<p>In 1946 he entered the Society of St Paul and worked as a journalist for Catholic media.</p>
<p>Amorth’s exorcism ministry didn’t formally begin until he was 61 and was unexpectedly appointed exorcist of the Diocese of Rome in 1986. He enthusiastically took to this new vocation, serving as an assistant to notable exorcist <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Padre_Candido_Amantini_CP/SHJXswEACAAJ?hl=en">Father Candido Amantini</a>.</p>
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<p>In the early 1990s, Amorth established the <a href="https://www.aieinternational.org/">International Association of Exorcists</a>, becoming its longtime president. The association received <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-formally-recognizes-international-association-exorcists">Vatican approval in 2014</a> and now holds a biannual exorcism conference.</p>
<p>Amorth’s claim of performing over 60,000 exorcisms requires further investigation. In his biography <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/179779.An_Exorcist_Tells_His_Story">An Exorcist Tells His Story</a> Amorth clarified an exorcism was an individual prayer or ritual ranging anywhere from “a few minutes” to “many hours” in length. He could thereby perform dozens of exorcisms per day, usually on troubled souls appearing on his doorstep. </p>
<p>By Amorth’s own admission, only 100 of the exorcisms he performed
were for outright demonic occupation.</p>
<p>Amorth demonstrated a rather cavalier attitude towards exorcism. In his biography he wrote “an unnecessary exorcism never harmed anyone”. </p>
<p>He also outlined the ritual itself was diagnostic. “Only through the exorcism itself can we determine with certainty whether there is a satanic influence,” he said. </p>
<p>This rationale explains Amorth’s impressive exorcism record.</p>
<h2>An enduring archetype</h2>
<p>Amorth is the ideal figure for dramatisation. He neatly embodies the archetype of the Catholic exorcist: the courageous man of faith who rescues afflicted souls from the Devil’s clutches.</p>
<p>This archetype continues to be enduring. It represents a traditional form of spiritual authority seldom seen in our modern society. If an individual has the power to exorcise demons this can be seen as a validation of their faith, the Devil and God.</p>
<p>As long as films like The Pope’s Exorcist continue to perpetuate the Catholic Church’s effectiveness against demonic incursion, exorcism will remain as a viable spiritual practice for the foreseeable future</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dealing-with-devil-has-long-been-a-part-of-medicine-107310">Dealing with devil has long been a part of medicine</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan C. Walsh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Supernatural horror film The Pope’s Exorcist fictionalises Amorth’s exorcism ministry, adding in a centuries-old Vatican cover up for good measure.Brendan C. Walsh, Sessional Academic, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1997562023-03-21T12:43:31Z2023-03-21T12:43:31ZIn a Roman villa at the center of a nasty inheritance dispute, a Caravaggio masterpiece is hidden from the public<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515929/original/file-20230316-466-6e6j4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=68%2C61%2C4475%2C3044&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Villa Aurora in Rome, which houses works by Caravaggio and Guercino, is up for sale. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photograph-taken-on-january-21-shows-the-casino-news-photo/1237878844?phrase=villa aurora rome&adppopup=true">Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://umass.academia.edu/MonikaSchmitter">I teach Italian Renaissance and Baroque art</a>, so when I was visiting Rome in January 2023, how could I not try to see a notorious villa that was up for sale and involved in a nasty inheritance dispute? </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.minorsights.com/2016/08/italy-villa-aurora-ludovisi.html">Villa Aurora</a>, named for the masterful fresco by <a href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1364.html">the 17th-century artist Guercino</a> that adorns the ground-floor salon, also happens to house a rare ceiling painting by <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio">Caravaggio</a>, the 17th-century “rebel artist,” whose name makes the art market salivate. </p>
<p>I wanted to see the Caravaggio, and not just because its <a href="https://www.aboutartonline.com/la-vendita-di-villa-ludovisi-dubbi-sulla-metodologia-applicata-per-la-stima-i-precedenti-e-il-caso-degli-affreschi-di-tiepolo-a-palazzo-barbarigo/">assessed value of US$331 million</a> drove up the estimated price for the villa, apparently scaring off buyers. </p>
<p>Perhaps because of the difficulty in reproducing the work or even viewing it, the Caravaggio has received remarkably little attention from art historians. The villa, which has gone through <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/14/us-born-princess-vows-to-stay-in-rome-villa-despite-eviction-order-caravaggio-ceiling-fresco">five failed auctions</a> – the first one asking a cool $502 million – needs maintenance, and Italian law dictates that the Caravaggio and other art cannot be removed.</p>
<p>It is not easy to see privately held art, and given the ongoing controversy, I figured my chances were especially slim. But I duly wrote to the email address I found online. </p>
<p>A week later I got a response, and after some back and forth, on the day before I was to leave Rome, I was invited to come to the villa at 6 p.m. sharp. </p>
<p>A woman named Olga met me at the door: “The principessa will be with you in a moment,” she said.</p>
<h2>More than one masterpiece</h2>
<p>The current inhabitant of the villa is an American-born princess named <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/11/28/the-renovation-rita-jenrette-princess-italy">Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi</a>. </p>
<p>A former Texas GOP opposition researcher, she was once married to a congressman caught in <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/abscam">the Abscam scandal</a> and posed for Playboy twice in the 1980s. Her second husband, <a href="https://villaludovisi.org/2018/03/25/in-memoriam-hsh-prince-nicolo-boncompagni-ludovisi-rome-21-january-1941-rome-8-march-2018/">Nicolò Boncampagni</a> Ludovisi, was Prince of Piombino. He owned the villa and promised her <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/usufruct">usufructuary rights</a>, meaning she should be allowed to occupy the villa until her death. </p>
<p>But the prince’s three sons from his first marriage are forcing the sale because, <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/01/18/when-is-a-caravaggio-worth-zero-when-its-on-a-ceiling-and-you-may-not-remove-it-for-sale">according to Italian law</a>, inheritances must be divided between the surviving spouse and any descendants.</p>
<p>It’s a media story to die for: old-world aristocrats face off against a supposed bimbo and gold digger from Texas – with a Caravaggio thrown in for good measure. </p>
<p>The villa was historically known as the Casino Ludovisi, but it became famous among art historians for its ceiling painting by <a href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1364.html">Guercino</a>.</p>
<p>In a tour de force of illusion, the ceiling is painted to look as through the architecture opens up to the sky with the goddess <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eos-Greek-and-Roman-mythology">Aurora</a>, or Dawn, driving her chariot across the space above.</p>
<p>The Caravaggio, by contrast, barely registers in the voluminous scholarship on the artist. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image of a ceiling fresco." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Guercino’s ‘Aurora on Her Triumphal Chariot’ at Villa Aurora.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photograph-taken-on-january-21-shows-the-ceiling-news-photo/1237880015?adppopup=true">Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Meeting the principessa</h2>
<p>I looked down in dismay at my sneakers, my corduroy pants, and my purple Eddie Bauer jacket that has seen better days: I hadn’t anticipated meeting the principessa herself. </p>
<p>Olga guided me into a second room and introduced me to the principessa. She is most definitely American – tall, blond and looking much younger than her age of 73. </p>
<p>After talking extensively about the villa and its works of art, Rita, as she calls herself, introduced me to a dapper Italian man from the Ministry of Culture, whom, she explained, could hopefully stop <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/14/princess-rita-jenrette-faces-eviction-from-rome-villa/">her imminent eviction</a> from her home. She then showed me the magnificent painting by Guercino.</p>
<p>Then a journalist from the Italian newspaper La Stampa appeared, and the principessa was whisked away for an interview. She told me, in parting, “Olga will show you the Caravaggio.”</p>
<h2>Encountering the Caravaggio</h2>
<p>Olga led me up a spiral stairway to the second floor: “Here is the other Guercino,” she said. I looked up to see <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guercino_-_Ceiling_painting,_Casino_dell%27Aurora,_11aurora.jpg">a second illusionistic fresco</a>, the same size as the one on the ground floor, this one depicting the figure of Fame flying through the sky.</p>
<p>I hadn’t known this one even existed.</p>
<p>Then Olga turned on the lights in what looked like a small hallway, its walls painted a bright, hospital white. I looked up to see Caravaggio’s painting, which depicts muscular nude men surrounding a translucent white globe.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Ceiling painting of muscular men and mythological creatures surrounding an orb." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Since it’s located in a private residence, Caravaggio’s painting at the Villa Aurora has been difficult for the public to view.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photograph-taken-on-january-21-shows-jupiter-neptune-news-photo/1237878868?phrase=villa%20aurora%20rome&adppopup=true">Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The detail is intense, the colors bright and sharp in a way that is exceptional for a ceiling painting. </p>
<p>Caravaggio managed to make the three-headed dog <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cerberus">Cerberus</a> look as though it really existed – bringing to life the creature’s soft black and white fur, the red of its eyes, the pink ribbing of one upper mouth and the white glint of its teeth. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting detail of a three-headed dog." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A detail from Caravaggio’s ceiling painting depicts Cerberus, a mythical three-headed dog.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/italy-lazio-rome-villa-boncompagni-ludovisi-detail-three-news-photo/132705020?phrase=caravaggio%20villa%20ludovisi&adppopup=true">Mondadori Portfolio/Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I later learned that the picture had not been painted <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/fresco-painting">in the traditional fresco technique</a>, on wet plaster, but with the unusual application of oil on dry plaster, allowing Caravaggio to execute the precision, color, detail and texture.</p>
<p>Although some art historians have <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=HXc2MNp7ffIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q&f=false">questioned the attribution</a>, there is no doubt in my mind that this is Caravaggio. Only he would – even could – paint such a seemingly plausible Cerberus. </p>
<p>The composition works only in its original location, since the scale, height and curvature of the ceiling transform the work. The painting purports to show a rectangular opening in the ceiling through which viewers can see the sky and clouds. In the center, within a white globe depicting the universe, one sees the Sun, Moon and signs of the horoscope. </p>
<p>On each side of the globe are the nude, burly, he-men: on one side, Jupiter, awkwardly flying through the sky on an eagle, pushes the sphere; on the other, Jupiter’s brothers, Pluto and Neptune, stand as if at the edge of the opening in the ceiling, looking down.</p>
<h2>Suffused with impish subtext</h2>
<p>Given its lack of scholarly attention, the Caravaggio is much more compelling than I expected. </p>
<p>One 17th-century biographer, <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095457632;jsessionid=F7F4BCEDD2540BB7CF63AFD4296936AA">Pietro Bellori</a>, claimed that Caravaggio <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Giovan_Pietro_Bellori_The_Lives_of_the_M/Lm9gs8mXwOUC?hl=en">painted the work to silence critics</a> who alleged that he lacked the technical skill to pull off the tricks in perspective required for ceiling art.</p>
<p>But I think Caravaggio was up to something more complicated. His aim was not so much to prove he could paint with foreshortened figures and receding architecture, but rather to make fun of the fad for illusionistic ceiling paintings that render scenes “as if seen from below” – “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/sotto-in-su">di sotto in su</a>,” as it is termed in art history.</p>
<p>Running with the concept of “di sotto in su,” Caravaggio cheekily gives onlookers a graphic view from below Pluto’s penis and testicles, not to mention a novel perspective on his buttocks. </p>
<p>Caravaggio didn’t stop there. </p>
<p>Jupiter’s pose is almost incomprehensible, his face concealed, his limbs flailing in different directions – very undignified, particularly for an oversize Olympian god. It’s an NFL linebacker riding an overmatched eagle.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Muscular man riding an eagle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Jupiter riding an eagle in a detail of Caravaggio’s painting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/italy-lazio-rome-villa-boncompagni-ludovisi-whole-artwork-news-photo/132705019?phrase=caravaggio%20villa%20ludovisi&adppopup=true">Mondadori Portfolio/Hudson Fine Art Collection via Getty Images.</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>From between Jupiter’s legs emerges the very phallic long neck and beak of the eagle with his bright, dark eye glaring down at the mortals below. (In Italian, “bird” <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/italian-english/uccello">is slang for penis</a>.) </p>
<p>Pluto and Neptune also have their pets, which are themselves rivals: Pluto’s snarling dog frightens Neptune’s seahorse. Neptune, who is Caravaggio’s self-portrait, in turn looks threateningly at Pluto. And then there is the juxtaposition of Cerberus’ bared teeth and Pluto’s very exposed “equipment.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two muscular nude men, a horse and a three-headed dog." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A detail of Pluto and Neptune in Caravaggio’s painting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photograph-taken-on-january-21-shows-jupiter-neptune-news-photo/1237879028?adppopup=true">Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>When I consider the patronage of the painting, it all makes sense. </p>
<p>Caravaggio painted the ceiling in 1599 or 1600 when the villa was owned by his first important patron, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Caravaggio/The-patronage-of-Cardinal-del-Monte">Cardinal Francesco del Monte</a>.</p>
<p>Caravaggio lived in del Monte’s palace in town, and there is evidence to suggest that <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bersani-caravaggio.html">they both enjoyed the company of young men</a>, and they <a href="http://www.glbtqarchive.com/arts/caravaggio_A.pdf">may even have been lovers</a>.</p>
<p>While it is difficult to confirm the men’s sexual preferences, there is no question that the ceiling is a product of their shared sensibility: locker room art for sophisticated, 17th-century cultural “jocks.”</p>
<p>The room was Del Monte’s “<a href="http://www.italianrenaissanceresources.com/units/unit-4/essays/a-room-of-ones-own-the-studiolo/">studiolo</a>,” a type of small room usually used by members of the wealthy elite to get away from it all and “study” (whatever that might entail). </p>
<p>The ceiling was to be shared by a bon vivant, learned cardinal with a select audience of like-minded men. Caravaggio never painted another ceiling because tricks of perspective were fundamentally incompatible with <a href="https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02717-7.html">his realist inclinations</a>, but perhaps he did this one for his friend and patron as a kind of joke.</p>
<h2>Now what?</h2>
<p>I left the Villa Aurora that night with a new perspective on 17th-century art and full of thoughts about the role these works of art, created for members of an extraordinarily privileged elite of the past, play in our modern democratic society. </p>
<p>The same day as my visit, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/14/us-born-princess-vows-to-stay-in-rome-villa-despite-eviction-order-caravaggio-ceiling-fresco">the judge in the inheritance dispute ruled</a> that the principessa would be evicted from the villa to facilitate its sale. I suspect this is devastating for her, given how much effort she has put into <a href="https://villaludovisi.org/">preserving her husband’s legacy</a>.</p>
<p>But I also wonder what will happen to this villa and its unique collection of 16th- and 17th-century ceiling paintings. </p>
<p>I think it would be a travesty for them to remain in private hands, because everyone, including my students, should be able to see these works. Art historians know about the tensions between private property and cultural heritage, but this is a real opportunity for the new Italian Minister of Culture, <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gennaro-sangiuliano-italy-culture-minister-2200501">Gennaro Sangiuliano</a>, to set an example, as his predecessors have done with the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/arts/venice-grimani-collection-sculpture.html">Palazzo Grimani at Santa Formosa in Venice</a>.</p>
<p>Once the residence of a wealthy and powerful noble family, Palazzo Grimani fell into disrepair until it was purchased in 1981 by the state. After many years of renovation, it opened as a public museum in 2008. </p>
<p>The frescoes in the Palazzo Grimani are not nearly as artistically significant as those in the Villa Aurora, but the museum today is one of the most interesting monuments in Venice.</p>
<p>I believe the Villa Aurora, restored and open to everyone as a museum of Renaissance and Baroque ceiling painting, could do the same for Rome.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199756/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monika Schmitter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What will happen to this villa and its unique collection of 16th- and 17th-century ceiling paintings?Monika Schmitter, Professor and Chair of History of Art and Architecture, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2016382023-03-12T15:23:57Z2023-03-12T15:23:57ZPope Francis: the first post-colonial papacy to deliver messages that resonate with Africans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514818/original/file-20230312-4561-9x10he.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis at Martyrs Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, in February 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Guerchom Ndebo/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When he was presented to a cheering crowd at St Peter’s Square, Vatican City, on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/13/pope-francis-mario-bergoglio-election">13 March 2013</a>, few people outside Latin America knew much about Jorge Bergoglio.</p>
<p>But a decade later, based on my work as a scholar of Catholicism, I would argue that most Catholics know and love Pope Francis. They also see a deep connection between his message and priorities, and their dreams and hopes for a better church and a world that is reconciled.</p>
<p>When Pope Francis was introduced in 2013, I was working as an African expert on global Catholicism for Canada Television. I went blank when the new pope was presented to the world on live TV because I had no biographical information on him. So, I <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/pope/opinion-what-happens-in-the-catholic-church-matters-to-everyone-1.1193979">ran off the list</a> of what we African Catholics wanted from the new pope. </p>
<p>This included a decentralised and decolonised Catholicism, with more powers given to local church leaders to address local challenges using their own cultural and spiritual resources. There was also the urgent need to give African Catholics more places at the decision-making table in the world church. </p>
<p>Before Pope Francis, many of these challenges were either ignored, spiritualised or papered over through moral platitudes. Pope Francis has taken them on. He is the first post-colonial pope to <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_constitutions/documents/20220319-costituzione-ap-praedicate-evangelium.html">challenge the system</a> within the church and society that exploits the poor and vulnerable. </p>
<p>Pope Francis’ papacy is anchored on what he calls a “<a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2019-12/the-revolution-of-tenderness.html">revolution of tenderness</a>”. This reflects two central themes: the courage to dream and the culture of encounter.</p>
<p>These two themes have resonated with African Catholics. They awaken a sense of hope that by collectively tapping into Africa’s human, material and spiritual resources, it’s possible to address the continent’s social, economic and political challenges. </p>
<h2>The courage to dream</h2>
<p>The word “dream” is a constant in Pope Francis’ vocabulary. It is the title of one of his recent books, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Let-Us-Dream-Better-Future/dp/1982171863/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=80694070239&hvadid=585362630358&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1009824&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=8693299832780598455&hvtargid=kwd-1004150851821&hydadcr=19673_13388860&keywords=let+us+dream+pope+francis&qid=1678516851&sr=8-1">Let us Dream: The Path to a Better Future</a>. In it, he invites people to work together as one human family and break the chains of domination driven by nationalism, economic protectionism and discrimination. </p>
<p>He described his <a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-visit-to-africa-comes-at-a-defining-moment-for-the-catholic-church-197633">recent trip to Africa</a> as a dream come true. It gave him the opportunity to <a href="http://www.vaticannews.cn/en/pope/news/2023-02/pope-at-audience-visit-to-drc-and-south-sudan-to-bring-peace.html">share a message of hope and peace</a> with the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-visit-to-africa-comes-at-a-defining-moment-for-the-catholic-church-197633">Pope Francis' visit to Africa comes at a defining moment for the Catholic church</a>
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<p>When he <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-03/pope-francis-urbi-et-orbi-blessing-coronavirus.html">stood alone</a> at St Peter’s Square in March 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis asked humanity “to reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength”, and embrace the courage to dream again. </p>
<p>Reflecting on the question Jesus asked his disciples in the Bible, “<a href="https://www.bible.com/bible/116/MAT.8.26.NLT">Why are you afraid?</a>”. He encouraged humanity not to lose hope because of the fear and despair surrounding the loss of lives from the virus.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514772/original/file-20230311-1750-odqfsn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man in a white robe walking towards a set of stairs, a single white and gold seat is at the top of the stairs and a crucifix hangs on the wall behind it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514772/original/file-20230311-1750-odqfsn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514772/original/file-20230311-1750-odqfsn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514772/original/file-20230311-1750-odqfsn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514772/original/file-20230311-1750-odqfsn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514772/original/file-20230311-1750-odqfsn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514772/original/file-20230311-1750-odqfsn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514772/original/file-20230311-1750-odqfsn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Pope Francis walks to deliver a special blessing at the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vatican Pool - Corbis/Getty Images</span></span>
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<h2>The culture of encounter</h2>
<p>In his speech to the <a href="https://time.com/4049905/pope-francis-us-visit-united-nations-speech-transcript/">UN General Assembly in 2015</a>, Pope Francis invited the world to embrace a <a href="https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/a-culture-of-encounter-pope-francis-ubuntu-paradigm-for-global-fraternity">culture of encounter</a>. </p>
<p>This, he said, would lead to a “revolution of tenderness” and the globalisation of love and solidarity.</p>
<p>I have argued in <a href="https://works.bepress.com/stanchuilo/">my research</a> that the “culture of encounter” is his way of capturing the communal ethics of <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ubuntu_(philosophy)#:%7E:text=as%20a%20whole.-,Meaning%20of%20the%20word%20ubuntu,Bantu%20languages%20have%20similar%20terms.">ubuntu</a>, which encompasses African values of community, participation, inclusion and solidarity. </p>
<p>Under this theme, Pope Francis is <a href="https://www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/2023-03/quo-051/the-transfiguration-of-pope-francis-and-god-s-people-in-africa.html">challenging people</a> to envision a world freed from violence and war; of a common humanity dwelling in peace in a healthy climate; and of economies that work for all, especially the poor.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/francis-is-the-first-jesuit-pope-heres-how-that-has-shaped-his-10-year-papacy-200667">Francis is the first Jesuit pope – here's how that has shaped his 10-year papacy</a>
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<p>In his letter to bishops, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html">Fratelli Tutti (no.195)</a>, Pope Francis says the culture of encounter can shatter socially and historically designed narrow structures, systems and institutional practices. The dream of a better world, he says, can be realised if people learn to love rather than hate. </p>
<p>Pope Francis challenges all global citizens to contribute to mending the interconnections that have been ruptured among peoples, nations, cultures, churches and religions. These ruptures, he says, are the result of long years of exclusionary practices, unjust economic and global systems, and false ideologies of identity. </p>
<h2>Realising the dream</h2>
<p>In his apostolic exhortation <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20200202_querida-amazonia.html">Querida Amazonia</a>, Pope Francis writes about four dreams he has for all people.</p>
<p>First is a social dream, where everyone can live an abundant life in dignity and in a healthy environment. This can be realised, he proposes, through “an arduous effort on behalf of the poor”.</p>
<p>The second is a cultural dream where people’s cultures are affirmed. Their talents are valued, and they can apply their human potential and material resources as free agents. For an African continent that continues to suffer the effects of colonialism in both church and state, Pope Francis proposes a strong resistance to the destructive forces of neocolonialism.</p>
<p>The third dream is the hope for humanity that flourishes through responsible stewardship of Earth’s resources. This invites all peoples to care for, protect and defend the environment.</p>
<p>The fourth dream is Pope Francis’ hope that the Catholic church will become a community of communities, where people seek common ground. This requires the rejection of any forms of exclusionary practices in the church. It advocates the liberation of the poor, and the protection of the rights of the vulnerable and those who have suffered neglect, oppression and abuse. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/it-shouldnt-seem-so-surprising-when-the-pope-says-being-gay-isnt-a-crime-a-catholic-theologian-explains-198566">It shouldn't seem so surprising when the pope says being gay 'isn't a crime' – a Catholic theologian explains</a>
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<p>Realising this dream, in Africa particularly, requires dismantling the structures of neocolonialism, the global structures of injustice, and the dependency cycle that continues to characterise the relationship between the continent and the rest of the world. </p>
<p>It will also require a new crop of transformational leaders who are on the side of the people. Leaders who place the interests of their countries and the continent above selfish, ethnic or partisan interests. </p>
<h2>New identity</h2>
<p>Pope Francis’ revolution of tenderness can help bring about a new cohesive identity in Africa built on a historical consciousness of who we are, how far we have come and how we can reach the future of our dream. </p>
<p>The courage to dream and the culture of encounter are capable of ushering in new ethics of co-operation, collaboration and inclusion so that the common good is promoted and preserved for the benefit of all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stan Chu Ilo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pope Francis’ papacy is anchored on what he calls a “revolution of tenderness”.Stan Chu Ilo, Research Professor, World Christianity and African Studies, DePaul UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994132023-02-26T19:06:10Z2023-02-26T19:06:10ZWe’re told Pentecostal churches like Hillsong are growing in Australia, but they’re not anymore – is there a gender problem?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509581/original/file-20230212-24-y1i3k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4343%2C2889&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andres Kudacki/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The conventional narrative about Australian Christianity is that Pentecostal churches – most famously, Hillsong – are bucking the trend of <a href="https://censusnoreligion.org.au/are-australians-losing-their-religion/">declining attendance</a> at the big denominations (such as Catholic and Anglican churches). That in fact, Pentecostal churches continue to grow.</p>
<p>This narrative is based on the steady rise of people indicating affiliation with Pentecostal Christianity from the 1990s, through to 2016. After the 2016 census, sociologists <a href="https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JASR/article/view/2089">Bouma and Halafoff</a> noted a rise in those claiming affiliation with Pentecostal churches, alongside the rise in the religious “nones”. </p>
<p>But the most recent Australian census shows a decrease in Pentecostal affiliation. Gender inequality and leadership abuses of power seem to be implicated. But more research is needed to confirm who is leaving Pentecostal churches, and why.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/holy-womans-fleshy-feminist-spiritual-pilgrimage-is-a-warning-against-religious-coercive-control-185388">Holy Woman's fleshy, feminist spiritual pilgrimage is a warning against religious coercive control</a>
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<h2>A shifting story?</h2>
<p>As recently as July 2022, an opinion piece for <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/david-smith-christianity-and-the-australian-census/13953748">ABC Religion & Ethics</a> retold this story, explaining that while the 2021 data showed a drop in Christian affiliation, “some Christian groups such as Pentecostals are enjoying considerable growth”. </p>
<p>Academic analyses often cite Hillsong as a case study, describing the church as a stand-out success. In their recently published book, sociologists <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Religion-and-Change-in-Australia/Possamai-Tittensor/p/book/9781032186030">Possemai and Tittensor</a> write, “unlike their fellow Christians who are all in decline, the more patriarchal Pentecostals are growing”. Hillsong is depicted as reaching and retaining large numbers of women, through specifically targeted conferences and events. </p>
<p>For many years, “contemporary” churches like Hillsong have provided the poster-model for Christianity across Australia. We’ve heard other churches ought to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-and-rise-of-hillsong-and-what-other-australian-churches-should-learn-from-them-94487">learn from their leadership success</a>. We were told by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/27/christianity-on-the-wane-in-australia-but-pentecostal-church-bucks-trend">journalists</a> and <a href="https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/religion-and-culture-and-society-by-andrew-singleton-9781446202913">academics</a> alike that when it comes to gaining new members – especially young people – Pentecostal churches are getting it “right”. </p>
<p>Well, it turns out this story may be in need of a rewrite.</p>
<h2>Explaining the shifts</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/religious-affiliation-australia#decline-in-christian-affiliation">2021 census reports</a> that nationally, Australian Pentecostalism declined by 4,700 people – or 2% – since 2016. And a <a href="https://crucis.ac.edu.au/what-the-census-tells-us-about-the-pentecostals-in-australia/">Christian Research Association report</a> shows the strongest drop was among those aged 15-34. </p>
<p>Few are talking about the de-conversion of Pentecostal youth. Unless you follow <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/hillsong-australia-suffers-drop-in-giving-attendance-annual-report.html">Christian</a> <a href="https://religionunplugged.com/news/2022/11/9/hillsong-megachurch-revenue-fell-almost-20-in-last-two-years-report-shows">newspapers</a>, you may not have realised the narrative about the rise of Pentecostalism is dated.</p>
<p>When we look to Hillsong, shifts in attendance and revenue call the growth story into question.</p>
<p>Reported attendance stats are murky, but the 2019 annual report boasted a live attendance of 47,000 across Hillsong churches in Australia and Bali. In 2020, during lockdowns, Hillsong moved online and grew exponentially, with 786,214 people <a href="https://issuu.com/hillsong/docs/hillsong_annual_report_2020_final?fr=sNzkwODM3Mjk2MDI">reported</a> to be watching live by the end of March 2020. </p>
<p>However, the church’s <a href="https://hillsong.com/australia/annualreport2021/">2021 Annual Report</a> shows only 21,219 attendees across Australia. And it states, “we experienced a 12.3% drop in total revenue compared to 2020 resulting in a reduction of our surplus to $514,318 for 2021 (2020: $4,696,547).”</p>
<p>The big question for religious scholars is, following the recent <a href="https://hillsong.com/newsroom/blog/2023/02/hillsong-church-looks-to-the-future-appoints-new-global-senior-pastors/#.Y-Qs33ZBzrc">appointment of new leaders</a>, will these changes continue for 2023 and beyond? </p>
<p>For now, we want to know: who is staying, who is leaving – and why? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-pentecostalism-and-how-might-it-influence-scott-morrisons-politics-103530">Explainer: what is Pentecostalism, and how might it influence Scott Morrison's politics?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Is a gendered analysis needed?</h2>
<p>Aside from young people, we don’t know for certain who is leaving Pentecostal churches. But anecdotally, it appears to be women.</p>
<p>Reverend Dr Philip Hughes, a research fellow at the Christian Research Association, told us, “The decline in Pentecostals has been greater among females than males, with the female proportion dropping from 56% in 2011 to 54% in 2021.”</p>
<p>While this is more a slow drift than a catastrophic exit, it shouldn’t be overlooked. Globally, religious women are the backbone of churches, particularly Pentecostal ones. We know women make up about <a href="https://www.ncls.org.au/articles/gender-mix-in-australian-church-attenders/#:%7E:text=In%20every%20denomination%2C%20in%20every,with%2051%25%20of%20all%20Australians.">two thirds of the church</a> across Australia’s denominations. </p>
<p>While women are often underrepresented in <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Raising-Women-Leaders-Perspectives-Supplementary-ebook/dp/B00BUUKGX0">leadership</a> of these churches, they are – or, at least, have been – overrepresented in the congregation and in the paid and voluntary workforce. It’s often women who do the day-to-day work of administrating a church, keeping its shops, charities and schools going. Churches need women. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Women-and-Religion-in-the-West-Challenging-Secularization/Aune-Sharma/p/book/9781138276048">International research</a> suggests ultimately, without women, there is no church. As sociologist <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Women-and-Religion-in-the-West-Challenging-Secularization/Aune-Sharma/p/book/9781138276048">Penny Marler</a> puts it, “Despite the fact that religious elites continue to be predominantly male, as the women go, so goes the church.”</p>
<p>A gendered analysis of who is staying and who is leaving may help us understand the current shift in Pentecostal affiliation, and future challenges facing church leadership. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-some-churches-teach-that-women-are-separate-but-equal-64305">Explainer: why some churches teach that women are 'separate but equal'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why might women leave?</h2>
<p>Larney Peerenboom, who recently completed a masters degree thesis in Christian studies, explained to us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>While Australian Pentecostal churches are often vocal about their support of women in leadership, the lack of an official theological stance regarding gender equality means that while the women themselves largely held egalitarian views, it was more common that their leadership and many others in their community held a stance of soft <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-some-churches-teach-that-women-are-separate-but-equal-64305">complementarianism</a>. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A woman Peerenboom spoke to was accused of having a feminist agenda when she tried to introduce inclusive language in church documentation. In Peerenboom’s experience, several women found the disparity between what was preached and what was <em>actually</em> valued led them to feeling out of place at church, with some choosing to leave.</p>
<p>Similarly, there are many converging accounts in the “<a href="https://gravityleadership.com/exvangelical/">exvangelical</a>” movement. In her memoir documenting her journey out of Pentecostalism, Australian author <a href="https://www.louiseomer.com/holy-woman">Louise Omer</a> describes feeling physically sick when she realised her church had taught her to submit not just to God, but to men, and she had therefore come to see herself as inferior to men. Omer reflects:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I remembered the question I’d left home with: could a woman belong in Christianity? Only if she agreed she was inferior.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511357/original/file-20230221-24-wdp1mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511357/original/file-20230221-24-wdp1mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511357/original/file-20230221-24-wdp1mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511357/original/file-20230221-24-wdp1mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511357/original/file-20230221-24-wdp1mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511357/original/file-20230221-24-wdp1mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511357/original/file-20230221-24-wdp1mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511357/original/file-20230221-24-wdp1mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Louise Omer felt ‘physically sick’ when she realised her Pentecostal church had taught her to submit not only to God, but to men.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sia Duff</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sociologist Katie Gadinni, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Struggle-Stay-Single-Evangelical-Leaving/dp/0231196741">The Struggle to Stay: Why Single Evangelical Women are Leaving the Church</a>, documents the stories of 50 women leaving the church. She states, “single women desire to be valued and treated equally within their religious communities […] In short, they desire more acceptable ways of being.” </p>
<h2>Pentecostal leadership cultures matter</h2>
<p>The “growth as success” story not only seems inaccurate, but could be obscuring what it’s like to be a Pentecostal Christian. Importantly, it could mean we’re not properly seeing or hearing the experiences of Pentecostal women and leaders. </p>
<p>An important distinction of Australian Pentecostal history has been its emphasis on equality and <a href="https://oatd.org/oatd/record?record=handle:10.25949%2F19435460.v1">women’s leadership</a>. While there are notable women leaders within Australian Pentecostalism, almost all known public figures in the movement today are men. Where women are leaders, they are often presented as the wife of the male leader. As a model, this can make Pentecostal women dependent on men for their role. </p>
<p>Why is this important? Christian leadership creates cultures and upholds theologies, which are potential sources of <a href="https://anglican.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/NAFVP-Top-Line-Results-Report-NCLS-Research.pdf">spiritual harm or nourishment</a>. A growing body of <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/faith-based-communities-responses-family-and-domestic-violence">Australian</a> and <a href="https://pure.coventry.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/19148579/In_churches_too_final_report.pdf">international</a> research shows us certain theologies – particularly the teaching that women should submit to their husbands, or to male authority more generally – can (even if inadvertently) scaffold and sanction abuse. </p>
<p>This seems to be particularly true if churches teach that leadership is reserved for men. It means <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-long-way-to-go-catholic-women-call-for-wide-ranging-church-reforms-in-new-international-survey-191253">all denominations</a> of Australian churches have the potential to model unsafe dynamics for women – and that intentionally cultivating safe and trauma-informed practices are necessary. Making sure women leaders are represented and accessible to congregants is one important piece of the picture. </p>
<h2>Abuses of power</h2>
<p>Churches of all denominations continue to grapple with religious leaders’ varied abuses of power. And women’s continuing church participation, as well as their potential disaffiliation, is part of that story, too. </p>
<p>The news on Hillsong over the past year, both factual and sensational, tended to focus on reports of men’s alleged <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-12/hillsong-church-allegedly-mislead-charities-regulators/101324578#:%7E:text=A%20whistleblower%20suing%20Hillsong%20in,by%20the%20Australian%20charities%20regulator">financial</a> and sexual <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2023/february/elle-hardy/hillsong-and-life-brian#mtr">misconduct</a>. </p>
<p>Brian Houston <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-23/hillsong-church-founder-brian-houston-resigns/100932318">resigned</a> in March 2022, after allegations surfaced regarding his own conduct. Similarly, recent media reports have highlighted leadership failings in many other Christian communities: including <a href="https://commissiondetude-jeanvanier.org/commissiondetudeindependante2023-empriseetabus/index.php/en/home-english/">L’Arche</a>, where the movement’s founders have been accused of sexual abuse; and the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/08/12/fbi-southern-baptist-sexual-abuse/">Southern Baptist Convention</a>, where the US justice department is investigating leaders for several reports of mishandled complaints.</p>
<p>There have been multiple accounts of male leaders in churches and Christian organisations who either concealed or perpetrated abuse against women and children. The prevalence of such serious failings raises important questions about how churches will respond to recent events, or whether the established rhetoric about women’s roles (and failure to act) will continue. </p>
<p>For Pentecostal churches, it is time to attend to the stories of what makes church participation both meaningful and safe. Hearing from Pentecostal women – both those who have stayed and those who have recently left – is crucial. </p>
<p>We can attribute women’s decreased church participation and disaffiliation to a variety of societal causes, including the pandemic and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1350506808091508">changes to work and family patterns</a>. It is important not to frame this as a “woman problem”. We suspect the testimony of church women may show us that Christianity’s gender problem is with its (male) leadership.</p>
<h2>More research needed</h2>
<p>At the moment, it isn’t entirely clear how the story of Pentecostalism in Australia will need to be rewritten. But we know from looking at other Christian movements that a lack of women’s leadership – not to mention revelations of misconduct – contribute to disaffiliation. </p>
<p>It’s important for Pentecostal leaders to understand their church’s demographic shifts. It will also be important for Pentecostal women, if they are to continue in their tradition, to find new identity markers, separate to the recent scandals and reported leadership misconduct. For Australian Pentecostal churches, “success” may lie not in numeric growth, but in becoming genuinely safe places, particularly for women.</p>
<p>Has Pentecostalism been a success story for women? The only way to know is to ask. For women, at least, talking about why they are (or are not) staying in their churches could quite seriously be a matter of survival. </p>
<p>The time for a detailed, gendered analysis of the shifts in the story of Australian Pentecostalism is now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199413/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Clare Shorter has attended evangelical Anglican churches for most of her life. She currently attends a Uniting church.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Riches is an ordained Pentecostal minister who has attended various churches, most recently Hillsong. She is an unpaid research fellow at Christian Research Association and a former Hillsong College employee.
</span></em></p>The latest Australian census shows a decrease in affiliation with Pentecostal churches, despite the ‘boom’ narrative. Women seem to be leaving: gender inequality and abuses of power are having an impact.Rosie Clare Shorter, PhD candidate, Religion and Society Research Cluster, Western Sydney UniversityTanya Riches, Research, Training and Development Officer, Centre for Disability Studies, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973812023-01-25T13:24:24Z2023-01-25T13:24:24ZCalls for Pope Benedict’s sainthood make canonizing popes seem like the norm – but it’s a long and politically fraught process<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505189/original/file-20230118-14-a5g4i5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C0%2C3790%2C2555&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People pray in front of the tomb of the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI inside the grottos of St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, on Jan. 8, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VaticanPopeEmeritusBenedictXVI/8d23357680c0479b865fc3ff47e71f54/photo?Query=pope%20benedict%20xvi&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=15232&currentItemNo=4">AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like many others around the world, I watched the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI live on the internet. Before the service began, an unexpected announcement came over the loudspeakers requesting that members of the assembled crowd refrain from raising any banners or flags. Nevertheless, toward the end of the liturgy, at least one large banner was displayed, reading “<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/sign-benedict-xvis-funeral-reads-115500453.html#:%7E:text=The%20Italian%20phrase%20is%20a,CBS3%20anchor%20Pat%20Ciarrocchi%20covered.">Santo Subito</a>,” an Italian phrase that means “sainthood now.”</p>
<p>Identical signs were <a href="https://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/conclave/pt040805a.htm">raised at the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II</a>, who was <a href="https://www.vatican.va/special/canonizzazione-27042014/index_en.html">officially canonized</a> nine years later. The connection between these events has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/many-thousands-expected-funeral-former-pope-benedict-2023-01-04/">not gone unnoticed</a>, leading some to raise questions about expectations that every future pope will be acclaimed as a saint. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">specialist in Catholic liturgy and ritual</a>, I know that in the contemporary church, no one, from popes to laypeople, is ever officially proclaimed a saint immediately after death. The way that saints are chosen has changed over the centuries, and that has affected the “wait time” between death and canonization.</p>
<h2>Antiquity and early Middle Ages</h2>
<p>In the early church, Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire. Those who were executed after refusing to renounce their faith were venerated immediately after their deaths; individuals or small groups would pray at martyrs’ graves, believed to be places of special holiness, where <a href="http://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/courses/medmil/pages/non-mma-pages/syllabus/lecture-19.html">heaven and earth meet</a>.</p>
<p>Those who were imprisoned for their faith but released – called confessors — were venerated by their communities in the same way. </p>
<p>After the legalization of Christianity in the early fourth century, other men and women who had lived lives of exceptional virtue were also recognized as holy ones and called saints. For the next several centuries, most saints were venerated at the local level. </p>
<p>Bishops often approved many of these saints for <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-some-roman-catholic-saints-called-doctors-of-the-church-175912">wider regional veneration</a>. Just before the year 1000, Ulrich of Augsburg, an ascetic German bishop, became the first saint to be <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/24/papal-saints-once-a-given-now-extremely-rare/#:%7E:text=In%20993%2C%20St.,and%20documented%20potential%20saints'%20lives">officially canonized by a pope</a>. By the early 12th century, it was left to the the popes to officially proclaim most saints. In <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6rql5Lv5yqYC&pg=PA202&lpg=PA202&dq=Pope+canonizing+saints++year1234&source=bl&ots=tVeOTYoosC&sig=ACfU3U0QMV2qMda9prglh_yTaJijjX79nQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4vfj-4M38AhWCElkFHdNnD1A4ChDoAXoECAQQAw#v=onepage&q=Pope%20canonizing%20saints%20%20year1234&f=false">later years, popes insisted on this exclusive prerogative</a>.</p>
<h2>The later Middle Ages</h2>
<p>Although the cases – called causes – of those already locally revered for their holiness were brought to Rome for examination and approval, there was no set timeline for the process. However, no highly regarded Christian was canonized immediately after death. Instead, the investigation of their cases could take years to reach a conclusion.</p>
<p>The proclamation of St. Anthony of Padua in the 13th century was the <a href="https://stfrancis.clas.asu.edu/article/anthony-padua-chronology">fastest canonization</a> during this period. A member of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor – <a href="https://usfranciscans.org/">meaning Little or Lesser Brothers</a> – this young priest was acclaimed for his simple, eloquent preaching. </p>
<p>Anthony died in 1231 and, because of his reputation, was canonized less than a year later, even faster than St. Francis of Assisi, the renowned founder of the Franciscans. Only two years after Francis’ death in 1226, Pope Urban IX proclaimed him a saint because of his “<a href="https://www.papalencyclicals.net/greg09/g9mira.htm">many brilliant miracles</a>.”</p>
<p>Other causes could take longer. For example, the canonization of St. Joan of Arc took almost 500 years. During the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/hundred-years-war">Hundred Years’ War</a> between England and France in the 14th and 15th centuries, this French teenager experienced visions of saints directing her to liberate France. She helped win an important battle but was later captured and convicted by the English of heresy. In 1431, Joan was executed by being burned at the stake.</p>
<p>In 1456, <a href="https://popehistory.com/popes/pope-callixtus-iii/">Pope Callixtus III</a> declared Joan of Arc innocent of heresy, and she continued to be venerated by the French for centuries afterward. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/studies-in-church-history/article/abs/reclaiming-a-martyr-french-catholics-and-the-cult-of-joan-of-arc-18901920/AC283FB4FB2AAFC9D19B328E1CCCA630">Increasing French nationalism</a> played a role in advancing her cause, and Pope Benedict XV proclaimed her a saint in 1920, praising her long-standing reputation for holiness and her life of “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xv/la/bulls/documents/hf_ben-xv_bulls_19200516_divina-disponente.html">heroic virtues</a>.”</p>
<h2>Modern changes</h2>
<p>In the 16th century, the canonization process became more standardized. The process of canonizing saints was handled in one specific office, the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/csaints/documents/rc_con_csaints_pro_20051996_en.html">Sacred Congregation of Rites</a>, part of the overall papal bureaucracy, the Curia. Later, in the 17th century, Pope Urban VIII set a 50-year waiting period between the death of a potential candidate and the submission of a case for canonization, to ensure that only <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/03/15/its-time-catholic-church-stop-canonization-popes/">worthy candidates would be nominated</a>. </p>
<p>However, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-becomes-a-saint-in-the-catholic-church-and-is-that-changing-81011">process was reformed</a> during the 20th century. In 1983, Pope John Paul II set <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/csaints/documents/rc_con_csaints_doc_07021983_norme_en.html">a new five-year waiting period</a> for the Vatican office, now known as the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/romancuria/en/dicasteri/dicastero-cause-santi/profilo.html">Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints</a>.</p>
<p>This waiting period before a cause may be submitted can be, and has been, waived at the discretion of the pope. In 1999, Pope John Paul II waived it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/world/europe/mother-teresas-path-to-sainthood-cleared-by-vatican.html">for the cause of Mother Teresa</a>. The process began then, only two years after her death in 1997, and she was proclaimed St. Teresa of Calcutta by Pope Francis <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-09/saint-mother-teresa-kolkata-annivesary-canonization.html">in 2016</a>. </p>
<p>After the death of John Paul II himself in 2005, his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/3878/pope-benedict-forgoes-waiting-period-begins-john-paul-ii-beatification-process#:%7E:text=But%20Pope%20Benedict%20told%20clergy,during%20his%2026%2Dyear%20pontificate">again waived the waiting period</a> for his case to proceed. Only nine years later, in 2014, Pope Francis proclaimed John Paul II a saint.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505197/original/file-20230118-19-xko9mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hundreds of people gathered outside watching a ceremony on a large screen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505197/original/file-20230118-19-xko9mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505197/original/file-20230118-19-xko9mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505197/original/file-20230118-19-xko9mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505197/original/file-20230118-19-xko9mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505197/original/file-20230118-19-xko9mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505197/original/file-20230118-19-xko9mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505197/original/file-20230118-19-xko9mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">People watch the screening of the canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II broadcast from the Vatican in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ItalyVaticanPopesSaints/30d689f0aa09477d90a4da0a65849824/photo?Query=John%20Paul%20II%20saint&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=747&currentItemNo=36">AP Photo/Luca Bruno</a></span>
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<p>However, in the intervening years, questions were raised about what some considered to be a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/14/world/europe/john-paul-vatican.html">hasty or premature advancement</a> of John Paul II’s cause. </p>
<h2>Criticisms of the process</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theage.com.au/world/list-popes-of-the-20th-and-21st-centuries-20130314-2g1lh.html">Eleven popes</a> have served the Catholic Church since 1900. Three – Leo XIII, Benedict XV and Pius XI – have not been nominated. Pope Pius X, who died in 1914, was canonized 40 years later in 1954. </p>
<p>So far in the 21st century, several more popes have entered or completed the process. Pius XII, who died in 1958, has been named “Venerable” – the second step of the canonization process – despite ongoing controversy over his actions during World War II. </p>
<p>But over the past 10 years, four popes – John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II – <a href="https://aleteia.org/2018/08/07/of-the-266-men-who-have-sat-upon-the-throne-of-peter-how-many-have-been-canonized/">have been proclaimed saints</a>, an unusual situation in modern Catholic history. </p>
<p>It can seem that canonizing popes has become routine in the 21st century. Some even suggest that this trend marks <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/when-the-papal-saints-come-marching-in/">a new era of personal holiness</a> in those elected to the papacy. However, not everyone cheers this trend. </p>
<p>Critics cite the rapid canonization of Pope John Paul II as an example of potential problems. His lengthy reign and widespread popularity led to a special pressure on Pope Francis to move quickly on his cause. Afterward, however, more evidence was uncovered <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/11/18/saint-john-paul-ii-canonize-mistake-mccarrick-abuse">raising questions</a> about the pope’s handling of the clergy abuse crisis. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/03/15/its-time-catholic-church-stop-canonization-popes/">Politics within the church</a> can also come into play. For example, conservatives could push strongly to canonize a more traditionally minded pope, while progressives might support a candidate with a broader point of view. This seems to be why two popes – John XXIII, who called the Second Vatican Council in 1962 to reform and renew the church, and John Paul II, who strove to curb some of the more progressive elements – were <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2014/04/07/every-pope-a-saint-the-politics-of-canonization/">both canonized</a> at the same ceremony. </p>
<p>The papal power to waive even the brief five-year waiting period makes these problems even more acute. Some have even suggested imposing a moratorium on papal canonizations, or at least lengthening the <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/saintly-popes-people-question-whether-canonizing-popes-good-idea">waiting period</a> before a pope’s cause could be considered.</p>
<p>The Catholic Church teaches that saints are proclaimed so that others might be inspired by their lives and examples of “<a href="https://www.usccb.org/offices/public-affairs/saints">heroic virtue</a>.” But it takes time to thoroughly examine each cause individually, and hidden flaws may not be uncovered until much later after the candidate’s death. </p>
<p>This was true for St. John Paul II, and might be the case for Pope Benedict XVI. But no one is recognized a saint <a href="https://theconversation.com/smiling-pope-john-paul-i-takes-the-next-step-toward-sainthood-not-all-pontiffs-earn-this-distinction-188941">simply because he served as pope</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197381/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne M. Pierce does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A specialist in Catholic liturgy and rituals explains that while several popes have been canonized, it is a long process that may take several years to examine and uncover any hidden flaws.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1976332023-01-16T13:45:14Z2023-01-16T13:45:14ZPope Francis’ visit to Africa comes at a defining moment for the Catholic church<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504210/original/file-20230112-53024-f2g4xr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis in Nairobi, Kenya, during his first papal visit to the African continent in 2015. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nichole Sobecki/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>During his <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/202212020298.html">planned visit</a> to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan in February 2023, Pope Francis intends to be in dialogue with African Catholics – but also to listen to political leaders and young Africans. </p>
<p>This visit comes at a defining moment in what is regarded as a fairly progressive papacy.</p>
<p>Pope Francis has convened a worldwide consultation on the future of the Catholic church. This consultation, called a <a href="https://www.synod.va/en/what-is-the-synod-21-24/about.html">synodal process</a>, began in 2021 and will conclude in 2024. </p>
<p>It is the most ambitious dialogue ever undertaken on bringing changes in Catholic beliefs and practices since the Second Vatican Council’s reforms in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/10/10/162573716/why-is-vatican-ii-so-important#:%7E:text=AP-,Pope%20Paul%20VI%20hands%20Orthodox%20Metropolitan%20Meliton%20of%20Heliopolis%20a,Orthodox%20churches%20nine%20centuries%20before">1965</a>. It is exciting for reform-minded Catholics, but distressing for conservative Catholics. </p>
<p>The ongoing synodal process has exposed the fault lines in modern Catholicism on the issues of women, celibacy, sexuality, marriage, clericalism and hierarchism. How Pope Francis – who marks a decade of his papacy this year – manages these increasingly divisive issues will, in my judgement, largely define his legacy. </p>
<p><a href="https://works.bepress.com/stanchuilo/">My research</a> has focused on how African Catholics can bring about a <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/as-pope-francis-visits-af_b_8633590">consensus approach</a> in managing these contested issues.</p>
<p>The big questions for me are how another papal visit to Africa at this point will address the challenges and opportunities that Africans are identifying through the synodal process – and how this plays into the state of Catholicism in Africa.</p>
<h2>The influence of African Catholicism</h2>
<p>The Catholic church is witnessing its fastest growth in Africa (recent statistics show <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/global-christianity/#:%7E:text=April%2030%2C%202022&text=Following%20recent%20trends%2C%20the%20Catholic,growth%20in%20Europe%20(0.3%25)">2.1%</a> growth between 2019 and 2020). Out of a global population of <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250362/number-of-catholics-in-asia-and-africa-continues-to-rise">1.36 billion Catholics</a>, 236 million are African (20% of the total).</p>
<p>African Catholics are not simply growing in number. They are reinventing and reinterpreting Christianity. They are infusing it with new language and spiritual vibrancy through unique ways of worshipping God. </p>
<p>Given its expansion, the Catholic church in Africa is well placed to be a central driver of social, political and spiritual life. In many settings, the church provides a community of hope where the fabric of society is weak because of war, humanitarian disasters and disease. </p>
<p>The DRC, for instance, has the highest number of Catholic health facilities in Africa at <a href="https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=cZ51EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT649&lpg=PT649&dq=the+Democratic+Republic+of+Congo+(DRC)+has+the+highest+number+of+Catholic+health+facilities+in+Africa+at+2,185&source=bl&ots=c6A8EdULGF&sig=ACfU3U0WBNUa2VbKVLfl4xQMRkmVMeaH2g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwigo7Te88P8AhV1WqQEHchBCSEQ6AF6BAgqEAM#v=onepage&q=the%20Democratic%20Republic%20of%20Congo%20(DRC)%20has%20the%20highest%20number%20of%20Catholic%20health%20facilities%20in%20Africa%20at%202%2C185&f=false">2,185</a>. It is followed by Kenya with 1,092 and Nigeria with 524 facilities. Additionally, bishops have mobilised peaceful protests against violence in the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/4/dr-congo-thousands-of-churchgoers-protest-rebel-violence">DRC</a> and <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/africa/news/2020-03/nigeria-bishops-protest-march-against-extremism.html">Nigeria</a>. </p>
<p>Another major feature of Catholicism on the continent is that it is witnessing a “youth bulge”. Central to Pope Francis’ advocacy for Africa is his appeal that churches, religious groups and governments show solidarity with young people. He calls them “the church of now”. </p>
<p>The pope expressed this most recently in <a href="https://www.aciafrica.org/news/6990/engage-your-history-keep-your-roots-intact-pope-francis-to-african-catholic-students">November 2022</a> during a synodal consultation with African youth. He denounced the exploitation of Africa by external forces and its destruction by wars, ideologies of violence and policies that rob young people of their future. </p>
<h2>Why DRC and South Sudan?</h2>
<p>Pope Francis comes to Africa as part of the synodal consultation. He takes the message of a humble and merciful church to some of the most challenging parts of Africa: the <a href="https://theconversation.com/conflict-in-the-drc-5-articles-that-explain-whats-gone-wrong-195332">DRC</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-sudan-root-causes-of-ongoing-conflict-remain-untouched-133542">South Sudan</a>. </p>
<p>These two countries illustrate the impact of neo-liberal capitalism and the effects of slavery, colonialism and imperialism. Together, they have unleashed the most destructive economic, social and political upheaval in modern African history. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/conflict-in-the-drc-5-articles-that-explain-whats-gone-wrong-195332">Conflict in the DRC: 5 articles that explain what's gone wrong</a>
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<p>Pope Francis is coming to listen especially to the poor, to young people and to women who have been violated in conflicts. He also hopes to address the hidden wounds of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-sex-abuse-crisis-4-essential-reads-169442">clerical sexual abuse</a> in the church.</p>
<p>Pope Francis will see how war, dictatorship and ecological disasters have denied ordinary people access to land, labour and lodging. These are the “three Ls” he <a href="https://cjd.org/2015/09/08/sacred-rights-land-lodging-and-labor/">proposes</a> as vital in giving agency to the poor. </p>
<h2>Some opposition</h2>
<p>Pope Francis will no doubt receive a warm welcome during his visit. Most African Catholics embrace his message of a poor and merciful church because it speaks to their challenges. </p>
<p>But there are many African Catholics, particularly high-ranking church leaders, who are yet to embrace this reform agenda. The previous two popes encouraged a centralising tendency, which promoted unquestioning loyalty to Rome by African bishops. As a result, these bishops resisted attempts by African theologians to modernise and Africanise Catholic beliefs and practices to meet local needs and circumstances. </p>
<p>This has led to some African bishops being uncomfortable with Pope Francis’ <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html">progressive agenda</a> on liberation theology, openness to gay Catholics, condemnation of clerical privilege and power, and inclusion of women in mainstream leadership. </p>
<p>Rather than being a strong church that looks like Africa, some of the Catholic dioceses on the continent have embraced medieval traditions – like Roman rituals and Latin – that alienate ordinary African Catholics, especially young people. </p>
<h2>Africa’s future role</h2>
<p>Pope Francis has often <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2022/november/documents/20221119-cuamm.html">spoken</a> of giving Africa a voice in the church and in the world. </p>
<p>Many African Catholics wonder how this will happen when, for the first time in more than 30 years, there is just one African holding an important executive function at the Vatican. This is Archbishop Protase Rugambwa of Tanzania, the secretary of the <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-06/dicastery-evangelization-vatican-praedicate-evangelium.html">Dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples</a>, a department at the Vatican’s central offices. </p>
<p>Many African Catholics hope that Pope Francis will announce some African appointments to the Vatican during his February 2023 visit. </p>
<p>They also are hoping he will create a pontifical commission for Africa, similar to the <a href="http://www.americalatina.va/content/americalatina/es.html">Latin American commission</a> created in 1958. This will be a significant way of giving African Catholics a voice in the church of Rome. </p>
<p>Pope Francis hasn’t fully recovered from the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/knee-problem-forces-pope-francis-cancel-july-africa-trip-2022-06-10/">health challenges</a> that led to the cancellation of the trip last July. But he is making this trip because <a href="https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2015/11/29/news/pope-opens-holy-door-today-bangui-is-the-spiritual-capital-of-the-world-1.35211106/">he believes</a> that Africa matters. </p>
<p>Through the sessions that the pope will conduct with Africans, especially young people, it’s hoped that the Catholic church in Africa can help address the causes of war and suffering in the DRC and South Sudan, and the obstacles to reforming the church in Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197633/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stan Chu Ilo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>African Catholics are growing in number. They are also reinventing and reinterpreting Christianity.Stan Chu Ilo, Research Professor , World Christianity and African Studies, DePaul UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1976132023-01-11T01:50:18Z2023-01-11T01:50:18ZGeorge Pell: a ‘political bruiser’ whose church legacy will be overshadowed by child abuse allegations<p>Former senior Vatican figure George Pell has died in Rome from <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-11/cardinal-george-pell-dies-vatican-aged-81/101843096">complications</a> following hip surgery. He was 81.</p>
<p>Pell, often described as a conservative Catholic, was jailed for <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/what-cardinal-george-pell-hated-most-about-his-time-in-prison/news-story/1ec0d4d2112e1d7af745189b397e1be5">13 months</a> for child sexual abuse in Australia in 2019 but maintained his innocence and was acquitted the following year.</p>
<p>Once a top official in charge of reforming the Vatican finances, and also Australia’s highest-ranked Catholic figure, Pell leaves behind a complex legacy.</p>
<p>His death will be sad for the Catholics who held him in high regard but less so for the many critics he attracted in Australia and elsewhere over the course of his career. </p>
<p>It’s hard to believe he will not be remembered most vividly for the trial in 2019 and 2020, when he was accused and then convicted of several counts of sexual abuse of children within the St Patrick’s Cathedral complex itself. His conviction was later overturned.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-george-pell-won-in-the-high-court-on-a-legal-technicality-133156">How George Pell won in the High Court on a legal technicality</a>
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<h2>Heavily criticised</h2>
<p>Though his conviction was overturned by the High Court, there are many in Australian society who still felt Pell didn’t do enough when he was Archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney to act against abuse by priests in the dioceses he controlled.</p>
<p>He was heavily <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/pell-knew-in-1982-that-ridsdale-was-moved-to-save-church-from-scandal-20200507-p54qr9.html">criticised</a> by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. When its report was released after Pell’s conviction was quashed in 2020, it condemned him for his failures to take action against abusive priests – particularly against serial paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.</p>
<p>One thing I think Pell’s own court case highlighted is a particular absurdity about legal reporting in Australia, in that everyone outside Australia knew he had been convicted but no one in Australia could report it. </p>
<p>That’s part of his legacy; this case exposed the difficulty in legal reporting. It’s actually quite important.</p>
<h2>A political bruiser</h2>
<p>Pell was, without a doubt, the most powerful Australian ever to rise through the ranks of the Catholic church. He put Australia on the map in the Vatican in a way it had not been at any other time in history.</p>
<p>It’s testament to how well he was regarded as an administrator in the church that even though he was one of the most staunch conservatives of his generation, the comparatively liberal Pope Francis still turned to him to ask him to regain control of Vatican finances. In other words, his talents were recognised even by liberals within the church.</p>
<p>He was an outsider to the nexus of Italian cardinals who usually controlled that aspect of Vatican activity. </p>
<p>When you talk to people who knew him, they say that in private Pell could be quite charming. But his public personality was as a political bruiser who was simply able to sweep aside opposition, which is what allowed him to ascend the hierarchy so quickly.</p>
<p>He was an ideological fellow traveller with Pope Benedict in many ways, but their style and personality couldn’t have been more different. Benedict was the softly spoken professor type, whereas Pell learned how to do politics in the boxing ring and on the footy field. That shaped his response to any given problem. </p>
<h2>Before and after the court cases</h2>
<p>Pell came from Ballarat, and had, in many ways, a difficult childhood where he wasn’t always physically well. </p>
<p>But he came through it and channelled a lot of his energy into physical pursuits. He <a href="https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/richmond-removes-cardinal-george-pell-as-club-vice-patron-following-child-sex-crime-conviction/news-story/b7fa3681fb5d80c11d44a3346a78a2a7">signed</a> for Richmond Football Club in 1959 and was on the verge of becoming a professional player. Yet he decided instead to give it all up to go into the seminary. I don’t think anyone but he could explain exactly why he made that choice.</p>
<p>His talent to cut to the heart of the problem and impose his solution is what got him noticed by his superiors in Australia and the Vatican and helped his rise though the ranks.</p>
<p>After the court case, Pell quietly returned to Rome, where he has been living in semi-retirement since. He’s only made a handful of public statements and he also published some writing he did during his time in prison.</p>
<p>In Easter last year he urged the Vatican to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/cardinal-george-pell-and-the-status-of-gay-catholics/13809320">intervene</a> to stop German priests who were advocating that homosexuality might be OK. </p>
<p>All in all, Pell had an important impact on making Australia central to the church but that will be overshadowed by the accusation he didn’t do enough to stop abuse by priests and by his own court cases. </p>
<p>This period will no doubt be triggering for survivors and it’s important to remember that. Many adults in the Catholic church and other institutions failed children in a lot of ways and it’s important we remember survivors of abuse and the profound effect public discussion of this case will have on them. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-have-media-outlets-been-fined-more-than-1-million-for-their-pell-reporting-162173">Why have media outlets been fined more than $1 million for their Pell reporting?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Miles Pattenden has previously received research funding from the British Academy, the European Commission, and the Government of Spain.
</span></em></p>Pell, often described as a conservative Catholic, was jailed for child sexual abuse in Australia in 2019 but maintained his innocence and was acquitted the following year.Miles Pattenden, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.