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Articles on Pope Francis I

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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.
Mother Theresa in 1991. Kamal Kishore/Reuters

Questioning the ‘miracles’ of Saint Teresa

Mother Teresa will become a saint on Sunday, on the basis of two miracles of healing. But let’s not remove our thinking caps and go all medieval: we should be wary of uncritical endorsement of claims to the miraculous.
Will there be brotherly love in Philadelphia next September? Giampiero Sposito/Reuters

Pope Francis’s ‘American problem’

In late November, the Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis is going to visit the United States of America for the World Meeting of Families that will take place in Philadelphia at the end of September 2015…
They are listening but whose side are they on? Max Rossi/Reuters

The tectonic plates of world Catholicism shift

An extraordinary two weeks in Rome ended Saturday with a standing ovation. Pope Francis had invited 191 bishops and clergy to the Synod on the family to speak their minds on issues such as divorce, premarital…
Crowd-pleaser: Pope Francis I. EPA/Chung Sung-Jun

After 65 years, is China finally ready to embrace the Pope?

Pope Francis flew over China on his way to South Korea late last week, where the Catholic Church has seen rapid growth in the last decade. Papal custom is to send a telegram to the leaders of nations over…
Pope Francis argues that the poor are at the heart of the Gospel and it’s the communists who have ‘stolen the flag’. EPA/Nicola Lanese

Is the Pope Catholic or communist when he speaks out on poverty?

A blog in The Economist recently accused Pope Francis of following the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, in adopting an “ultra-radical line” on capitalism. The blog, “Francis, capitalism and…
The idea may seem ‘old-fashioned’, says Pope Francis, ‘But look out because the devil is present! The devil is here … even in the 21st century!’ EPA/Maurizio Brambatti

What is Pope Francis on about with all this talk of Satan and evil?

Pope Francis’ discussion of the devil (or Satan) has been greeted with surprise by many. Why would a “progressive” Pope speak about an “old-school”, passé topic like the devil? Has not the Catholic Church…
John XXIII and John Paul II: most recent popes to join the ranks of saints. Mario Fornasari/Flickr

Standards for sainthood: what defines a ‘miracle’?

Popes John Paul II and John XXIII were declared saints by Pope Francis last Sunday. So what were the “miracles” necessary for John Paul’s sainthood, and how likely was it they really occurred? Almost 40…
Pope Francis embraces Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during the canonisation mass of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII. EPA/Osservatore Romano Press Office

John Paul is no saint – his canonisation is political theatre

The week after Easter, Pope Francis presided over the canonisation ceremony which declared his two most famous contemporary predecessors, John Paul II and John XXIII, were now “saints”. This is an important…

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