Even in films where religion isn’t front and center, Martin Scorsese’s attention to ritual and devotion comes through.
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Though only a few of Scorsese’s films focus on religious stories, deeper questions about faith, doubt and living in a violent world tend to haunt his movies.
Women’s wills and last testaments provide a more nuanced picture of life in the Middle Ages than medieval stereotypes allow, such as that depicted in “Death and the Prostitute” by Master of Philippe of Guelders.
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European women’s rights expanded in early medieval cities, though they were still limited. Last wills and testaments were some of the few documents women could dictate themselves.
Pope Francis (in white) at the opening session of a major congress on the Catholic Church’s future on 4 October 2023.
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Divisions and tensions in the global church are affecting the church in Africa.
Irish singer Sinead O'Connor performs at Paradiso in Amsterdam in March 1988.
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A professor of modern Catholicism looks back at the ways the iconic Irish singer steeped herself in religion, even as she criticized its institutions.
Members of children’s rights organizations protest against cases of clerical child abuse in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on May 25, 2023.
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Public outrage over alleged abuse has been muted in much of Latin America for years, partly because the church remains one of the region’s most powerful institutions – but that may be changing.
A still from the film ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ showing Russell Crowe as the real-life Vatican exorcist.
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How did blockbuster horror films such as ‘The Exorcist’ help the church warm to the controversial ritual?
Mary is often depicted weeping, a reminder of the ‘Seven Sorrows’ the Bible recounts her suffering.
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Investigating supernatural claims is a delicate task for the church, and Catholic leaders rarely label them as authentic.
Pope Francis leads the second vespers service at St. Paul’s Basilica on Jan. 25, 2023, in Rome.
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Catholic leaders’ attitudes toward LGBTQ people have shifted dramatically – but the actual theology behind them, not so much.
The Catholic funeral of IRA volunteer Martin Hurson who died after 46 days on hunger strike at Long Kesh prison in 1981.
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In a fraught and complex situation the Catholic Church sought to mediate the conflict where it could, but drew much ire and criticism for not doing enough.
A woman prays in front of a statue of the martyred Catholic archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero, known for his embrace of liberation theology.
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The influential movement, which is still controversial both inside and outside Catholicism, must be understood in the context of Latin American history.
German Bishop Georg Bätzing talks with members of various Catholic youth organizations holding up umbrellas reading “Consecration for All” and “Jesus had two fathers.”
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The Catholic Church’s membership numbers are growing fastest outside Europe and the Americas, and Catholics’ priorities look very different across the world.
Pope John Paul I greets the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in August 1978.
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Popes’ roles have changed over time. Some periods produced plenty of saintly popes, while others are notorious for the opposite.
Members of the Assembly of First Nations perform in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on March 31, 2022.
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Pope Francis and the Catholic Church must make a plan with Indigenous Peoples, not for us, in order to walk the path of reconciliation. Some initial suggestions of what a plan might include.
‘The Holy Family,’ by the 17th-century Spanish painter Bartolome Esteban Murillo.
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The Catholic Church considers St. Joseph a role model of fatherhood and faith. In many countries, Father’s Day is celebrated on his feast day.
Confession, circa 1460/1470. Artist unknown.
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Churches’ struggles to respond to the plague and constant warfare in the 14th and 15th centuries helped shape the kinds of Christianity in the world today.
A Ukrainian service member takes a photograph of a damaged church after shelling in a residential district in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 10, 2022.
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Religion plays an important role in expansive views of Russian nationhood. But faith has played a role in Ukrainian nationalism, too.
Venezuelan priest Arturo Sosa Abascal, second from right, receives congratulations after being chosen as new superior general of the Jesuits in 2016.
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The Jesuits are among the Catholic Church’s most influential religious orders but no strangers to controversy.
St. Gertrude de Nivelles, from the Hours of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg. Simon Bening 1522-1523.
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Eclipsed by the more popular Saint Patrick, Gertrude of Nivelles is also celebrated today, a holy woman who somewhat inexplicably became the patron saint of cats.
Apparitions of the Virgin Mary have inspired pilgrimages – and souvenirs – in Lourdes, France, for more than a century.
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St. Bernadette’s visions of the Virgin Mary in the 19th century inspired the pilgrimage site millions of Catholics flock to each year.
Bearers carry the relic and the statue in honor of St. Anthony of Padua during a procession in Rome, Italy. St. Anthony of Padua was proclaimed a doctor of the church in 1946.
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Saints are recognized for exceptional virtue and faith. But some also are commemorated for their scholarship.