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Articles on Jesuits

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Catarina was revered in Puebla, Mexico – but devotion to her attracted Catholic authorities’ disapproval after her death. Image from the collections of the Biblioteca Nacional de España

From South Asia to Mexico, from slave to spiritual icon, this woman’s life is a snapshot of Spain’s colonization – and the Pacific slave trade history that books often leave out

Accounts of Asian American history often stop at the US border, but Asians were living in Latin America for centuries before the Declaration of Independence.
Drawing of St. Peter’s cathedral, Rome, with the Vatican wall in the left distance, c. 1640. (The Trustees of the British Museum)

The Vatican and Western Canadian missions: A brief history

Residential schools and the papal bulls justifying the doctrine of discovery call out for concrete acts of atonement and reparation on the part of the church.
Venezuelan priest Arturo Sosa Abascal, second from right, receives congratulations after being chosen as new superior general of the Jesuits in 2016. Franco Origlia/Getty Images News via Getty Images

Who are the Jesuits?

The Jesuits are among the Catholic Church’s most influential religious orders but no strangers to controversy.
Pope Paul VI banned contraception for Catholics in the 1968 encyclical, “Humanae Vitae.” AP Photo/Jim Pringle

How the Catholic Church came to oppose birth control

July marks 50 years of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical prohibiting contraceptive use. For many years prior to it, the church had not been so explicit on its stance. How did it become such a thorny issue?
Shin'ya Tsukamoto (right) and Andrew Garfield in Silence (2016). Cappa Defina Productions

Scorsese’s Silence and the Catholic connection to the atomic bomb

Martin Scorsese’s new film Silence will be shown to an audience of priests at the Vatican today. It tells the story of persecuted Christians in 17th century Japan - an event still remembered by Nagasaki’s Catholic community.
Jesuit astronomers with Chinese scholars in the 18th century. Les cahiers de Science et Vie October 2009

Jesuits as science missionaries for the Catholic Church

As a Jesuit, Pope Francis is part of a long tradition of religious men of science. Will his leadership influence the Catholic Church’s stance on contemporary scientific issues?

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