tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/roman-catholic-church-18832/articles
Roman Catholic Church – The Conversation
2024-03-27T19:07:18Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/224749
2024-03-27T19:07:18Z
2024-03-27T19:07:18Z
How Spanish conquistadors, and a tiny cactus-dwelling insect, gave the world the colour red
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584655/original/file-20240327-20-rtqbex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C45%2C3021%2C1995&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>When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the <a href="https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/the-crown-jewels/#gs.601fv7">Queen’s crown</a>. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such as <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/podcasts/luxury/the-bof-podcast-how-christian-louboutin-turned-red-soles-into-a-status-symbol/">Christian Louboutin</a> have cemented our association of the colour red with power and wealth. </p>
<p>But what if I told you this connection has been pervasive across time and cultures? In fact, the red pigment has fascinated humans for millennia. </p>
<h2>Prickly pear blood</h2>
<p>The vibrant red we often see in cosmetics, food and drinks is actually derived from a tiny insect called the cochineal, which lives on prickly pear cacti and today is <a href="https://www.livescience.com/36292-red-food-dye-bugs-cochineal-carmine.html">harvested mainly</a> from Peru and the Canary Islands. The cochineal’s ubiquitous crimson dye is also known as Carmine, Natural Red or <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2013-007471_EN.html">E120</a>.</p>
<p>The links between red and esteem and power can be traced back to the <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Inca_Civilization/">Inca civilisation</a> that flourished in the Andean region of South America from around 1400 to 1533.</p>
<p>Red carries profound symbolism in Inca mythology, intertwined with the legendary story of Mama Huaco – the inaugural warrior queen – who was often envisioned as emerging in a <a href="https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/mama-huaco-the-j-paul-getty-museum-collection--343469909087671035/">resplendent red dress</a>.</p>
<p>The historical journey of the cochineal mirrors the journeys of several other global staples – such as potatoes, chilli and tomatoes – <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/news/extension/history-tomatoes">that</a> <a href="https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CH041#">originated</a> from pre-Columbian Mexico and South America. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584664/original/file-20240327-24-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584664/original/file-20240327-24-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584664/original/file-20240327-24-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584664/original/file-20240327-24-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584664/original/file-20240327-24-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584664/original/file-20240327-24-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584664/original/file-20240327-24-uoh2t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584664/original/file-20240327-24-uoh2t6.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">A close up view of cochineals (<em>Dactylopius coccus</em>) on a prickly pear cactus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The cochineal insect was brought to Europe by Spanish conquistadors in the 15th century, and held a worth akin to gold and silver. It strengthened Spain’s economic influence, provided support for the Spanish empire’s expansion, and stimulated <a href="https://hmsc.harvard.edu/online-exhibits/cochineal1/color-power/">global trade</a>. </p>
<p>Cultivation and harvest were carried out by the Indigenous Mesoamerican peoples living under Spanish rule, who had already been doing this <a href="https://www.loc.gov/ghe/cascade/index.html?appid=a4fb6d38afd64e3ebe4618c776b70e7f">for centuries</a>. They were <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180202-the-insect-that-painted-europe-red">paid in pennies</a> while their labour allowed Spain to maintain its monopoly on the valuable red dye.</p>
<h2>The king’s shoes</h2>
<p>Before the conquistadors began the cochineal trade, achieving a rich red hue was a challenge, which meant European nobility had to use purple and blue instead. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Tyrian_Purple/">But by the 1460s</a>, the cochineal gained such popularity in Europe that it <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/52831/the-color-purple">superseded Tyrian purple</a> as the traditional colour of the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. This red was unmatched in vibrancy. Its depth and rarity eventually made it among the most expensive dyes of the time. </p>
<p>It became a prominent feature in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture">European Baroque art</a> – characterised by its intensity and drama. And its widespread uptake by European royalty further solidified its connection with power and wealth.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584668/original/file-20240327-16-ssozzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584668/original/file-20240327-16-ssozzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584668/original/file-20240327-16-ssozzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584668/original/file-20240327-16-ssozzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584668/original/file-20240327-16-ssozzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584668/original/file-20240327-16-ssozzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584668/original/file-20240327-16-ssozzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584668/original/file-20240327-16-ssozzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=983&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 Return of the Prodigal Son by Dutch Master Rembrandt is a famous example of a dramatic baroque work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Prodigal_Son_(Rembrandt)#/media/File:Rembrandt_Harmensz_van_Rijn_-_Return_of_the_Prodigal_Son_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In France, King Louis XIV’s (1638-1715) penchant for red was evident in his lavish décor choices, which included 435 red beds in his palace at <a href="https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/great-characters/louis-xiv">Versailles</a>. He displayed red in the <a href="https://www.thevoiceoffashion.com/intersections/famous-wardrobes-then-and-now/the-emperors-red-shoes-4155">soles of his shoes</a>. He even instituted a law in 1673 restricting the coveted red heels to aristocrats who were granted permission by the monarch himself, effectively making them a hallmark of royal favour. </p>
<h2>Spiritual significance</h2>
<p>The colour red holds significant spiritual symbolism across various religions. In Judeo-Christian traditions, an <a href="https://ornagrinman.com/2020/04/28/adom-dam-adama-adam/">intriguing connection exists</a> between the Hebrew word for “man” (Adam), “red” and “blood”, all stemming from a common etymological root. </p>
<p>According to Biblical accounts, Adam, the first man, was formed from the Earth – and the colour red could symbolise the richness of the soil or clay from which Adam was created. This interplay of language and symbolism underscores a profound interconnectedness between red and spiritual belief systems.</p>
<p>This spiritual significance reverberates across cultures. In <a href="https://www.ipl.org/essay/Hindu-Symbolism-Analysis-PKXBJ336JE8R">Hindu tradition</a>, red is imbued with sacred meaning symbolising fertility, purity and prosperity. In Chinese culture, it is considered auspicious, and signifies joy and prosperity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584667/original/file-20240327-28-fkv4gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584667/original/file-20240327-28-fkv4gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584667/original/file-20240327-28-fkv4gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584667/original/file-20240327-28-fkv4gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584667/original/file-20240327-28-fkv4gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584667/original/file-20240327-28-fkv4gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584667/original/file-20240327-28-fkv4gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584667/original/file-20240327-28-fkv4gq.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Hinduism, red represents love and prosperity, which is reflected in the bindi – a small red dot applied between the eyebrows.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Red hues have also been viewed as a symbol of vitality <a href="https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/art-stories/colors/red/">across spiritual and cultural groups</a>, as they emulate blood, our life force. In <a href="https://www.terrasanctamuseum.org/en/green-white-red-black-how-to-understand-the-colours-of-the-catholic-christian-liturgy/">Roman Catholic tradition</a>, red is symbolic of martyrdom, the spirit and the blood of Christ. </p>
<h2>The colour of champions</h2>
<p>In terms of visibility, red has the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight/">longest wavelength</a>. This might help explain our longstanding cross-cultural attraction to it: studies show it stimulates excitement and energy when viewed, which can cause physical effects such as an increased heart rate. It has even been shown to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7658407/">increase our appetite</a>. </p>
<p>Psychologically, red seems to have more influence on humans compared with other colours in the spectrum. In an experiment at the 2004 Athens Olympics, athletes across four contact sports were randomly clad in either red or blue. Those who wore red were <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/435293a">more often victorious</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18344128/#:%7E:text=No%20significant%20differences%20were%20found,over%20a%2055%2Dyear%20period.">Another study of</a> English football teams over a 55-year period found wearing red shirts was associated with greater success on the field. That’s because red is linked to a heightened sense of determination and endurance, which can translate to better focus. From this angle, red seems to be the colour of champions. </p>
<p>The “red carpet” tradition itself is thousands of years old. The <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/an-unexpected-history-of-the-red-carpet/index.html">first known reference</a> to it comes from the ancient Greek play Agamemnon, written in 458 BCE, in which a red path (said to be reserved for the gods) is laid out for King Agamemnon by his wife as he returns from the Trojan war. The twist is that Clytemnestra seeks to lead him to his death: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Let all the ground be red / Where those feet pass; and Justice, dark of yore, / Home light him to the hearth he looks not for.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This symbol has since morphed into the celebrity red carpet, graced by pop culture “royalty”.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, red also has also garnered some alarming associations in our everyday vernacular, with “red pills”, “red flags” and “seeing red” being just a few examples. </p>
<p>This potent symbol continues to have diverse interpretations, representing not only achievement, but also the power – and sometimes the dangers – that come with it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584669/original/file-20240327-20-td6a7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584669/original/file-20240327-20-td6a7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584669/original/file-20240327-20-td6a7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584669/original/file-20240327-20-td6a7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584669/original/file-20240327-20-td6a7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584669/original/file-20240327-20-td6a7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584669/original/file-20240327-20-td6a7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584669/original/file-20240327-20-td6a7i.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">Besides its links to spirituality and nobility, red is also used to convey more sinister meanings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224749/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Panizza Allmark 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>
Purple was highly valued and associated with royalty, power, and prestige in various ancient cultures, including the Roman and Byzantine Empires. So how did red creep its way in?
Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223630
2024-03-05T13:59:33Z
2024-03-05T13:59:33Z
Scorsese’s gods of the streets: From ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ to ‘Silence,’ faith is rarely far off in his films
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578959/original/file-20240229-26-vvk7wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C744%2C447&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Even in films where religion isn't front and center, Martin Scorsese's attention to ritual and devotion comes through. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Apple TV+</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A widely circulated still from the set of Martin Scorsese’s latest film, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5537002/">Killers of the Flower Moon</a>,” shows the director sitting in a church pew. Next to him is Lily Gladstone, who plays the role of Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman whose family is targeted as part of a broader conspiracy by white Americans to steal the tribe’s wealth, to the point of marrying and killing its members.</p>
<p>In the photograph, Scorsese appears to hold <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-rosary-why-a-set-of-beads-and-prayers-are-central-to-catholic-faith-192485">rosary beads</a>, a common devotional object for many Catholics. Mollie is Catholic, so the rosary makes sense as a prop. But as <a href="https://udayton.edu/directory/artssciences/religiousstudies/smith_anthony.php">a scholar</a> of <a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700636150/the-look-of-catholics/">religion and film</a>, I’m struck by how it calls to mind the director’s own complex Catholicism and its imprint on his decades of filmmaking.</p>
<p>Scorsese stands in a long line of Catholic American filmmakers, stretching back to the 1930s and 1940s – one that includes Irish Americans <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/searcher">John Ford</a> and <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/julyweb-only/fof_mccarey.html">Leo McCarey</a>, and Italian immigrant <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/features/frank-capra-earned-his-wings-with-it-s-a-wonderful-life">Frank Capra</a>. At a time when Catholicism still seemed foreign to many Americans, those directors <a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700636150/the-look-of-catholics/">helped normalize the faith</a>, making it seem like part of a shared American story. </p>
<p>Yet in his films, Scorsese has taken a much more personal approach to exploring Catholic faith and experience. He doesn’t feel the need to defend the religion or burnish its image. His movies are steeped in Catholic sensibilities, but embrace painful questions that often accompany belief: what it means to hold on to religious commitment in a world where God can seem absent.</p>
<h2>From altar boy to auteur</h2>
<p>Scorsese has often spoken of <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/filmmaker-martin-scorsese-talks-about-his-faith-upcoming-movie-silence?fbclid=IwAR1JWRy3irXQQlldezkIduAqJ3zH3iBUaU5qPh6Llr1v6ylXl1GnwlbyO48">his Catholic background</a>. Born in New York City’s Little Italy, he went to Catholic schools and served as an altar boy at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, which <a href="https://untappedcities.com/2014/04/03/monthofscorsese-nyc-film-locations-for-martin-scorsese-mean-streets/">appeared in his early masterpiece</a> “Mean Streets.” Scorsese even began seminary training, but he quickly realized the priesthood was not for him.</p>
<p>Yet the church proved influential. Scorsese has described St. Patrick’s as <a href="https://www.franciscanmedia.org/st-anthony-messenger/martin-scorsese-s-trilogy-of-faith/">a spiritual alternative</a> to the violence in the streets around his neighborhood. A priest <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/filmmaker-martin-scorsese-talks-about-his-faith-upcoming-movie-silence?fbclid=IwAR1JWRy3irXQQlldezkIduAqJ3zH3iBUaU5qPh6Llr1v6ylXl1GnwlbyO48">introduced the young Scorsese</a> to classical music and books that widened his cultural horizons.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The view of a sanctuary with stained-glass windows, seen from above with a man playing the organ in the foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578968/original/file-20240229-16-2fnzga.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">Organist Jared Lamenzo performs at the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral on June 21, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/organist-jared-lamenzo-perform-during-the-friends-of-the-news-photo/1151298772?adppopup=true">Kris Connor/Getty Images for NAMM</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A similar tension runs through many of his films: Catholic devotion, mystery and ritual interwoven with ruthless crime. Indeed, the struggle with faith amid brutality is a theme Scorsese returns to over and over, asking what religion might have to offer the world as it actually exists, with all its cruelties, greed and despair.</p>
<h2>Presence and absence</h2>
<p>That struggle can be described as one between “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674984592">presence” and “absence</a>,” to use the terms of <a href="https://history.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/affiliated-faculty/robert-orsi.html">religious studies scholar Robert A. Orsi</a>. </p>
<p>Religious presence refers to all the ways people experience their gods’ existence in the world and in their lives. For Catholics, for example, the Eucharist is not just a symbol of Christ; the consecrated bread and wine in Communion actually <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-communion-matters-in-catholic-life-and-what-it-means-to-be-denied-the-eucharist-163560">become Jesus’ flesh and blood</a>, according to Catholic teaching.</p>
<p>Orsi describes religious absence, on the other hand, as the experience of doubt and spiritual struggle about a god not felt directly on Earth.</p>
<p>Both presence and absence shape Scorsese’s rendering of religion. God’s absence takes the form of violence and greed in his films. But some characters also carry their gods with them in the world. This is most dramatically seen in “Silence,” released in 2016, which was based on the novel by <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2023/04/25/shusaku-endo-245116">Japanese Catholic writer Shusaku Endo</a>. </p>
<p>“Silence” is the story of two Jesuit missionaries who travel to 17th century Japan in search of their mentor, another Jesuit who is believed to have renounced the faith during a wave of violent persecutions. One of them, Father Rodrigues, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/10/silence-review-the-last-temptation-of-liam-neeson-in-scorseses-shattering-epic">profoundly questions his own faith</a> after witnessing the torture of Japanese Christians.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cuTjBL28l0U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Silence’ dramatically explores faith, doubt and suffering.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Why, he wonders, does God allow such suffering? Eventually he himself will renounce his faith in order to save the lives of those to whom he ministers.</p>
<p>The silence of God is the film’s major preoccupation, yet it is filled with devotional imagery. At <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOX8-c-_uVY">the climax of the film</a>, Rodrigues tramples on an image of Christ in order to end the torture of other Christians. But just at that moment, he experiences the presence of his God.</p>
<p>The very final scene depicts his burial, years after the film’s main events – a small crucifix clasped in his hand.</p>
<h2>Penance ‘in the streets’</h2>
<p>This preoccupation with Catholicism stretches back to Scorsese’s 1973 breakthrough film, “Mean Streets.” Harvey Keitel plays a young Italian American man, Charlie, who <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/5130/film/his-catholic-conscience">grapples with his faith</a> in the unforgiving world of New York’s Lower East Side. </p>
<p>Presence, as Orsi points out, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674984592">is often as much a burden</a> as a solace. Indeed, part of the emotional power in “Mean Streets” lies in Charlie’s own impatience toward Catholic practices and rules. He wants the freedom to be Catholic in his own way.</p>
<p>“You don’t make up for your sins in the church,” he insists <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdQ4_AzBxXg">in the opening voice-over</a>. “You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit, and you know it.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo of a man in a jacket and sunglasses leaning against a lamppost on a street with graffiti." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578972/original/file-20240229-24-ca054r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&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 Scorsese at the corner of Hester and Baxter streets in 1973, one of the locations he used in his New York film ‘Mean Streets.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/full-length-portrait-of-american-director-martin-scorsese-news-photo/3204086?adppopup=true">Jack Manning/New York Times Co./Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the years, Scorsese’s own ambitions have led him far beyond the streets of Little Italy. A number of his films have little to do with religion. Yet movies such as “Casino,” “The Aviator” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” elaborate the same basic question as “Mean Streets”: What is important in a world that so often feels dominated by absence, money and violence? Through a long career, Scorsese has framed both the sacred and profane as compelling but competing forces of human desire.</p>
<p>Shortly before the release of “Silence,” Scorsese <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/27/magazine/the-passion-of-martin-scorsese.html">visited St. Patrick’s</a> during an interview with The New York Times. “I never left,” he said. “In my mind, I am here every day.”</p>
<p>One might take him at his word. Even in his most recent movie, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2023/10/26/killers-flower-moon-osage-catholics-246377">a Catholic sensibility sneaks through in numerous ways</a>. Characters attend Mass at parish churches and bury their dead on consecrated Catholic ground. </p>
<p>Further, the film’s attention to Osage religious practices demonstrates Scorsese’s sensitivity to the power of ritual and devotion. The movie opens with the burial of a ceremonial pipe, highlighting how objects can assume sacred significance. As Mollie’s mother dies, she has a vision of the elders.</p>
<p>But the questions that haunt Scorsese hang over moments that hardly feel religious, too. </p>
<p>Toward the end of the film, when Mollie asks her duplicitous husband, Ernest, to come clean, his refusal to fully confess the harm he did to her and her family epitomizes the depths of his ethical emptiness. Her silence as she gets up and leaves, with an FBI agent standing quietly in the corner, offers a more powerful moral indictment than any legal sentence. The refusal to pay for one’s sins at home and in the streets has rarely looked so damning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223630/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Smith 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>
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.
Anthony Smith, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Dayton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214691
2024-01-19T13:40:18Z
2024-01-19T13:40:18Z
Latin America’s colonial period was far less Catholic than it might seem − despite the Inquisition’s attempts to police religion
<p>One of the most pervasive myths about colonial Latin American society is that it was Catholic, full stop. </p>
<p>It’s a familiar story: As history books tell it, the Europeans brought their religion to the New World, and none were as zealous in their attempts to convert Indigenous people as the Spaniards. Indeed, in the Spanish view, the quest to spread Catholicism to every corner of the world was a central pillar of colonization.</p>
<p>A quick glance at how deeply Catholic much of the region still is – <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/996386/latin-america-religion-affiliation-share-type/">some 57% of Latin Americans</a> – seems to reinforce the idea of Spanish missionaries’ success.</p>
<p>In truth, Spanish control in the Americas was far from absolute. Despite the sweeping proclamations of missionaries who claimed to convert thousands of souls every day to Christianity, spiritual life in the colonies would have made the pope do a double take. </p>
<h2>Far from the Vatican</h2>
<p>Spain’s colonies were a vast <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477315835/">patchwork of borderlands</a> built over the smoldering infrastructure of Indigenous civilizations such as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/fifth-sun-9780197577660">the Mexica</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-lived-at-machu-picchu-dna-analysis-shows-surprising-diversity-at-the-ancient-inca-palace-210287">the Inca</a>. Even at the centers of colonial control, like Mexico City and Lima, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2390824">Spanish power was decentralized</a>, meaning that virtually no policy, order or law was consistently implemented. The reach of the Spanish crown depended as much on the whims of low-ranking administrators as on the king’s own advisers.</p>
<p>The unevenness of colonial authority held true <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/tam.2021.46">in the realm of religion</a>, as well – a focus of <a href="https://as.tufts.edu/history/people/faculty/diego-luis">my historical research</a>.</p>
<p>Oftentimes, “conversion” simply meant baptism. Priests would sprinkle water on the convert’s head, give them a “Christian” – i.e., Hispanic – name, and encourage them to attend Mass on Sundays. However, attendance was often spottier than in a post-COVID classroom.</p>
<p>There are many reasons why this was the case. First, the cruelty of some Spaniards hardly made them attractive advertisements for Christianity. The <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/261052/a-short-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies-by-bartolome-de-las-casas-edited-and-translated-by-nigel-griffin-introduction-by-anthony-pagden/">legendary last words</a> of Hatüey, an Indigenous Taíno leader who led a rebellion in what is now Cuba, suffice to make the point.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white drawing of a man being burned at a stake as a priest holds out a small crucifix to him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bartolome de las Casas’ writings, such as his description of Hatuey’s execution, helped record colonizers’ violence against Indigenous people in the Americas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCB~1~1~4492~7050007:-Man-burned-at-the-stake-?qvq=q:hatuey;lc:JCBMAPS~2~2,JCB~3~3,JCBBOOKS~1~1,JCBMAPS~1~1,JCBMAPS~3~3,JCB~1~1&mi=1&trs=2">Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the moments before Hatüey was burned at the stake, a priest urged him to convert so that his soul would go to heaven. Hatüey asked if Spaniards went to heaven, too. When the priest responded that “the good ones do, (Hatüey) retorted, without need for further reflection, that if that was the case, then he chose to go to Hell to ensure that he would never again have to clap eyes on those cruel brutes.” </p>
<p>Bartolomé de las Casas, a 16th century missionary,
documented this incident <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/261052/a-short-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies-by-bartolome-de-las-casas-edited-and-translated-by-nigel-griffin-introduction-by-anthony-pagden/">to condemn the violence</a> of Spanish colonizers in the Americas.</p>
<p>Second, Indigenous spiritual practices got an unwitting boost from the pope himself. Paul III, pope from 1534-1549, conceded <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667590/">special religious exemptions</a> to Indigenous people in the Americas, since they were new converts, or “neophytes,” in the faith. Effectively, this status meant that they were forgiven for not observing all Catholic practices correctly – not celebrating all holidays, not fasting often, marrying cousins, and so on.</p>
<p>This somewhat flexible – but no less violent – approach to conversion meant that Indigenous spiritual practices often melded with Spanish ones. Perhaps the best example of this <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001/acref-9780195176322-e-1336">religious syncretism</a> is <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=1104">Our Lady of Guadalupe</a>, whom many Catholics revere as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-virgin-of-guadalupe-is-more-than-a-religious-icon-to-catholics-in-mexico-151251">an apparition of the Virgin Mary</a>, including Indigenous Catholics. Yet many Indigenous people also <a href="https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tonantzin">identify Guadalupe with Tonantzin</a>. The word means “Our Mother” in Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica, and could refer to multiple goddesses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A wide, ornate golden frame surrounds an illustration of a woman in a blue cloak with a halo-like ring of light around her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.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">An altar inside the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzman in Oaxaca, Mexico, depicts the Virgen of Guadalupe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/our-lady-of-guadalupe-shrine-royalty-free-image/1207063275?phrase=virgen+de+guadalupe&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">Gabriel Perez/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Third, as the <a href="https://www.slavevoyages.org/">transatlantic slave trade</a> intensified during the 16th century, spiritual systems from West and West-Central Africa entered the mix. For example, many Africans and their descendants used protective amulets <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/fc11/e548799876ee8da4c29c2dc6694c248f010a.pdf?_gl=1*k4basm*_ga*MTE1NDExODM4Ny4xNzA1NTI0MDYx*_ga_H7P4ZT52H5*MTcwNTUyNDA2MC4xLjEuMTcwNTUyNDA3NC40Ni4wLjA">called “nóminas</a>” and “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article-abstract/88/2/460/5828949?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false">bolsas de mandinga</a>,” and they adapted African healing rituals and medical knowledge to New World environments.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the lesser-known <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-south-asia-to-mexico-from-slave-to-spiritual-icon-this-womans-life-is-a-snapshot-of-spains-colonization-and-the-pacific-slave-trade-history-that-books-often-leave-out-214692">transpacific slave trade</a> brought thousands of Asians to colonial Mexico and further complicated the religious landscape. My 2024 book, “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271784">The First Asians in the Americas</a>,” demonstrates that Asians used a wide variety of beliefs and practices to navigate and even resist the conditions of their enslavement. They made potions, learned enchantments and even publicly renounced their faith in God, Jesus and the saints in order to call attention to unjust treatment.</p>
<h2>Paperwork and torture</h2>
<p>Spanish authorities were eager to clamp down on these spiritual beliefs and founded new branches of the <a href="https://www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com/Ficha/9786071631657/F">Inquisition in Lima and Mexico City</a> in the late 1500s. The Spanish Inquisition had been around for nearly a century by this point, policing the boundary between accepted and heretical Catholic practices and beliefs. </p>
<p>While the Inquisition in Europe is infamous for having tried and murdered thousands, the Inquisition in Mexico City reserved execution for only <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/10254/inquisition-new-spain-1536-1820">a few dozen cases</a>. Whippings, exiles, imprisonments and public shaming were the norm. Still, the United States carceral system <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/executions-overview">executes more people every few years</a> than the Inquisition in Mexico did over more than two centuries. </p>
<p>Most Indigenous people were exempted from being denounced to the Inquisition, since they were considered Christian neophytes and prone to errors. However, Africans and Asians, as well as their descendants, people of mixed ethnicities, “Moriscos” (converted Muslims), “conversos” (converted Jews), Protestants and even Catholic Spaniards frequently ran afoul of inquisitors.</p>
<p>Inquisition trials generated mountains of paperwork, in part because scribes were obsessive in their thoroughness. Occasionally, they even recorded every exclamation a prisoner cried out in the Inquisition’s notorious <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fj6rt.15?seq=1">torture chambers</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The stone and brick facade of an old, two-story building on a street with tall streetlamps." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&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 facade of the colonial Palace of the Inquisition in Mexico City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FacadeInquisDF.JPG">Thelmadatter/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, these cases provide rare insights into the <a href="https://libros.uv.mx/index.php/UV/catalog/book/AB108">spiritual cultures</a> of colonial society’s most marginalized subjects. Non-Europeans were often accused of committing blasphemy and concocting love potions to seduce sailors, soldiers and merchants. They conducted rituals with hallucinogens such as peyote to find stolen objects and lost people. They fashioned charms to shield friends, family and clients from harm.</p>
<p>Though Spaniards punished divination and other unapproved practices, it wasn’t because they considered such rituals pointless or ineffective. Quite the opposite: They believed that they worked but were powered by the devil, and were therefore a force of evil.</p>
<h2>Spiritual mosaic</h2>
<p>One of the most enigmatic cases <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271784">I have written about</a> is that of an enslaved South Asian man from Malabar, in southern India, named Antón. In 1652, he appeared before the Inquisition in Mexico City for the “spiritual crimes” of palm reading and divination. He was 65 years old and lived in one of the textile mills infamous for its poor working conditions in Coyoacán, just south of the city. </p>
<p>According to multiple witnesses, Antón attracted a large, multiethnic clientele who sometimes traveled a day in each direction to ask him their pressing questions about the future. By reading palms, Antón would predict “if (someone) would find love, when a baby would be born, if a woman would become a nun, and so on.” Each consultation earned him a few coins, which he split with two weavers who translated from Spanish into Nahuatl for him.</p>
<p>When the inquisitors questioned him, Antón claimed to have learned how to read palms in Malabar and insisted that he had done nothing wrong. In all, divination was not considered as serious a religious infraction as, say, practicing Judaism or Islam, so Antón was condemned to the relatively light punishment of proclaiming his sins publicly after 245 days in prison.</p>
<p>Inquisitorial records from the colonial period are filled with vibrant characters like Antón. There was <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469609751/domingos-alvares-african-healing-and-the-intellectual-history-of-the-atlantic-world/">Domingos Álvares</a>, who became a renowned healer in Brazil, and <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469630878/the-experiential-caribbean/">Antonio Congo</a>, who was said to control storms in what is now Colombia.</p>
<p>They created worlds of knowledge and faith often out of alignment with the strictures of Catholic doctrine. Many of these beliefs have persisted against the odds, surviving into the present. For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814722343.003.0005">the Afro-Cuban Santería, Palo Monte</a>, <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/ifa-divination-system-00146">Ifá</a> and other religions are <a href="https://cuba.miami.edu/arts-culture/afro-cuban-religion-surviving-and-thriving-underground/index.html">thriving in Cuba today</a> despite centuries of discrimination and repression.</p>
<p>Labeling Latin America and its colonial period uniformly “Catholic” silences this rich history. There were, of course, thousands of Catholics in the colonies, and Catholicism was a central tenet of Spanish colonialism. But that is not the full story: Other beliefs thrived and became new realities of colonial life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diego Javier Luis 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>
Conversion was often a violent affair, but that doesn’t mean it was 100% successful. Colonial Latin America was home to many different spiritual traditions from Indigenous, African and Asian cultures.
Diego Javier Luis, Assistant Professor of History, Tufts University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221076
2024-01-18T13:27:58Z
2024-01-18T13:27:58Z
Nicaragua released imprisoned priests, but repression is unlikely to relent – and the Catholic Church remains a target
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569921/original/file-20240117-20-1jrits.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C1%2C1017%2C656&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A priest and Catholic worshippers pray in front of an image of 'Sangre de Cristo,' burned in a fire on July 2020, at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/priest-and-catholic-faithful-pray-in-front-of-an-image-of-news-photo/1242786617?adppopup=true">Oswaldo Rivas/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bad news has been the norm for Catholics in Nicaragua, where clergy and church groups have been frequent targets of a wide-ranging crackdown for years. But on Jan. 14, 2024, they received a happy surprise: The government unexpectedly released two bishops, 15 priests and two seminary students from prison and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/14/nicaragua-bishop-rolando-alvarez/">expelled them</a> to the Vatican.</p>
<p>Those released included <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/religious-prisoners-conscience/forb-victims-database/rolando-alvarez">Bishop Rolando Álvarez</a>, a high-profile political prisoner who was detained in 2022 for criticizing the government and then sentenced to 26 years in prison for <a href="https://confidencial.digital/english/nicaraguan-bishop-rolando-alvarez-receives-26-year-sentence/">alleged treason</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://confidencial.digital/english/dictatorship-banishes-monsignor-rolando-alvarez-and-18-other-religious-political-prisoners-to-the-vatican/">They also included</a> priests <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-arrests-four-more-priests-intensifies-crackdown-catholic-church-2023-12-30/">detained by</a> President Daniel Ortega’s government in late December 2023 <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2024-01/priest-arrested-in-nicaragua-following-mass-on-new-year-s-eve.html">for expressing solidarity</a> with Álvarez and other political prisoners. Days later, Pope Francis <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/01/world/europe/nicaragua-pope-francis-church.html">criticized the regime</a> in his New Year’s message and then <a href="https://confidencial.digital/english/pope-francis-reiterates-concerns-about-crisis-in-nicaragua/">called for</a> “respectful diplomatic dialogue.”</p>
<p>Nearly six years after <a href="https://infobuero-nicaragua.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PUBLICADO-200908.-FUNIDES.-Nicaragua-en-movimiento-2016-2020-SEI_2020_01-2.pdf">mass protests erupted</a> against Ortega and then were brutally repressed, these prisoner releases offer some hope to Nicaragua’s opposition. As <a href="https://www.global.ucsb.edu/people/kai-m-thaler">my research</a> <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003197614-16/nicaragua-rachel-schwartz-kai-thaler">has shown</a>, however, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IICx95ZZzKjfHqiU-oVEityK70vwBv5f/view?usp=sharing">the Ortega regime is unrelenting</a> in trying to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2022.0023">retain power</a>, which suggests this is not necessarily a turning point. In fact, the government reportedly <a href="https://confidencial.digital/nacion/dictadura-secuestra-al-sacerdote-ezequiel-buenfil-tras-el-destierro-de-19-religiosos/">took yet another priest into custody</a> on Jan. 16.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569652/original/file-20240116-25-c9w6ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Several rows of people seated in church pews, all looking ahead." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569652/original/file-20240116-25-c9w6ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569652/original/file-20240116-25-c9w6ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569652/original/file-20240116-25-c9w6ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569652/original/file-20240116-25-c9w6ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569652/original/file-20240116-25-c9w6ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569652/original/file-20240116-25-c9w6ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569652/original/file-20240116-25-c9w6ji.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">Nicaraguans attend mass in San Juan de Oriente on June 24, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-attend-a-mass-during-celebrations-in-honour-of-san-news-photo/1259026822?adppopup=true">Stringer/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why target the church?</h2>
<p>Ortega first led Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, after his left-wing revolutionary organization, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN, spearheaded the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. In the 1980s, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.16993/ibero.38">FSLN clashed with the Vatican</a> and church hierarchy over the group’s socialist politics, even as many <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3712105">poorer Nicaraguan Catholics embraced them</a>.</p>
<p>When Ortega took office again in 2007, however, he did so <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20788575">with the blessing of Christian leaders</a>. During the 2006 elections, he had turned to <a href="https://doi.org/10.16993/ibero.38">alliances with Catholic</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-017-0005-6">Protestant elites</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2017.0032">return to power</a> in exchange for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X08326020">adopting</a> conservative social policies like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61545-2">banning abortion</a>.</p>
<p>Over the next decade, <a href="https://doi.org/10.5129/001041522X16281740895086">Ortega remained popular</a>, presiding over economic growth in collaboration <a href="https://doi.org/10.15517/aeca.v43i0.31556">with business leaders</a> and developing new public infrastructure and services.</p>
<p>Yet he and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-2456.2010.00099.x">FSLN party he controlled</a> were also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/lap.2019.64">consolidating power</a> and <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/regimen-de-ortega-una-nueva-dictadura-familiar-en-el-continente/oclc/967515148">governing in an increasingly authoritarian</a> manner. Ortega won <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/peace/americas/nicaragua_2011_report_post.pdf">reelection in 2011</a> and then retained power in <a href="http://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2017.0032">fraudulent elections</a> in 2016. Opposition candidates were disqualified, and Ortega’s running mate was his wife, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/world/americas/nicaragua-daniel-ortega-rosario-murillo-house-of-cards.html">Rosario Murillo</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3917/pal.112.0083">Unexpectedly</a>, Ortega’s popularity and his relationship with the church came crashing down in April 2018, when the government announced cutbacks in social security benefits for retirees. Nicaraguans from <a href="https://doi.org/10.5129/001041522X16281740895086">all backgrounds</a> <a href="https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=7549585">took to the streets</a>, and Ortega and Murillo responded with a <a href="https://gieinicaragua.org/#section04">furious crackdown</a>, unleashing police and pro-government paramilitaries <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr43/9213/2018/en/">armed with military-grade weapons</a>.</p>
<p>Cathedrals and churches <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/bishops-journalists-attacked-church-nicaragua">tried to</a> <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/41597a7a2b9356e668ff2b579dc7cb1d/1">offer refuge</a> to protesters, but <a href="https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/jsForm/?File=/en/iachr/media_center/preleases/2021/302.asp">over 300 people were killed</a>. Church leaders facilitated a national dialogue between the government and an opposition coalition, <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/nicaraguan-bishops-end-role-mediators-national-dialogue">but withdrew</a> as <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/06/nicaragua-aumenta-la-violencia-y-la-represion-estatal-a-pesar-de-los-multiples-esfuerzos-de-dialogo/">repression continued</a>.</p>
<p>When popular Catholic leaders <a href="http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/38768/">criticized violence</a> against protesters, the regime began viewing the church <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/22/world/americas/nicaragua-protests-catholic-church.html">as a rival</a> threatening Ortega’s waning legitimacy. Police, paramilitaries and FSLN supporters started <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-12-23/exiles-arrests-and-740-attacks-nicaragua-redoubles-its-persecution-of-the-catholic-church.html">harassing and attacking</a> clergy and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-religion-arson-rosario-murillo-latin-america-82bb721aa3ec25e4af34a26e75568599">Catholic institutions</a>.</p>
<p>In 2019, the pope <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-9016f14a1a9b476ab5cb1d61397fc273">recalled Silvio Báez</a>, the auxiliary bishop of Managua and a prominent critic of Ortega, from Nicaragua. Yet other bishops and priests still found themselves <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/nicaraguan-president-daniel-ortega-goes-catholic-church-latest-effort-rcna44618">in the regime’s crosshairs</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569647/original/file-20240116-15-mbn4il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two people in baseball hats hold posters with pictures of a man in clerical robes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569647/original/file-20240116-15-mbn4il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569647/original/file-20240116-15-mbn4il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569647/original/file-20240116-15-mbn4il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569647/original/file-20240116-15-mbn4il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569647/original/file-20240116-15-mbn4il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569647/original/file-20240116-15-mbn4il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569647/original/file-20240116-15-mbn4il.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">Nicaraguan citizens in Costa Rica demonstrate in front of the Nicaraguan Embassy in August 2022 to protest the detention of Bishop Rolando Alvarez.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nicaraguan-citizens-hold-a-demonstration-in-front-of-the-news-photo/1242597067?adppopup=true">Oscar Navarrete/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nicaragua-catholic-priests-exile-ortega-f5ae508a4295f7ae5b359f96064eea46">fled into exile</a> or were blocked <a href="https://confidencial.digital/nacion/sacerdote-desterrado-silencio-de-los-obispos-no-ha-detenido-la-persecucion/">from entering</a> Nicaragua if they traveled abroad. Others who stayed were kept under surveillance. Priests who expressed support for political prisoners or continued to criticize the regime, even in vague terms, could be <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/catholic-clergy-report-surveillance-beatings-amid-nicaraguas-crackdown-2023-07-07/">arrested or beaten</a>. </p>
<p>The government expelled 12 formerly detained priests to the Vatican <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-sends-catholic-priests-rome-after-talks-with-vatican-2023-10-19/">in October 2023</a> after what the regime called “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-sends-catholic-priests-rome-after-talks-with-vatican-2023-10-19/">fruitful conversations</a>.” But Álvarez, the highest-profile political prisoner, was still held by the government and was stripped of his citizenship after <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-caribbean-daniel-ortega-rosario-murillo-c7930c6340472867148ca7e79e09f1eb">refusing to go into exile</a> in February 2023.</p>
<h2>Broader patterns of repression</h2>
<p>Attacks on the church <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/10/nicaragua-crackdown-religious-actors-further-imperils-return-democracy">are a symptom</a> of the Ortega regime’s absolute intolerance for dissent.</p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/nicaragua">over 3,000 nongovernmental organizations</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/nicaragua-has-kicked-out-hundreds-of-ngos-even-cracking-down-on-catholic-groups-like-nuns-from-mother-teresas-order-190222">shut down</a> since 2018, the church has become Nicaragua’s only <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/23/world/americas/nicaragua-catholic-church-daniel-ortega.html">major nonstate institution</a> with nationwide reach. </p>
<p>In a country where <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/Nicaragua/#report-toc__section-1">over 40% of the people</a> identify as Catholic, many normally turn to the church in times <a href="https://popolna.org/realidades-municipales-presentadas-en-informe-de-red-local/">of need</a>. Suppressing Catholic institutions means Nicaraguans must turn to the state for aid, which <a href="https://www.divergentes.com/nicaragua-un-espia-en-cada-esquina/">monitors citizens</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/pol.2013.10">has been accused of denying</a> services for perceived disloyalty.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vozdeamerica.com/a/universidad-de-jesuitas-en-nicaragua-suspende-operaciones-tras-ser-acusada-de-ser-un-centro-de-terrorismo-/7227873.html">At least 27</a> Catholic and <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/09/group-experts-nicaragua-finds-escalating-persecution-against-dissent-and-crackdown?sub-site=HRC">secular universities</a> have also <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/17/nicaragua-seizes-catholic-university-accused-of-being-centre-of-terrorism">been closed or seized</a> by the government, as have <a href="https://latamjournalismreview.org/news/daniel-ortegas-war-against-journalism-54-media-outlets-have-been-shut-down/">more than 50</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-shuts-catholic-radio-stations-led-by-bishop-critical-regime-2022-08-02/">media outlets</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569651/original/file-20240116-22672-62jpa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="T-shirts with pictures of a man in a blue jacket making a 'V' sign with his fingers, and shirts that say 'FSLN,' hang on display outside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569651/original/file-20240116-22672-62jpa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569651/original/file-20240116-22672-62jpa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569651/original/file-20240116-22672-62jpa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569651/original/file-20240116-22672-62jpa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569651/original/file-20240116-22672-62jpa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569651/original/file-20240116-22672-62jpa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569651/original/file-20240116-22672-62jpa1.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">T-shirts depicting Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega for sale in Managua in July 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/shirts-depicting-nicaraguan-president-daniel-ortega-are-news-photo/1539099812?adppopup=true">Oswaldo Rivas/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government’s decision to expel clergy on Jan. 14 is also in line with its tendency to either <a href="https://www.articulo66.com/2022/09/29/estos-son-los-nicaraguenses-desterrados-por-el-regimen-ortega-murillo-en-lo-que-va-de-2022/">block opponents’ reentry</a> into Nicaragua or force them <a href="https://confidencial.digital/english/husband-and-son-of-former-miss-nicaragua-director-expelled-and-banished/">into exile</a>. In many cases, Nicaragua has then revoked critics’ citizenship, as when it expelled 222 political prisoners <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/09/nicaragua-frees-222-political-prisoners-flies-to-us">in February 2023</a> to the United States.</p>
<p>When imprisonment or threats have not shaken critics’ resolve, Ortega and Murillo appear to have decided that <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/nicaraguas-political-repression-will-continue-despite-prisoner-release">keeping them abroad is best</a>. Not only does this reduce the risks of anti-regime action in Nicaragua, but it may diminish international scrutiny of <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/10/government-critics-languish-nicaraguan-prisons">political prisoners’ mistreatment</a>.</p>
<h2>Cautious criticism</h2>
<p>Since 2018, repression in Nicaragua has come in waves, with the brutal violence that repressed the protests shifting toward <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/nicaragua">an environment</a> of <a href="https://confidencial.digital/english/five-years-of-police-state-in-nicaragua-ban-on-assembly-protests-free-speech-and-elections/">constant surveillance</a>, legal actions against independent institutions and opponents, and periodic arrests. Moments of seeming calm, however, have often been followed by <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr43/4631/2021/en/">harsh crackdowns</a>, such as <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/09/20/nicaragua-trumped-charges-against-critics">a slew of arrests</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2022.0023">ahead of the 2021 elections</a>.</p>
<p>Even as repression has mounted, the Vatican has <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/pope-worried-about-nicaraguan-bishop-s-prison-sentence-/6959873.html">been cautious</a> about criticizing Ortega and Murillo, and some Nicaraguans and <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/why-is-pope-francis-quiet-about-nicaragua">Catholics abroad</a> <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2022/08/nicaraguan-ngos-urge-pope-francis-to-speak-out-on-oppression">have urged the pope to do more</a>. Yet the Vatican’s restraint has not appeared to decrease <a href="https://confidencial.digital/english/ortega-represses-151-priests-and-nuns-imprisonment-banishment-and-exile/">threats against clergy</a> or limits on activities <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-police-ban-catholic-procession-church-crackdown-2022-08-12/">like religious processions</a>.</p>
<p>In January 2024, however, Francis pointedly <a href="https://confidencial.digital/english/pope-francis-reiterates-concerns-about-crisis-in-nicaragua/">called attention to the crisis</a> during two speeches, days after <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-arrests-four-more-priests-intensifies-crackdown-catholic-church-2023-12-30/">a dozen priests</a> were arrested. One week later came the release of Álvarez and his colleagues – free to leave Nicaragua, but not to come back. </p>
<p>Catholic leaders remain Nicaragua’s <a href="https://confidencial.digital/nacion/obispos-alvarez-brenes-y-baez-con-mas-alta-opinion-favorable-en-nicaragua/">most popular figures</a>, according to independent polling. This makes them a continued threat to Ortega and Murillo’s quest for <a href="https://confidencial.digital/nacion/ortega-a-nicas-en-redes-sociales-si-publican-contra-mi-van-presos/">total control</a>. Ezequiel Buenfil Batún, the priest detained Jan. 16, belonged to a religious order <a href="https://confidencial.digital/nacion/dictadura-secuestra-al-sacerdote-ezequiel-buenfil-tras-el-destierro-de-19-religiosos/">whose legal status was revoked</a> that same day, along with several other nongovernment organizations.</p>
<p>As many Nicaraguans <a href="https://confidencial.digital/english/luis-haug-nicaraguans-feel-they-are-hitting-rock-bottom/">lose hope</a> of conditions improving and dozens of political prisoners <a href="https://confidencial.digital/nacion/dictadura-mantiene-tortura-a-presos-politicos-que-realizaron-huelga-de-hambre-en-la-modelo/">remain jailed</a>, any positive news like the priests’ release is welcome. But it holds no guarantees of broader change ahead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221076/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kai M. Thaler 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>
When President Daniel Ortega returned to power in 2006, church figures supported him. Violent repression after the 2018 protests has soured the relationship and made clergy targets for intimidation.
Kai M. Thaler, Assistant Professor of Global Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213634
2023-10-24T12:22:43Z
2023-10-24T12:22:43Z
Hot-button topics may get public attention at the Vatican synod, but a more fundamental issue for the Catholic Church is at the heart of debate
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553561/original/file-20231012-23-kmieb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1024%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Delegates attend the opening of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Oct. 4, 2023, at the Vatican. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/delegates-attend-the-opening-of-the-xvi-ordinary-general-news-photo/1717279413?adppopup=true">Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>High-ranking Catholics from across the globe have converged on the Vatican, where a landmark initiative is underway that will shape the future of the Catholic Church.</p>
<p>Cardinals, bishops, priests and lay Catholics, both men and women, are meeting Oct. 4-29, 2023, as part of <a href="https://www.synod.va/en.html">the Synod on Synodality</a>: an effort Pope Francis launched in 2021 to generate dialogue among Catholics.</p>
<p>More than two weeks into the synod’s first global assembly, participants are largely keeping quiet. Opening the synod, Francis called for <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/10/11/synod-on-synodality-finds-its-voice-after-pope-francis-enforces-silence/">a “fasting of the public word</a>,” encouraging delegates to focus inward and treat discussions as private.</p>
<p>The goal of the three-year synod process is to consult with everyday Catholics worldwide about their concerns and experiences, guiding leaders’ decision-making as the church enters its third millennium amid new challenges.</p>
<p>Controversial issues such as <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/07/25/synod-raises-hopes-for-long-sought-recognition-of-women-in-the-catholic-church/">women’s roles in ministry</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-lgbtq-synod-pope-4ab34cbc37d16b036bc190efceaf52c8">LGBTQ+ people’s place in the church</a> dominate synod-related headlines, and are presumably being discussed. Often overlooked, however, is an even more fundamental issue: what power and authority should look like in the church.</p>
<h2>Far-reaching process</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worldwide-consultations-for-the-global-synod-reflect-pope-francis-efforts-toward-building-a-more-inclusive-catholic-church-213129">The synod</a> began with listening sessions at parishes, Catholic universities and other Catholic settings across the globe. All dioceses – the geographic regions into which the Catholic Church divides its ministry – were urged to hold such sessions.</p>
<p>In theory, these discussions offered an opportunity for all Catholics to have their voices heard at the highest levels of the church. Key themes were passed up to local bishops, then synthesized into documents that informed consultations by a national-level assembly, and, in turn, the global assembly.</p>
<p>In some places, however, local leaders have not promoted the synod or <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/firebrand-texas-bishop-strickland-says-rome-synod-will-reveal-true-schismatics">have explicitly criticized it</a>.</p>
<h2>Clericalism vs. dialogue</h2>
<p>Several topics on the table have garnered public attention, such as some Catholics’ hopes <a href="https://www.detroitcatholic.com/news/married-priests-newsy-question-is-a-fixture-at-synods-past-and-present">to allow married priests</a> or <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/07/25/synod-raises-hopes-for-long-sought-recognition-of-women-in-the-catholic-church/">women deacons</a>. Arguably the most important issue, however, is authority.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a black clerical robe with a pink sash and another man in all black, both wearing name tags, smile as they leave a building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.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">Synod delegates at the Vatican leave the first meeting of the General Assembly on Oct. 5, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/delegates-leave-the-paul-vi-hall-at-the-end-of-the-first-news-photo/1718797861?adppopup=true">Franco Origlia/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Conservative factions yearn for “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/world/europe/pope-francis-synod-conservatives.html">clear teaching” on doctrine</a> and strong centralized authority – even as, ironically, they <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-heresy/conservatives-want-catholic-bishops-to-denounce-pope-as-heretic-idUSKCN1S73KE">resist the authority of the current pope</a>, whom they criticize as an undisciplined leader or as too liberal. </p>
<p>Progressive factions, on the other hand, often seem to yearn for more democratic decision-making, akin to the independent authority local congregations have in some Protestant denominations.</p>
<p>In fact, as a scholar of <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/staff/">the public role of the Catholic Church</a>, I suspect both groups are likely to be disappointed. </p>
<p>The church <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651207_dignitatis-humanae_en.html">strongly supports democracy</a> in the secular world. Internally, however, Catholicism preserves a deep tradition of governance rooted in apostolic succession: the teaching that bishops’ authority descends directly <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_1973_successione-apostolica_en.html">from the Apostles of Jesus Christ</a>. In other words, the legitimacy of their leadership stems from this lineage, rather than a democratic process.</p>
<p>The synod process aims to move toward a more dialogue-based model for how the authority of priests and bishops should work, within this apostolic understanding of Catholic authority.</p>
<h2>Francis v. ‘clericalism’</h2>
<p>Catholics and many non-Catholics tend to understand the church as a kind of vertically integrated corporation, where unquestioned authority flows from the top. </p>
<p>Waves of clergy sex abuse scandals, in particular, <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/clericalism-cited-root-sex-abuse-crisis">have discredited this model</a> in many people’s eyes, and Francis appears to be moving Catholicism away from this style of leadership. He has repeatedly criticized “clericalism”: the tendency to center the faith on priests and obedience to their authority. </p>
<p>“To say "no” to abuse is to say an emphatic “no” to all forms of clericalism,“ he wrote <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180820_lettera-popolo-didio.html">in a 2018 letter</a> addressed to "the people of God.” Five years later, <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-08/pope-to-priest-of-rome-i-am-on-the-journey-with-you.html">in a note to priests in Rome</a>, he described clericalism as “a sickness” that leads to authority “without humility but with detached and haughty attitudes.”</p>
<p>Instead, Francis is advancing a model in which bishops exercise their authority through continuous dialogue with the faithful, the Catholic intellectual tradition and the wider world. This model views the church as constantly evolving, even as it forever affirms core truths. </p>
<p>Sociologists call these types of models “participative hierarchy.” One aspect of this more responsive and dynamic model of authority has been prominently on display during the general assembly: Nuns and laypeople, both men and women, <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/pope-appoints-hundreds-attend-synod-bishops-synodality#:%7E:text=Pope%20Francis%20made%20significant%20changes,as%20members%20also%20is%2054.">are full participants</a>, with voice and vote in all matters coming before the synod.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three women, one of whom wears a headcovering, chat at a round table as three men look at laptops and phones." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.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">Delegates attend the synod’s first meeting, which includes religious sisters, on Oct. 5, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/delegates-attend-the-first-meeting-of-the-xvi-ordinary-news-photo/1718794559?adppopup=true">Franco Origlia/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While this sounds moderate, it challenges the core understanding of authority among clericalist Catholics, who argue that such reforms would go against tradition. However, Catholicism has used <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20180302_sinodalita_en.html">both models of authority</a> in different periods. </p>
<h2>Politics and the pope</h2>
<p>The controversy surrounding the synod also reflects a simple fact: The Catholic Church in the U.S. is as polarized as secular American society. </p>
<p>A decade ago, at the very start of Francis’ papacy, he was seen as a moderate conservative. But he quickly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/world/europe/in-weddings-pope-francis-looks-past-tradition.html?searchResultPosition=2">signaled openness to the modern world</a>, in part by criticizing two qualities as anathema to Catholic teachings. First, clericalism, with its tendency to treat clergy <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/23/world/europe/pope-francis-in-christmas-speech-has-stern-rebuke-for-vatican-bureaucracy.html">as elite or above accountability</a>. Second, a backward-looking nostalgia for some earlier time when a perfect Catholicism supposedly existed – a stance that Francis sees as undercutting Catholicism here and now.</p>
<p>As of 2021, about 4 in 5 U.S. Catholics <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/06/25/americans-including-catholics-continue-to-have-favorable-views-of-pope-francis/">had a positive opinion of Francis</a>. Among clergy and Catholic leaders, however, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/us/pope-vatican-catholic-church-texas-bishop.html">he has some vocal detractors</a>.</p>
<p>While Francis has embraced constructive debate, he has pointedly <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-removes-cardinal-burke-vatican-post">removed from authority</a> some clergy, including Americans, whom he sees as actively undermining his direction for the church. More recently, he accused U.S. conservatives of “backwardness” and of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-vatican-conservatives-abortion-us-bbfc346c117bd9ae68a1963478bea6b3">replacing spirituality with ideology</a>.</p>
<p>For now, the synod moves forward despite the divides. There will be another synod assembly in Rome <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-10/pope-francis-synod-bishops-extension-2023-2024.html">in October 2024</a>, after which final recommendations will be made and the pope will decide what to put into action. </p>
<p>Beyond whatever particular changes this synod assembly may or may not recommend, its deeper impact will lie in how Francis’ vision of Catholic authority fares. In the long term, I would argue, this is where the Catholic future will be most shaped. The world’s <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/2022/04/30/global-christianity/">1.4 billion Catholics</a> will be watching.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213634/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Wood is president of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Wood serves (pro bono) on the national governing Board of Faith in Action, a non-profit network that engages in training leaders in non-partisan faith-based community organizing. He consults for The Fetzer Institute, a non-profit foundation that provides grants to advance spiritually-informed work. Neither organization is positioned to benefit directly from this article, but work on distantly related terrain.</span></em></p>
Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality is attempting to move the church toward a more dialogue-based model of authority, a scholar of Catholicism explains.
Richard Wood, President, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213135
2023-10-06T12:31:37Z
2023-10-06T12:31:37Z
The pope’s new letter isn’t just an ‘exhortation’ on the environment – for Francis, everything is connected, which is a source of wonder
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552272/original/file-20231005-19-erj0sa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C5455%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis cleans the sky from pollution in graffiti by the artist Maupal, inspired by 'Laudato Si.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ItalyPope/0711f333eb9e4a61bb22e623c3add160/photo?Query=laudato&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=43&currentItemNo=9">AP Photo/ Andrew Medichini</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Eight years have elapsed since Pope Francis released “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf">Laudato Si</a>,” his encyclical urging “care for our common home.” Though hailed as an eloquent plea to protect the environment, climate change was just one part of the pope’s message, from encouraging solidarity with the poor to criticizing “blind confidence” in technology. </p>
<p>On Oct. 4, 2023, Francis released an <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20231004-laudate-deum.html">addendum to “Laudato Si</a>,” addressed to “all people of good will on the climate crisis.” October 4 marks the feast day of the pope’s namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, <a href="https://theconversation.com/birds-worms-rabbits-francis-of-assisi-was-said-to-have-loved-them-all-but-todays-pet-blessings-on-his-feast-day-might-have-seemed-strange-to-the-13th-century-saint-211865">who famously loved all of creation</a>. The new installment, “Laudate Deum” – “Praise God” – is no less sweeping in the way it links environmental problems with economic, social and technological issues.</p>
<p>Like “Laudato Si,” the new document strongly reproaches wealthy nations that contribute the most to climate change, accusing them of ignoring the plight of the poor. It offers a similar rebuke of rampant individualism, lamenting that responses to global crises of climate change and the pandemic have led to “greater individualism” and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/16/business/oxfam-pandemic-davos-billionaires/index.html">hoarding of wealth</a>, rather than increased solidarity. </p>
<p>Scarcely any facet of modern life emerges unscathed by Francis’ sometimes withering critiques. In his view, societies have failed to respond to crises that are profoundly interrelated: global inequality, pollution and even new forms of artificial intelligence that feed the illusion of humans’ unlimited power. His 2015 broadside, in fact, targeted today’s “<a href="https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/just-catholic/globalization-technocratic-paradigm">technocratic paradigm</a>” with such vehemence that one critic <a href="https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/09/why-the-pope-is-wrong-about-climate-000257/">likened these passages</a> to the rantings of an “Amish hippie.”</p>
<p>At the root of Earth’s interlocking crises, the pope argued in 2015 and again in 2023, is a denial of the fact that all life exists in relationships. The larger whole in which all beings are embedded is, for Francis, both an inescapable reality and a source of wonder.</p>
<h2>An integrated vision</h2>
<p>I am <a href="https://es.ucsb.edu/people/lisa-sideris">an environmental ethicist</a>, and my work explores both science and religion. And while these fields often look at the natural world through very different lenses, they also <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520294998/consecrating-science">share a common value: wonder</a>. Francis’ social critique, I believe, stems from his vision of life – one filled with awe for the depth of meaning and mystery to be found in an interconnected world.</p>
<p>Conversely, the list of social and environmental ills Francis addresses in his environmental documents all involve a tendency to fracture and obscure the bigger picture – to ignore the larger context of each particular issue. He criticizes “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf">excessive anthropocentrism</a>,” for example: overlooking humans’ bonds with the rest of creation. Within society, excessive individualism similarly prioritizes “parts” at the expense of the whole community.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552268/original/file-20231005-26-bpv8j0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in white robes bends over a small table to sign something, as men in black and purple robes stand behind him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552268/original/file-20231005-26-bpv8j0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552268/original/file-20231005-26-bpv8j0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552268/original/file-20231005-26-bpv8j0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552268/original/file-20231005-26-bpv8j0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552268/original/file-20231005-26-bpv8j0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552268/original/file-20231005-26-bpv8j0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552268/original/file-20231005-26-bpv8j0.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">Pope Francis attends a 2021 meeting in the Vatican, sending an appeal to participants in the 26th United Nations climate change conference.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-attends-the-meeting-faith-and-science-towards-news-photo/1235688943?adppopup=true">Alessandro Di Meo/Pool/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cheap consumer goods <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-story-of-stuff-extern_b_490351">mask the full cost of production</a>, such as the environmental and health costs of manufacturing, obscuring the relationship between customers’ habits and their harmful consequences. The <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/trains-vs-planes-whats-the-real-cost-of-travel/a-45209552">impacts of air travel</a>, for example – air and noise pollution, land use, carbon emissions – are not factored into the ticket price. Failure to see these connections contributes to what Francis assails as an unsustainable “<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/11/26/247332384/pope-slams-disposable-culture-that-marginalizes-many">throwaway culture</a>.” </p>
<p>Meanwhile, ubiquitous technology – with an app for everything at each person’s fingertips – encourages a techno-fix mentality. Francis’ environmental writings reprove tech solutions that target the symptoms of problems without addressing their deeper causes. Geoengineering may offer hope <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/03/stop-burning-fossil-fuels-now-no-co2-technofix-climate-change-oceans">to mitigate the effects of climate change</a>, but not if societies keep burning fossil fuels in the meantime. Social media supposedly helps build connections, but researchers have found that people who go on the apps to maintain relationships <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21642850.2022.2158089">feel more lonely</a> than other users. In <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-08/pope-warns-against-dehumanizing-tyranny-of-technocracy.html">an August 2023 speech</a>, Francis warned of social media’s “reduction of human relationships to mere algorithms.”</p>
<h2>Integral ecology</h2>
<p>In Francis’ eyes, all these problems result from denial of how deeply interconnected the world is. When humans attempt to declare “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf">independence from reality</a>,” he writes, relationships are the first casualty. </p>
<p><a href="https://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/view/1560">The word “reality</a>” appears over 40 times <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html">in the pope’s 2015 encyclical</a>, by my count. In <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20231004-laudate-deum.html#_ftn29">his 2023 addendum</a>, Francis once more features the word prominently. He argues that nonhuman creatures have their own “reality” and that climate change is a complex “global reality” that many try to deny, or simplify by blaming others – notably developing societies – rather than recognize their own role. </p>
<p>To understand what he means by “reality,” <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/faith-and-justice/integral-ecology-everything-connected">I look to the idea of “integral ecology,</a>” a term popularized by Francis’ 2015 encyclical. In short, integral ecology is a holistic way of thinking about economic, social, political, ethical and environmental problems. The Earth is not confronting a variety of separate crises, Francis insists, but rather “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf">one complex crisis</a>” with many faces. <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20231004-laudate-deum.html">His new document</a> reinforces this idea, stressing that climate concerns are about more than ecology, because care for the Earth and care for one another are intimately linked.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552267/original/file-20231005-20-1flnlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A few Christian nuns and other women walk on a street during a march, holding a banner of Pope Francis." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552267/original/file-20231005-20-1flnlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552267/original/file-20231005-20-1flnlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552267/original/file-20231005-20-1flnlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552267/original/file-20231005-20-1flnlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552267/original/file-20231005-20-1flnlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552267/original/file-20231005-20-1flnlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552267/original/file-20231005-20-1flnlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nuns hold a banner reading ‘I ask you in the name of God to defend Mother Earth’ during the Global Climate March in Bogota, Colombia, in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nuns-hold-a-banner-of-pope-francis-reading-i-ask-you-in-the-news-photo/499165760?adppopup=true">Guillermo Legaria/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mystery in a dewdrop</h2>
<p>The pope often turns to <a href="https://theconversation.com/birds-worms-rabbits-francis-of-assisi-was-said-to-have-loved-them-all-but-todays-pet-blessings-on-his-feast-day-might-have-seemed-strange-to-the-13th-century-saint-211865">Saint Francis of Assisi</a>, patron saint of animals, as a model of integral thought. The 13th century saint understood the “inseparable bond” that exists “between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace,” <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html">the pope wrote in 2015</a>. St. Francis spoke of <a href="https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2015/06/04/canticle-of-brother-sun-and-sister-moon-of-st-francis-of-assisi/">all of creation as family</a>, praising “Mother Earth,” “Brother Moon” and “Sister Sun.”</p>
<p>In 2015, the pope wrote admiringly about his namesake’s sense of awe, adding that without wonder, humans’ attitude is that of “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html">masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters</a>.” </p>
<p>Indeed, wonder can create a shift in how people understand themselves in relation to something larger. There has recently been a <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-cultures/202211/the-wonders-of-awe">renaissance of interest</a> across many fields of study in the power of wonder to encourage behaviors that are good for the environment and for human health and relationships.</p>
<p>Psychologists have found that experiences of wonder <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000018">can shrink the ego</a>, encouraging generosity, humility and ethical decision-making. Wonder also weakens the perception of boundaries, increasing a person’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-0JpJjPe74">sense of connection</a> with something larger than the self. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1097627">Other studies suggest</a> that experiences of awe have the power to broaden people’s moral concerns, increasing their consideration toward other humans, plants, animals and the environment.</p>
<p>For the pope, however, integral reality is about more than humans and nature; it encompasses relationships between all living things and God – an even larger, <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/earthbeat/faith/mystery-trinity-and-global-solidarity">mysterious reality that is divine</a>.</p>
<p>“The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely,” he writes in both documents. Therefore, “There is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face.” All are knit together in wondrous patterns of interconnection.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213135/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa H. Sideris 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>
Integral ecology, a holistic way of looking at problems the world faces today, is key in the pope’s writings about the environment.
Lisa H. Sideris, Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliate Faculty in Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213129
2023-10-04T12:32:39Z
2023-10-04T12:32:39Z
The worldwide consultations for the global synod reflect Pope Francis’ efforts toward building a more inclusive Catholic Church
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551819/original/file-20231003-25-d0sesg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C1024%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis leads a prayer vigil at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Sept. 30, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-leads-together-ecumenical-prayer-vigil-for-the-news-photo/1698698850?adppopup=true">Antonio Masiello/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 16th Synod of Bishops, the <a href="https://www.synod.va/en/news/new-dates-for-the-synod-on-synodality.html">first part of which will take place in Rome on Oct. 4-29, 2023</a>, and the second in 2024, will be the culmination of a two-year, worldwide conversation in the Catholic Church. </p>
<p>The term “synod” usually refers to a local or regional meeting of church leaders. The Synod of Bishops was <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19650915_apostolica-sollicitudo.html">established by Pope Paul VI in 1965</a> as a permanent body in the Catholic Church, although its members do not meet on a regular schedule. It specifically refers to a meeting of selected bishops from around the world to advise the pope on <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann330-367_en.html#CHAPTER_II.">matters of governance</a>. </p>
<p>The Synod of Bishops was set up after the Second Vatican Council, which was held from 1962 to 1965, to bring reforms and updates to the church. The Second Vatican Council stated that the entire college of all Catholic bishops, under the authority of the pope, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html">also serve as the church’s highest authority</a>. Paul VI instituted the Synod of Bishops as a way for Catholic bishops to exercise this authority. The council also stated that lay Catholics have an active role to play in the church.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://udayton.edu/directory/artssciences/religiousstudies/thompson_daniel.php">theologian who studies the Catholic Church</a>, with an emphasis on the period during and after Vatican II, I argue that this upcoming synod reflects Pope Francis’ efforts to advance the reform agenda of Vatican II. He wants all Catholics to take an active role in thinking about the future of their church and wants the bishops to exercise their authority by first listening to the people. </p>
<h2>A more open church?</h2>
<p>Typically, there are three types of meetings of the Synod of Bishops.</p>
<p>Ordinary general assemblies usually get together every three or four years. The pope can also call an extraordinary meeting to discuss a more pressing topic and problem. Finally, popes have called special meetings of bishops in a certain region. For example, Francis held a special <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20200202_querida-amazonia.html">Synod on the Amazon in 2019</a>. </p>
<p>The 16th Synod of Bishops is an ordinary general assembly. At the direction of Francis, its preparation, initiated <a href="https://www.synod.va/en/synodal-process/opening-of-the-synodal-process.html">at a celebration in Rome in 2021</a>, involved a worldwide conversation among Catholics about their church.</p>
<p>Catholics from around the world were invited to meet in their local dioceses, pray together and discuss questions about their church. Some <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/us-synod-report-finds-participants-share-common-hopes-lingering-pain">700,000 Catholics across the U.S.</a> took part in these conversations.</p>
<p>The local churches collected and summarized the results of these meetings. Leaders at the regional, national and, finally, continental levels drafted reports on these conversations. </p>
<p>On the basis of all these earlier documents, in May 2023 the Vatican released its working document called “<a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2023/06/20/230620e.html">Instrumentum Laboris</a>” for the upcoming synod. </p>
<p>This meeting is therefore significant because it pictures the Catholic Church not as a top-down hierarchy but rather as an open conversation. For the first time, its voting members will not only be bishops but other Catholics as well. The changes indicate Francis’ intention to give all Catholics a voice in the decision-making process of the church.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2021/october/documents/20211009-apertura-camminosinodale.html">As Francis himself puts it</a>, the synod offers an opportunity “of moving not occasionally but structurally towards a synodal church, an open square where all can feel at home and participate.”</p>
<h2>Working document</h2>
<p>Some <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2023/07/07/230707a.html">450 people are expected to be in Rome</a> for the first part of the synod. This number will include representatives of religious orders and other Catholic organizations, as well as theologians from Catholic universities. </p>
<p>The pope’s expanded list will include a number of lay men and women. Additionally, representatives from other Christian churches will also attend the synod – although they will not have voting rights. </p>
<p>Those gathered in Rome will meet in both large sessions known as “general congregations” and small working groups, divided by the synod’s official languages – Italian, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Its official documents <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/09/21/synod-participant-list-chinese-bishops-246130#:%7E:text=There%20will%20be%20five%20official,French%20and%20one%20in%20Portuguese.">will be issued in Italian and English</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rows of priests in green robes and pink skullcaps stand in a huge, ornate cathedral." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pope Francis celebrates Holy Mass during the opening of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2021 at the Vatican.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-celebrates-holy-mass-on-the-occasion-of-the-news-photo/1345971127?adppopup=true">Vatican Pool Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The working document outlines four broad areas of discussion: synodality, communion, mission and participation. The first term refers to the idea that the church as a whole should incorporate the synod’s process of focused conversations, listening and dialogue into its structure. The next two – communion and mission – refer to how a global church can balance unity and diversity in pursuit of its aims. The final term, participation, refers to the ways in which Catholics, both clergy and lay people, can take part in the church. This topic also includes discussion about what institutions and structures the church would need to create to serve its mission. </p>
<p>When participants talk about these topics, they will discuss issues that have divided the church, such as the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people, the role of women in the church, relations between the Catholic Church and other churches, and relations between the church and different cultures, among others.</p>
<h2>Francis’ leadership style</h2>
<p>This Synod of Bishops reflects Francis’ style of leadership and his vision of the Catholic Church for the future. In his address to the synod held on Oct. 9, 2021, the pope said the success of the mission of the church depends on the closeness of the church to its people and their <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2021/october/documents/20211009-apertura-camminosinodale.html">ability to listen to one another</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman and man walk holding a large red book whose cover says 'La Parola di Dio'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.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">Participants arrive for a vigil prayer led by Pope Francis and other religious leaders before the 2023 Synod of Bishops assembly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/participants-arrive-for-an-ecumenical-vigil-prayer-led-by-news-photo/1698848638?adppopup=true">Isabella Bonotto/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The internal enemy of the mission of the church, according to Francis, is “<a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-08/pope-to-priest-of-rome-i-am-on-the-journey-with-you.html">clericalism</a>,” the idea that clergy – priests and bishops – are somehow a spiritually superior class, separate from and above regular lay people. Francis himself has modeled a different version of the papal office by <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-live-vatican-guesthouse-not-papal-apartments">rejecting many customs that he associates with clericalism</a>. For example, he has continued to live in a modest apartment rather than in the Vatican palace. </p>
<p>Through the process of consultation and conversation, Francis intends to combat clericalism in the Catholic Church by offering a different model for how the church can work. As Austen Ivereigh, a British journalist and biographer of Francis, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250119391/woundedshepherd">has written</a>: “The opposite of clericalism [for Francis] is synodality, meaning a method and process of discussion and participation in which the whole people of God can listen to the Holy Spirit and take part in the life and mission of the Church.” </p>
<p>After an additional year of conversations with the wider church, participants <a href="https://www.synod.va/en/news/new-dates-for-the-synod-on-synodality.html">will gather in Rome again in 2024</a>, when they will continue the discussions and vote on recommendations to the bishops. The bishops will in turn make recommendations to the pope, who will have the final say.</p>
<p>If Francis’ model of the church is persuasive, this synod, I believe, will be the beginning of an ongoing process in the church, the first of many conversations to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Speed Thompson 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>
As the Synod of Bishops meets in Rome, a Catholic theologian explains the preparations that went into the consultative process and what it says about Pope Francis’ vision for the future church.
Daniel Speed Thompson, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Dayton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/197569
2023-05-26T15:51:14Z
2023-05-26T15:51:14Z
‘They just ignored my tears, they ignored my unhappiness’: former Irish nuns reveal accounts of brainwashing and abuse
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526543/original/file-20230516-19-id4fal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=160%2C179%2C1957%2C1358&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/artistic-dark-black-white-edit-catholic-337054943">Shutterstock/Thoom</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Any thoughts of escaping to a more natural life was regarded as being sinful. The idea of being unfaithful to your vocation was a step on the way to hell. It would be a mortal sin.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These are the words of Mary, my mother. She was just 15 when she entered a convent in Ireland in 1950 and 34 by the time she finally managed to leave. She had been expressing doubts to her superiors since her early twenties but years of “brainwashing” and the very real fear of her and her family facing eternal damnation made breaking her vows seem impossible. </p>
<p>Speaking to my mother, as well as to five other nuns and former nuns for my PhD <a href="http://www.techne.ac.uk/for-students/techne-students/techne-students/techne-students-2020-21/karen-hanrahan">research</a>, gave me a glimpse into a way of life which no longer exists. Their often heartbreaking narratives paint a picture of a repressive and damaging regime which emphasised self-sacrifice and unquestioning obedience and where suffering and “breaking the spirit” supposedly brought you closer to heaven. </p>
<p>For many who left the convent, the years of “grooming”, “mind control” and “infantilisation” made adjusting to secular life a significant challenge – mentally, socially, emotionally and financially. Few were supported in this transition. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The image of the “evil nun” has become almost a caricature in recent years, particularly in Ireland, where the fallout from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/20/irish-catholic-church-child-abuse">decades of abuse scandals</a> has left a deep scar, radically changing perceptions of the Catholic church. These women’s stories offer an insider’s perspective of life within the convent walls and hopefully provide a more nuanced view of just what it was like to wear the habit and then, eventually, to cast it aside.</p>
<p>The women I spoke to were just children when they entered the convent, with hopes of making a better life for themselves but without any real understanding of what lay in store. Instead, they were manipulated and brainwashed. One woman was sexually abused by an older priest at the age of 15, while another had a mental breakdown and went on hunger strike in a cry for help which was ignored.</p>
<h2>The winds of change</h2>
<p>No study currently exists which specifically explores the testimonies of former “women religious” (both <a href="https://www.simplycatholic.com/nun-vs-sister/">nuns and sisters</a>) in Ireland, particularly those who entered religious life before the <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-10/vatican-ii-council-60th-anniversary-video-history-background.html">Second Vatican Council</a> (1962-1965). </p>
<p>Instigated by <a href="https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20000903_john-xxiii_en.html">Pope John XXIII</a> and with an emphasis on <em>aggiornamento</em> (updating or modernisation), the Second Vatican Council was characterised by a spirit of renewal and self-reflection. The winds of change blowing from Rome ushered in a raft of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2012/oct/11/second-vatical-council-50-years-catholicism">seismic transformations</a> throughout the Catholic church. For example, following Vatican II, mass was no longer given in Latin but in the vernacular, and the position of the altar was turned around so that priests didn’t have their backs to “the people of God” as they delivered Mass. </p>
<p>Following Vatican II, nuns gradually enjoyed more autonomy. For example, they could take more personal responsibility in decision making, they were allowed to cultivate friendships within and beyond the convent, and they could learn to drive (something that they had previously been unable to do).</p>
<p>Before Vatican II convent hierarchies were much more rigid. An individual nun had to surrender her will to her superior and was no longer in control of her destiny. A number of the women in my study (who, apart from my mother, I will not be identifying or using real names for) said that their lives and duties could vary significantly depending on whoever held that office. An unquestioning acceptance was expected and the emphasis was on self-sacrifice, renunciation of the self and conforming to life in community. </p>
<h2>My mother and the end of an era</h2>
<p>The six women I’m working with entered a religious congregation in Ireland in the 1950s, when they were between 13 and 16. They grew up in different convents and worked as sisters and teachers in various schools in Ireland, England and East Asia. Four spent between 15 and 27 years in religious life before leaving and two remained. They are all now in their eighties.</p>
<p>I felt very strongly that their stories needed to be captured before they were lost because, within the patriarchal Catholic church, an <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Education-Identity-and-Women-Religious-1800-1950-Convents-classrooms/Raftery-Smyth/p/book/9780815358534">“archaeology of exclusion”</a> has rendered nuns almost invisible in the historical record. </p>
<p>The voices of <em>former</em> nuns are afforded even less space. Religious women formed the <a href="http://repository.tavistockandportman.ac.uk/652/1/Camillus_Metcalfe_Final_version_of_PhD_thesis_2011.pdf">largest and most powerful group of professional women</a> in Ireland for much of the 20th century. And yet congregations of teaching sisters in Ireland have been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03323315.2022.2074074">in decline since the late 1960s</a>.</p>
<p>My investigation into these hidden lives began with my mother. Now well into her eighties, she still has a recurrent nightmare of not being able to escape the convent:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve had for years the dream, the nightmare, of travelling through high grass with a bicycle. I’m in the wrong place - should be out on the road … Or I’m climbing over a wall, trying to get down and finding it difficult. Certainly, it was years of this thing in your head all the time, you know, you shouldn’t be here but I’m here. What can I do? You were told there was a light shining down on top of you from heaven and you were picked, you were chosen. Really, a stupid kind of way of describing a vocation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I cannot remember when I first learned that my mother was a nun for almost two decades. My relationship to this aspect of her life story has evolved considerably. As a child, I think I adopted a position of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0038038511406585">active not knowing</a>, feeling that my mother’s status as a former nun was somehow shameful and made us different in small town Catholic Ireland where I grew up. A “spoilt nun” or a “spoilt priest” was the description for those who left their vocation (often described as the “call” to religious life). There was a stigma attached to such transgressions. Some of the women in my study kept this part of their past secret to all but close family. One woman avoided telling her children about her former identity until they were adults.</p>
<p>As a teenager, I remember feeling a burning sense of injustice on my mother’s behalf and was horrified at the idea of her confinement. She had consistently expressed doubts about her vocation, believing herself to be unsuited to life as a sister. How could her superiors turn a blind eye to her repeated requests to leave? At 15, the age my mother entered the convent, I prized my growing independence and found the idea of complete submission and erasure of self incomprehensible. </p>
<p>As I grew older, I moved on to a deeper understanding of her former identity but still felt protective of her and was resistant to talking about it, in case she became an object of curiosity. </p>
<p>But when it comes to families, all our stories get tangled up. My mother’s story is a part of my story. My own daughter is now 15, and it brings home to me the vulnerability of “being groomed”, as one of the women describes her experience of entering the convent.</p>
<h2>Entering the convent</h2>
<p>While it is undoubtedly the case that some young women believed that they had a vocation and were answering “the call” from God, becoming a nun afforded opportunities for women in Ireland at a time when they were not visible in public life. The surge in vocations in Ireland continued until 1967 and can be attributed to a desire for education, professional opportunities, economic stability or a life of adventure as a missionary. Having a nun or priest in the family boosted a family’s social capital. Religious life conferred a privileged identity within a powerful, transnational institution.</p>
<p>The attraction to religious life could also be interpreted as a sign of women actively seeking an alternative to marriage and motherhood rather than a reaction to a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09612020500529598">lack of eligible bachelors</a>. In the case of the women in my study, given that they were children when they entered (between 13 and 16) it is safe to assume they were not left “on the shelf”.</p>
<p>Canvassing by religious orders was common at that time as “getting vocations” was key to an institute’s growth and success. The Catholic church was akin to an empire, a transnational institution whose reach and governance extended far beyond national borders. Nuns representing various Irish and international orders visited schools and sometimes local farms with large families as part of their recruitment drive, often showing alluring films of life on the missions.</p>
<p>In the Ireland of the 1950s (and indeed until the demise of the Catholic church in the 1990s), priests and nuns enjoyed positions of power and privilege in Irish society and adopting a deferential, unquestioning acceptance of religion was expected. Ireland was, therefore, an important recruitment channel for young postulants (the title given at the first stage of entry into a congregation).</p>
<p>My mother remembers the nuns’ visit to her secondary school. She was 14 and beginning to think about where she might go as emigration was inevitable for so many people in rural Ireland at that time. She recalls being impressed by this nun who came from Italy, thinking that perhaps she had links with the pope.</p>
<p>My mother said: “She told us romantic stories about going to the missions, Africa in particular. I distinctly remember her showing us a photograph of a lovely nun dressed in white in a boat going down some river in Africa and having children with her and she was in charge of things. So immediately I thought, ‘Well that’s where I’m going then because I have to go somewhere and that sounds wonderful’.”</p>
<p>My aunt also joined, at 13. My mother remembers that my aunt’s legs did not reach the floor when she sat on her chair because she was so very young. While my mother was seduced by visions of a luminous missionary and informed by the wider economic context of needing to “go somewhere”, there were other, more personal, reasons for joining too. </p>
<p>One woman I spoke to, who I am calling Louise, spent 16 years as a nun before leaving at the age of 32. For her, joining was about family dynamics and a difficult relationship with her mother. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Really I want to be sincere about this, when I decided to enter … it wasn’t that I wanted to be a nun as such or that I wanted to look after the poor or that I wanted to go to the missions. It really was to prove to my mum particularly that I was a good person. I remember thinking, if I do this they will know I am good. That was very important to me at the time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Christina, who spent 27 years in the convent, attributes her entry to what she describes as “an illegitimate relationship” with a “predatory priest”. She was just 15. Now 88, but with an energy that belies her years, she told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I knew that it was inappropriate … But I thought it was a privilege at the time. I did. He was very versed in various things and French, he spoke French, you know, that sort of thing. I thought it was … on the surface and personally, I thought it was an honour.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She remembers when a particular order came to her school and made joining sound so “fashionable and delightful” that she thought, why not?</p>
<h2>Brainwashing and sin</h2>
<p>All of the women took simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Contact with the outside world was ruptured, letters in and out were read by their superiors. Convent life worked to erase a sense of individual identity through adherence to strict rules.</p>
<p>My mother said you were “not to speak about any part of your body and not to speak about your health in general and not to speak about … well, not to speak to anyone, it’s better not to”. The women were forbidden from forming special friendships (“that was a big thing”). You were not to “talk your heart out to anyone”. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You knew you shouldn’t say, ‘I’m very lonely. I wish I could go home’. That would be rather sinful to say a thing like that to one of your co-mates. So you were to be always in good humour, always smiling, always, you know, very respectful towards everybody and again on the surface … You were really dumbed down in the sense of not being able to talk much, not to talk about your ‘life in the world’ as they used to call it. So it was definitely a brainwashing thing …</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For my mother, who had been thriving at school, it was a shock to discover that the promise of a scholarship did not materialise. On entering she discovered that the order had in fact no secondary school and the new recruits were expected to progress to their final state examinations through self-study, a correspondence course and occasional evening input from the nuns in the primary school.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We were sitting on butter boxes, upturned butter boxes, because they obviously found it hard to accommodate that number of us – we must have been 30 at least – and we had other butter boxes in which we had our belongings and we were all crowded into a very big dormitory in a house that was originally a factory. So therefore, it was spartan, the whole idea, the whole thing. The food was regular, but very poor quality … And now when I look back at that, we were just herded in there as if we all had a vocation. What was a vocation, you know, at that age? You just knew nothing about it.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>No books, no stimulation</h2>
<p>Louise found the lack of stimulation stultifying. She told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As there was no conversation with each other there was no way of enlightening each other in any way about life. We were totally sensory deprived, that was it. We never listened to music, we weren’t allowed to read books, we never saw a paper, we were never allowed to listen to the radio, so that we were totally cut off from the ‘outside world’, as they would call it. The ‘outside world’, which of course was full of evil anyway. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Louise said that once she regained her freedom she remembered the thrill of being able to buy and read books. Her house reflects this love of reading and I was struck by how articulate and methodical she was when describing her experience, even when speaking about the mental ill health she still suffers from decades later. The legacy of such social conditioning is not easy to cast off. </p>
<p>Christina, who entered the convent at 16 and left at 43, also lamented the censorship of reading materials which she believed stunted their development. She said: “We were still treated like children. We always had to be assisted, watched. There was always somebody watching us … And we had no books, no stimulation, so we were non-entities.”</p>
<h2>Leave and be damned</h2>
<p>But if you wanted to leave, it was far from straightforward. On expressing doubts to a superior about their vocation the women might be told it was the devil tempting them, or that if they left they would be damned, or that through their “higher calling”, as one of the women put it, “one’s relations down to the third generation would achieve salvation through our fidelity”. Or that they would never be able to pay back the congregation for what they had been given. And they would submit and stay on.</p>
<p>Christina, who had confessed her relationship with the priest, was told if she left the convent she “would be in hell for all eternity”. “Who wanted to be in hell for all eternity? You know, the pictures we saw of hell in those days were terrible. I don’t even believe in hell now”, she added.</p>
<p>For Louise, the strain caused her to develop OCD and, in her late twenties, she had, in her words, a nervous breakdown. Following a period in hospital she said of her reluctant return to the convent: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They just ignored my tears, they ignored my unhappiness. Then I decided I’d go on hunger strike and I didn’t know what hunger strike was but that’s what I did … I mean, that wasn’t in my nature. That sort of rebellion wasn’t in my nature and that went on for quite a while. But do you know something? I’ve often looked back on that and I’ve thought, how inhumane they were. They would let somebody who was so unhappy … and ignore their distress, totally ignore their distress.“</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Throughout her twenties and early thirties my mother’s desire to leave grew stronger and she dreamed of having a family. She recalls the longing she felt observing a scene of domesticity from her attic dormitory: "I used to look through a porthole, an attic window, as I was preparing to go into bed. I used to see a housewife or mother of a family, getting on about her, coming out to the clothesline was one of the things I noticed especially. And then the door of her kitchen would have been open and you’d see the lights inside and you’d get hints of family life.” She added: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In my own mind I compared that to the lonely bed I had to lie on from half past nine that night. And you would wonder why you couldn’t have that – a life full of warmth - and what misfortune you had to have a vocation when a family life was all you wanted. And any inclination you mentioned towards that was regarded as a temptation by the devil to spoil your vocation. Any thoughts of escaping to a more natural life was regarded as being sinful. The idea of being unfaithful to your vocation was a step on the way to hell. It would be a mortal sin.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/1969-when-teachers-walked-out-1.150948">teachers strike in 1969</a> provided a pause in a gruelling routine, allowing her time and space to think. By this time, she was 34 and the headteacher of a secondary school. The responsibility was empowering. She had begun to think for herself:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It was the first time in my life I could make a decision. Because I had come in too young and had been told what to do always, told what to think, what not to think and all that and I suddenly decided ‘I am advising everybody and I’m telling everyone what we’ll do. Now why can’t I tell myself what to do?’ And during that strike I made up my mind that, no matter what, I’m going. So I went up and I told the superior at that time, who was a nicer person, a very kindly person, and I said I’ve been talking like this for years. And now I’m not asking for advice anymore, I’m just telling you that I must leave.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council there was an exodus as many nuns worldwide left their congregations and returned to the world as lay people. Karen Armstrong has written extensively of her own “climb out of darkness”, documenting her departure from convent life in a series of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2844361-through-the-narrow-gate">memoirs</a>. Many left with nothing and were ill prepared for life after. </p>
<p>Research has drawn attention to this “<a href="https://www.vwt.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Paradox-of-Service.pdf">paradox of service</a>”, that there was little or no acknowledgement of the enormity of former nuns’ unpaid contributions, as teachers, as nurses or in other ministry, in the form of practical or financial support. The authoritarian and repressive aspects of convent life in the pre-Vatican II era have been linked to <a href="http://repository.tavistockandportman.ac.uk/652/1/Camillus_Metcalfe_Final_version_of_PhD_thesis_2011.pdf">emotional deprivation</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0959353509359138?journalCode=fapa#:%7E:text=While%20they%20are%20positioned%20by,their%20lives%20and%20living%20conditions.">social isolation</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0966735012462841">psychological problems</a>.</p>
<p>Louise spoke of her humiliation of leaving with nothing but her crucifix and still wearing her nun’s habit. She still feels bitter about the lack of care for her welfare. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I knew I would never, never, never come back. Not only did I never go back but I never contacted them after I left, never and they never contacted me, not once to say how are you doing? Are you coping? Now I was 32, I had entered at 16 and … in terms of life’s experiences I was still 16. I had never handled money, I had never had to make a decision, I had never lived and taken care of myself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My mother jokes about feeling self-conscious wearing miniskirts, which were in fashion when she left in 1969, because her many years of praying had left rough patches of skin on her knees. Others spoke of the social awkwardness of not knowing who The Beatles were and of hair loss following decades of wearing a veil.</p>
<p>Their leaving also had an impact on those who stayed. As communication was discouraged, they could not tell other sisters that they were leaving. According to one sister who remained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… When they decided to leave, they were told not to tell anyone. So they never told us, they just disappeared, you know, and I think that was awful.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>“The bottom fell out of my world”, was how another nun described hearing the news of a fellow sister’s return to secular life.</p>
<h2>‘Are nuns human?’</h2>
<p>Nuns occupy a contentious place within Irish collective memory. <a href="https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0118/761035-are-nuns-human/">‘Are nuns human?’</a>, the title of a two-part documentary made for Irish television in 1971, reveals perhaps a longstanding ambivalence about the image of women religious. Nuns were responsible for historical injustices, colluding in oppressive narratives orchestrated by the dyad of church and state. This is apparent from inquiries into the <a href="https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/a69a14-report-of-the-inter-departmental-committee-to-establish-the-facts-of/?referrer=http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/MagdalenRpt2013">Magdalen Laundries</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/12/ireland-report-appalling-abuse-mother-baby-homes">and</a> the “<a href="https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/d4b3d-final-report-of-the-commission-of-investigation-into-mother-and-baby-homes/">mother and baby homes</a>”. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://clannproject.org/clann-report/">Clann Report</a>, published in 2018, showed how the legacy of such abuse reverberated beyond Ireland, revealing that from the 1940s until the 1970s, in excess of 2,000 children were sent from Ireland to the US for adoption. This international adoption scheme was depicted in the Oscar-nominated film <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/04/philomena-catholic-church-failings-film-judi-dench">Philomena</a>. The Clann Report raises the question of possible falsification of children’s deaths in institutions run by nuns to facilitate illegal adoptions. </p>
<p>Yet, this is not the full story. </p>
<p>Nuns also played a key role in advancing female education as well as social care. Portrayals of nuns as evil caricatures risk simplifying representations of the past, enabling state and society to absolve themselves of their part in Ireland’s <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3704856">“architecture of containment”</a> and the <a href="https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/249543780/Fischer_Gender_20nation_20and_20politics_2016_1.pdf">“politics of shame”</a>.</p>
<p>Responding to the Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes in 2021, then Taoiseach Micheál Martin noted how the state and society embraced a <a href="https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2021-01-13/10/">perverse religious morality and control, judgmentalism and moral certainty</a>
and issued <a href="https://www.thejournal.ie/micheal-martin-state-apology-mother-and-baby-homes-5323730-Jan2021/">an apology</a> to the survivors of mother and baby homes. </p>
<p>The nature of historical abuse crimes linked to the Catholic church is also a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-44209971">global phenomenon</a> that has become increasingly complex. </p>
<p>But, according to <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_aviz-braz-de_j.html">Cardinal João Braz de Aviz</a>, nuns have also <a href="https://www.laciviltacattolica.com/authority-and-abuse-issues-among-women-religious/">suffered abuse</a> within their own <a href="https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/14745/religious-sisters-speak-out-about-abuse">congregations</a>
and the sexual abuse of nuns by the clergy has even been <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47134033">acknowledged by the pope</a>. Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.congregationconsecratedlife.va/content/dam/vitaconsacrata/LibriPPDF/Inglese/New%20Wine%20in%20new%20Wineskins.pdf">Vatican guidelines published in 2017</a> recognised abuse of power within women’s institutes.</p>
<p>My own research highlights the contrast which existed between the positions of power and privilege held by the religious orders in Irish society on the one hand and the hidden, self-sacrificing and often powerless life of the individual nun on the other. </p>
<h2>‘I’m not bitter’</h2>
<p>The church’s position today is far less secure than it was in the 1950s. Yet while institutional observance, as well as the proportion and total number of Catholics in the Irish population <a href="https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/presspages/2017/census2016profile8-irishtravellersethnicityandreligion/">continues to fall</a> (details of the 2016 census show that Catholics comprise 78.3% of the population compared with 84.2% five years previously), it would seem that Catholicism remains coupled with Irish identity for over three quarters of the population. </p>
<p>Many convents – once a dominant symbol of faith and authority in Irish towns and cities – lie derelict or are undergoing redevelopment. The ageing population of nuns tend to live in small groups in houses located within their local community.</p>
<p>Unlike the other women in the study who have eschewed any links with their previous life, my mother has been back in touch with some sisters from her former congregation in recent years. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman poses for a picture while at a dinner dance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526545/original/file-20230516-29-b043az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526545/original/file-20230516-29-b043az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526545/original/file-20230516-29-b043az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526545/original/file-20230516-29-b043az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526545/original/file-20230516-29-b043az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526545/original/file-20230516-29-b043az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526545/original/file-20230516-29-b043az.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author’s mother, Mary, at a dinner dance with her future husband about a year after leaving the convent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reflecting on her former identity, she said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Whereas I’m not bitter, at the same time I’ve come to the conclusion that it was all really badly done and that many people were harmed and that those of us who were educated had something to fall back on when we left, but others hadn’t and were completely out of step with their age group and experienced an inability to find a job and to find a partner because they were older.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Perhaps it helped that she met my father, started a family and created the more “natural life” that she imagined for herself looking out from her attic window. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/its-like-youre-a-criminal-but-i-am-not-a-criminal-first-hand-accounts-of-the-trauma-of-being-stuck-in-the-uk-asylum-system-202276?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">‘It’s like you’re a criminal, but I am not a criminal.’ First-hand accounts of the trauma of being stuck in the UK asylum system
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-toxic-policy-with-little-returns-lessons-for-the-uk-rwanda-deal-from-australia-and-the-us-201790?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">‘A toxic policy with little returns’ – lessons for the UK-Rwanda deal from Australia and the US</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-heroes-left-behind-the-invisible-women-struggling-to-make-ends-meet-198210?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">COVID heroes left behind: the ‘invisible’ women struggling to make ends meet
</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Hanrahan receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for her doctoral research. </span></em></p>
Brainwashed, fearful and abused: convent life worked to erase a sense of individual identity through adherence to strict rules.
Karen Hanrahan, Principal Lecturer, School of Education, University of Brighton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204420
2023-04-25T10:52:00Z
2023-04-25T10:52:00Z
The Pope’s Exorcist: how the film compares to the real church’s approach to exorcism
<p>When official trailers were released, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/10/exorcists-denounce-the-popes-exorcist-with-russell-crowe">the International Association of Exorcists</a> branded The Pope’s Exorcist: “unreliable … splatter cinema”. </p>
<p>The film’s protagonist, <a href="https://theconversation.com/gabriele-amorth-conducted-over-60-000-exorcisms-and-believed-hitler-was-possessed-meet-the-man-who-inspired-the-popes-exorcist-201383">Father Gabriele Amorth</a> (Russell Crowe), is based on a real Catholic exorcist who was a founding member of the very organisation condemning the movie as inaccurate. So cinema-goers had fair warning that it would be far from uncontentious.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZlVfBbSYAv8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for The Pope’s Exorcist.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJXqvnT_rsk">Promotional material</a> for the film did not promise a reflection on exorcism in the modern era, but presented an Indiana Jones-style figure in a cassock, brandishing a crucifix instead of a whip.</p>
<p>The film itself lived up to both these fears and expectations. A classic fusion of action and horror, it fits squarely into the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09526951211004465">exorcist genre</a> with levitation, twisting heads and gravelly-voiced demons speaking through the wracked bodies of helpless children.</p>
<p>The plot moves through some of Father Amorth’s most memorable reported cases, in particular a struggle with a demon the church had supposedly battled in previous centuries. </p>
<p>At times there are shades of the Da Vinci Code, with Vatican cover-ups, conspiracies and ecclesiastical power play. Add into the mix secret chambers hiding cobweb-strewn skeletons and dark secrets and it’s squarely in Temple of Doom territory.</p>
<p>Despite these obvious flights of fancy, there is a tension in not knowing exactly where the line between history and make believe is drawn, especially as the real Father Amorth died several years ago.</p>
<p>This aspect of the film struck a chord with my research on exorcism and the parameters the legal system draws around freedom of religion in this context. Pop-culture exorcisms attract a lot of media interest, but it can be harder to get traction for serious debate.</p>
<p>These Hollywood depictions can lead to real world dangers – as tragedies like the <a href="https://victoriaclimbie.hud.ac.uk/background.html">murder of Victoria Climbié</a> in 2000 prove all too graphically. The eight-year-old was abused and killed by her great aunt and her great-aunt’s boyfriend, who used “demonic possession” to explain their niece’s injuries to their pastor. </p>
<h2>How true to life is The Pope’s Exorcist?</h2>
<p>Disentangling the real-world inspiration and fictional elements of The Pope’s Exorcist is complicated by differing perceptions of exorcism within the church.</p>
<p>The work of Father Amorth was <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/father-gabriele-amorth-bestknown-but-controversial-exorcist-20160921-grkxip.html">controversial</a> during his lifetime. The International Association of Exorcists took some time to gain papal endorsement from John Paul II. Even now it is recognised as a “<a href="https://www.aieinternational.org/">private association of the Christian faithful</a>” rather than a group coordinated by ecclesiastical authorities. </p>
<p>The current Pope Francis is faced with balancing <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-churchs-views-on-exorcism-have-changed-a-religious-studies-scholar-explains-why-182212">contrasting understandings of exorcism</a> within the church.</p>
<p>Some of the conflict arises from theological differences about the nature of evil and demons, while some is rooted in the cultural differences of the international church. The Pope’s Exorcist overtly deals with this. An African bishop (Cornell John) is portrayed as supportive of Father Amorth and a counterbalance to a sceptical American cardinal. </p>
<p>This taps into stereotypes from colonial era literature. There, communities regarded as “primitive” were depicted as more <a href="https://www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=4495">aligned to supernatural forces</a> and therefore threatening.</p>
<p>In the works of authors such as <a href="https://engl105fa2020sec079.web.unc.edu/2020/11/mummies-and-masculinity-an-analysis-of-lot-no-249-by-arthur-conan-doyle">Arthur Conan Doyle</a>, Rudyard Kipling or <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2893/2893-h/2893-h.htm">Rider Haggard</a>, there is the concession that other cultures might have access to lost knowledge and awareness, but this is generally viewed as a sinister rather than a positive trait.</p>
<h2>Demons and the modern church</h2>
<p>In the contemporary world, the Roman Catholic Church has to pay regard to the benefits of modern science and the empirical method. The church has even sometimes helped to foster this over the years, for example through <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gregor-Mendel">Gregor Mendel</a>, the monk who laid the foundation for modern genetics. </p>
<p>Yet the church has also made space for those who argue that this is not the only lens through which to view the world. The <a href="https://catholicidentity.bne.catholic.edu.au/scripture/SitePages/The-Nicene-Creed.aspx?csf=1&e=bUuqDO">Nicene Creed</a> is a foundational statement of doctrine and profession of faith, which proclaims God as creator of all things “visible and invisible”. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BvcVgc4L3Dk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A clip from The Pope’s Exorcist.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Christians including Roman Catholics differ as to whether the “invisible” might mean atoms, demons, or both.</p>
<p>This means that churches must agree on – or at least impose – common ground rules for what those involved in exorcisms should expect. There is room for a variety of perspectives, but responsible and organised faith groups put in place provision to protect the vulnerable from harm or abuse.</p>
<p>The Roman Catholic Church and other groups, like Anglicans, do this, as the film partly reflects. It is stressed that Father Amorth consults doctors and psychiatrists and that, in most cases, conventional medicine is at the heart of helping the distressed person. This mirrors reality.</p>
<p>Roman Catholic exorcists recognise the danger of encouraging a person suffering from auditory hallucinations, for example, to believe that these are demonic <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/04/health/exorcism-doctor/index.html">when the cause is mental illness</a> requiring appropriate treatment.</p>
<p>The greatest distortion of the film – and potential danger – is in the depiction of people receiving exorcisms, whether they seek them for themselves or are presented for treatment by family members.</p>
<p>In The Pope’s Exorcist, these individuals are literally monstrous and a threat to those surrounding them. A significant number of people – a disproportionate number of whom are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-39123952">women</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36370647/">children</a> – are murdered each year during exorcism rituals because of perceptions like these.</p>
<p>Most of these disastrous rites are carried out by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/nov/12/barbaramcmahon">misguided family members</a> or neighbours, rather than religious ministers. There are no reported cases of any Roman Catholic priests ever being involved in such an incident.</p>
<p>Perhaps this danger is at the heart of the International Association of Exorcists’s rejection of the film. Given that fatal exorcisms are an all too real phenomenon, claiming that the horrific scenes of demonic possession on screen have a basis in actual events poses a real danger.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204420/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Hall is affiliated with the Church of England</span></em></p>
In reality, most Roman Catholic exorcists recognise the danger of encouraging a person suffering from auditory hallucinations to believe that these are demonic.
Helen Hall, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204091
2023-04-21T12:41:27Z
2023-04-21T12:41:27Z
What’s going on when the Virgin Mary appears and statues weep? The answers aren’t just about science or the supernatural
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521749/original/file-20230419-24-eipspl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C2100%2C1412&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mary is often depicted weeping, a reminder of the 'Seven Sorrows' the Bible recounts her suffering.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/god-bless-you-royalty-free-image/1306577159?phrase=statue%20mary&adppopup=true">pratan ounpitipong/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Claims of appearances of the Virgin Mary and weeping statues have been common in Catholicism. And now they’re going to get a closer look – but on a worldwide scale.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pami.info/copia-di-home-en">The Pontificia Academia Mariana Internationalis</a>, or PAMI, recently announced an <a href="https://www.ewtnvatican.com/articles/vatican-creates-observatory-to-study-possible-apparitions-of-virgin-mary-856">“observatory”</a> to <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1758584/Weeping-Virgin-Mary-statues-Vatican-scientists-PAMI">investigate claims</a> of appearances of the Virgin Mary and reports of statues of her weeping oil and blood.</p>
<p>This announcement extends PAMI’s mission of promoting devotion to Mary and study of phenomena related to her. While still waiting for full Vatican approval, the observatory will train investigators to study mystical phenomena in cooperation with church authorities – for example, trying to determine the substance of reported tears.</p>
<p>Investigating the supernatural has always been a delicate task in the Catholic Church, which has to balance the faith of believers with the possibility of fraud.</p>
<h2>Marian apparitions</h2>
<p>Catholics believe Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, and the mother of God, who still makes her presence known. And the Catholic Church has officially recognized a number of sites where Mary has reportedly appeared around the globe.</p>
<p>The image of <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2018-12/our-lady-of-guadaloupe-feast-day-mexico-americas.html">Our Lady of Guadalupe</a> on a cloak in Mexico City has long been revered by Catholics as a miracle confirming Mary’s appearance to the peasant Juan Diego in 1531. In <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-europe-religion-prayer-communism-9df80314be754c4aa3de4403cd5ecced">Fatima, Portugal</a>, in 1917, <a href="https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/f/fatima-message.php">three children claimed</a> that the Virgin Mary had visited them <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/05/10/story-fatima-apparitions-miracles-and-journey-sainthood">several times</a>. Crowds drawn by the children’s prophecy that Mary would reappear and perform a miracle reported seeing the sun “<a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/36019/miracle-of-the-sun-broke-darkness-of-portugals-atheist-regimes">dance in the sky</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521724/original/file-20230418-20-nho1md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photograph shows people standing and kneeling in a field, looking up to the sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521724/original/file-20230418-20-nho1md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521724/original/file-20230418-20-nho1md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521724/original/file-20230418-20-nho1md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521724/original/file-20230418-20-nho1md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521724/original/file-20230418-20-nho1md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521724/original/file-20230418-20-nho1md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521724/original/file-20230418-20-nho1md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thousands of believers claimed to have seen a ‘Miracle of the Sun’ in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/thousands-of-believers-attending-the-miracle-of-the-sun-news-photo/1159595509?adppopup=true">Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The most recent Marian apparition that a Catholic bishop has declared “<a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/33982/a-marian-apparition-has-been-approved-in-argentina-and-its-a-big-deal">worthy of belief</a>” was in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, in 2016. A local Catholic woman told her priest that visions had begun with <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-rosary-why-a-set-of-beads-and-prayers-are-central-to-catholic-faith-192485">rosary prayer beads</a> glowing in multiple homes and progressed to Mary warning her of humanity’s “<a href="https://www.ncregister.com/blog/its-official-major-apparitions-of-mary-are-approved">self-destruction</a>.”</p>
<h2>Mary’s tears</h2>
<p>There is also a long history of claims of weeping Mary statues. A well-known example is the <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/45666/weeping-madonna-of-syracuse-commemorated-in-sicily">Madonna of Syracuse, Sicily</a> – a plaster statue that seemed to shed tears. Investigators appointed by the church said the liquid was <a href="https://catholicshrinebasilica.com/santuario-madonna-delle-lacrime-syracuse-sicily-italy/">chemically similar</a> to human tears. The shrine now housing the image is shaped like a <a href="https://blog.learnsicilian.com/miracle-of-tears-history-of-the-weeping-madonna-of-syracuse-madonna-delle-lacrime/">tear drop</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521686/original/file-20230418-28-78j86w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An unusual cathedral, shaped like an upside-down flower, seen from above." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521686/original/file-20230418-28-78j86w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521686/original/file-20230418-28-78j86w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521686/original/file-20230418-28-78j86w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521686/original/file-20230418-28-78j86w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521686/original/file-20230418-28-78j86w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521686/original/file-20230418-28-78j86w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521686/original/file-20230418-28-78j86w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=672&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 church in Syracuse, Sicily, that holds a small statue of Mary believed to weep.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/sanctuary-of-the-mary-of-the-tears-royalty-free-image/899173404?phrase=madonna%20of%20syracuse&adppopup=true">Michele Ponzio/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recently, weeping statues have been reported in places as distant from each other as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEe1a0IxROI">Paszto, Hungary</a>, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/07/18/a-virgin-mary-statue-has-been-weeping-olive-oil-church-leaders-cant-explain-it/?utm_term=.9c0d38087e0b">Hobbs, New Mexico</a>. It is, however, rare for the Catholic Church to say that an apparently weeping statue has a supernatural cause.</p>
<p>Mary’s tears have special significance for Catholics. She is often pictured as crying over the sins of the world and the pain she endured in her earthly life. <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/blog/mfenelon/what-are-the-seven-sorrows-of-mary">Mary’s earthly sorrows</a> are depicted by seven swords piercing her flaming heart.</p>
<p>Given Mary’s religious and symbolic significance, it is not surprising for a supposed apparition site or a weeping statue to become an object of devotion.</p>
<p>And when this happens, the local bishop sometimes <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2020/08/is-seeing-believing-how-the-church-faces-claims-of-marian-apparitions">decides to investigate</a>.</p>
<h2>The possibility of fraud</h2>
<p>In examining claims of the supernatural, bishops follow standards set by the Vatican’s <a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19780225_norme-apparizioni_en.html">Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith</a>, which oversees Catholic doctrine. Perhaps because they address controversial issues, the standards were only <a href="https://www.catholicsun.org/2012/05/24/vatican-publishes-rules-for-verifying-marian-apparitions/">made public in 2012</a> – nearly 35 years after they were first implemented. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522205/original/file-20230420-26-3kquvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four adults stand in a dark room around a statue of a woman in a white dress and blue cloak." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522205/original/file-20230420-26-3kquvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522205/original/file-20230420-26-3kquvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522205/original/file-20230420-26-3kquvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522205/original/file-20230420-26-3kquvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522205/original/file-20230420-26-3kquvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522205/original/file-20230420-26-3kquvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522205/original/file-20230420-26-3kquvh.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">Christians pray in 2014 next to a statue of the Virgin Mary in northern Israel that residents said was weeping oil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Mideast%20Israel%20Weeping%20Statue/523aed5a7cc742bdbfc4ba56f23a7a2c?Query=statue%20mary%20tear%20weep&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=4&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Ariel Schalit</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The bishop, or a committee appointed by him, evaluates the alleged supernatural phenomenon. This involves interviewing witnesses and, sometimes, scientific tests. Impact on the community is also considered. Positive aspects include reports of physical healings and religious conversions, or a general deepening of faith among Catholics. Negative aspects would include selling oil from a purportedly weeping statue or claiming a message from Mary that goes against Catholic doctrine.</p>
<p>A well-known case of an apparition that the Catholic Church rejected concerns the visions of Veronica Lueken, the Brooklyn “Bayside Seer,” who died in 1995. Lueken reported a number of messages from Mary that concerned church authorities. For example, Lueken claimed in 1972 that Mary had told her that the pope was, in fact, <a href="https://www.tldm.org/Directives/d50.htm">an imposter</a> made to look like the true pope, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en.html">Paul VI</a>, through plastic surgery. Although <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/09/nyregion/visions-of-doom-endure-in-queens-prophecy-and-a-rift-at-a-shrine.html">belief in the messages endures</a> among a small number of Catholics, the local bishop <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/declaration-concerning-the-bayside-movement-11313">deemed the apparitions not credible</a>. </p>
<p>When it comes to weeping statues, one of the primary questions is whether the event has been staged. For example, in two cases of statues that supposedly had wept blood – one in <a href="https://www.apnews.com/5bc729e1e9f2b843d2557ec63e5db6da">Canada</a> in 1986 and another in <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/church_custodian_on_trial_in_italy_for_weeping_statue_hoax">Italy</a> in 2006 – the blood turned out be that of the statue’s owner. </p>
<p>Liquids can also be injected into the porous material of statues and later seep out as “tears.” Oil that is mixed with fat can be applied to a statue’s eyes, which will “weep” when <a href="https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/the-mystery-of-mary-s-tears/article_38c3d91a-127a-5f7c-b0d2-c2bec26744a5.html">ambient temperatures</a> rise. </p>
<h2>Searching for meaning</h2>
<p>The Pontificia Academia Mariana Internationalis seems to be searching for proof of supernatural signs, which certainly draw intellectual curiosity and media attention.</p>
<p>But as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XuFPwjsAAAAJ&hl=en">a scholar of global Catholicism</a> who has written about claims of the supernatural, I think it’s also important to understand what brings people to an apparition site or weeping statue in the first place. </p>
<p>In my hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, statues and pictures have appeared to weep oil and blood at the home of the <a href="http://www.telegram.com/article/20070416/NEWS/704160667/1116&Template=printart">late Audrey Santo</a>, who died in 2007 at the age of 23. As a child, “Little Audrey” was left mute and paralyzed after a swimming pool accident. In spite of her physical condition, pilgrims who came to see her believed that she was praying for them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl with her mouth open lies in a bed as an older woman bends over her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228664/original/file-20180720-142432-1phkf6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228664/original/file-20180720-142432-1phkf6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228664/original/file-20180720-142432-1phkf6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228664/original/file-20180720-142432-1phkf6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228664/original/file-20180720-142432-1phkf6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228664/original/file-20180720-142432-1phkf6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228664/original/file-20180720-142432-1phkf6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A special outdoor Mass was celebrated in honor of Audrey Santo, who was reputed to be connected to miracles, at the Holy Cross College stadium in Worcester, Mass.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Gail Oskin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After Santo’s death, a <a href="http://www.littleaudreysantofoundation.com/">foundation was established</a> to promote her cause for sainthood, believing that the statues and pictures in her home were signs that God has specially blessed her.</p>
<p><a href="https://crossworks.holycross.edu/rel_faculty_pub/5/">In my writings</a> about the case of Santo, I was definitely tempted to focus on talk of the supernatural. And the claims surrounding Little Audrey are still <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070928100126/http://www.worcesterdiocese.org/audrey.html">debated among Catholics</a> as her sainthood cause stalls. But what I found most interesting was listening to people share why weeping statues were so meaningful in their personal lives. </p>
<p>At the Santo home, the people I talked to shared moving personal stories of pain and sadness, hope and healing. In the end, the sense of togetherness in and through suffering was far more important than talk of scientific proofs of the supernatural.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-behind-belief-in-weeping-virgin-mary-statues-100358">an article originally published on July 23, 2018</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204091/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Schmalz 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>
Investigating supernatural claims is a delicate task for the church, and Catholic leaders rarely label them as authentic.
Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/201638
2023-03-12T15:23:57Z
2023-03-12T15:23:57Z
Pope 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>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
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>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<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>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<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>
<figcaption>
<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>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<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>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
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>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<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>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
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>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<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 University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200667
2023-03-10T13:40:44Z
2023-03-10T13:40:44Z
Francis is the first Jesuit pope – here’s how that has shaped his 10-year papacy
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514040/original/file-20230307-14-9bcxwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C4%2C1020%2C677&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis attends his weekly general audience in Vatican City on Feb. 15, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-attends-his-weekly-general-audience-at-the-news-photo/1466415224?phrase=%22pope%20francis%22&adppopup=true">Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since Jorge Mario Bergoglio first stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as Pope Francis on March 13, 2013, he has made no shortage of statements that attract attention. “<a href="https://www.ncronline.org/francis-explains-who-am-i-judge">Who am I to judge</a>?” he famously said about gay priests. “Nowadays there is <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/06/20/160620d.html">an economy that kills</a>,” he once declared – a comment that led critics to rather implausibly label the pontiff <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/12/15/pope-marxist-label/4030929/">a Marxist</a>.</p>
<p>As the Argentinian pope approaches the 10th year of his papacy, his positions on issues deemed “political” still <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-shouldnt-seem-so-surprising-when-the-pope-says-being-gay-isnt-a-crime-a-catholic-theologian-explains-198566">make their way into headlines</a>. But as is the nature of headlines, the framework from which his positions emerge isn’t always apparent.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://udayton.edu/directory/artssciences/religiousstudies/gabrielli-timothy.php">a researcher of Catholicism</a>, I’d like to shed some light on a common pattern in Pope Francis’ writings. It’s a pattern that I believe is rooted in the pope’s spirituality as a Jesuit – a member of the <a href="https://www.jesuits.org/about-us/the-jesuits/">Society of Jesus</a> – a Catholic religious order founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in the 16th century. </p>
<h2>Saint’s legacy</h2>
<p>The “<a href="https://store.loyolapress.com/the-spiritual-exercises-of-saint-ignatius-ganss">Spiritual Exercises</a>,” written by St. Ignatius, is a guide to spiritual development that Jesuits and others have used for centuries. It encourages participants to pay careful attention to the inner movements of the spirit or soul that shape their decisions and actions. </p>
<p>The goal of the <a href="https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/andrew-garfield-spiritual-exercises/">step-by-step exercises</a> is to recognize oneself as a sinner, but – crucially – a sinner loved by God. A “spiritual director” helps the participant first to recognize brokenness in their life, then to perceive God’s love by contemplating the life of Jesus. Ultimately, the exercises lead people to deepen their relationship with Christ, so that they may discern how best to make decisions. </p>
<p>Like a spiritual director, Francis’ first step is often to acknowledge a “presenting problem,” as a doctor might say: the symptom or apparent issue that is bothering someone. He then eliminates superficial solutions that don’t address the underlying “disease,” before calling for a more fundamental change.</p>
<p>In 2018, for example, U.S. bishops were set to vote on two proposals related to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-sex-abuse-crisis-4-essential-reads-169442">clerical sex abuse</a>: a code of conduct for clerics and new review boards to evaluate bishops’ conduct. Commentators from all quarters howled when Francis <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/13/18089134/usccb-catholic-bishop-pope-francis-vote-clerical-sex-abuse">halted the vote</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514513/original/file-20230309-121-jyl2c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowd of people in winter clothing holding candles during a nighttime vigil." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514513/original/file-20230309-121-jyl2c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514513/original/file-20230309-121-jyl2c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514513/original/file-20230309-121-jyl2c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514513/original/file-20230309-121-jyl2c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514513/original/file-20230309-121-jyl2c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514513/original/file-20230309-121-jyl2c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514513/original/file-20230309-121-jyl2c3.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">Portuguese Catholics hold candles during a vigil in Lisbon for the victims of clerical sexual abuse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portuguese-members-of-the-faithful-hold-candles-during-a-news-photo/1468641791?phrase=catholic%20church%20sex%20abuse&adppopup=true">Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead, he insisted that the bishops go on <a href="https://www.usccb.org/about/leadership/holy-see/francis/upload/francis-lettera-washington-traduzione-inglese-20190103.pdf">a religious retreat</a>. The Church’s credibility had been “undercut and diminished,” he warned. Francis called on them to relearn how to relate to one another, and to lay Catholics, by spending time in prayer with the gospels, so that they would focus less on “pointing fingers” and more on “seeking paths of reconciliation.”</p>
<p>Without that more fundamental change, Francis wrote, codes and boards could merely be about meeting corporate-style “standards of functionalism and efficiency,” and the call to fundamentally mend relationships would go unheeded. Policies might indeed be necessary, but not before the bishops reminded themselves of their fundamental task to follow Jesus in building relationships with one another and laity.</p>
<p>Several months afterward, the group <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2019/us-bishops-vote-favor-three-additional-bishop-accountability-measures-during-baltimore">adopted new rules</a> for oversight of bishops. Critics argued the reforms <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/06/13/catholic-bishops-adopt-long-promised-abuse-plan-bishops-police-bishops/">did not go far enough</a>, however, particularly in terms of involving lay people or law enforcement.</p>
<h2>Going to the root</h2>
<p>Yet the 2018 episode underscores a broader theme of Francis’ papacy: When accompanying a person, the church or even the whole world on a spiritual journey, pointing out problems and tinkering with surface-level solutions is never going to be good enough. What’s needed, he insists, is a cure for a deeper malaise. </p>
<p>As he said early in his papacy, describing the mission of the church today, “I see the church as <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2013/09/30/big-heart-open-god-interview-pope-francis">a field hospital</a> after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds.” </p>
<p>In Francis’ eyes, both the church and society are wounded, and the church does not stand apart from the world’s problems – in fact, it must not, because it is Christ’s ongoing presence on earth. But both must acknowledge their deeper sources of brokenness in order to find true solutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514511/original/file-20230309-26-eun3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The pope, wearing a white skullcap, bends down to kiss the hand of a child in his mother's lap." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514511/original/file-20230309-26-eun3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514511/original/file-20230309-26-eun3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514511/original/file-20230309-26-eun3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514511/original/file-20230309-26-eun3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514511/original/file-20230309-26-eun3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514511/original/file-20230309-26-eun3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514511/original/file-20230309-26-eun3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pope Francis blesses a child attending the weekly general audience at the Vatican in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-blesses-a-sick-child-attending-the-weekly-news-photo/1094264400?phrase=%22pope%20francis%20blesses%20a%22&adppopup=true">Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This ethos is apparent in Francis’ approach to one of the most pressing problems today: climate change. In 2015, he issued the first papal document dedicated exclusively to <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html">ecological degradation</a>. It begins, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20150630_laudato-si-ecosoc_en.html">said a key adviser to Francis</a>, with “a spiritual listening to the results of the best scientific research on environmental matters available today,” which demonstrates that our environmental situation is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-everyone-needs-to-know-about-climate-change-in-6-charts-170556">bad and getting worse</a>.</p>
<p>That’s the presenting problem. A superficial response is <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html#_ftnref85">purely technological</a>: Humans can gain ever greater control over the natural world and its changes. The structures resulting from that vision of domination stand at the root of environmental degradation because technology alone will always come up short, Francis argued.</p>
<p>To perceive the proper place of technological innovation, the world needs an “ecological conversion,” he wrote – a spiritual shift so that people perceive how “everything is connected,” from honeybees and supply lines to compost and impoverishment.</p>
<p>This idea comes from the New Testament, he said, which narrates Jesus’ “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html#_ftnref78">tangible and loving relationship with the world</a>.” In the pope’s interpretation, because everything hangs together in Christ, the source of all creation, everything is interconnected. Indeed, the pope’s attention to interconnectedness and healing seems to guide his views on everything from homosexuality to economic inequality.</p>
<h2>Spiritual director in chief</h2>
<p>A few months into Francis’ papacy, an interviewer asked, “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2013/september/documents/papa-francesco_20130921_intervista-spadaro.html">Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio</a>?”</p>
<p>“A sinner,” he replied, echoing Ignatius’ “Spiritual Exercises.” </p>
<p>After decades of practicing Jesuit spirituality, Francis has now spent 10 years as pope applying those practices to a much larger audience, reflecting on the deeper roots of brokenness in the world – and urging people toward fundamental change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Gabrielli 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>
‘I see the church as a field hospital,’ Pope Francis once said – not a place where superficial solutions will do much good.
Timothy Gabrielli, Gudorf Chair in Catholic Intellectual Traditions, University of Dayton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198566
2023-01-26T21:56:44Z
2023-01-26T21:56:44Z
It shouldn’t seem so surprising when the pope says being gay ‘isn’t a crime’ – a Catholic theologian explains
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506685/original/file-20230126-36898-bos38c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1024%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis leads the second vespers service at St. Paul's Basilica on Jan. 25, 2023, in Rome.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-leads-the-celebration-of-the-second-vespers-on-news-photo/1459422783?phrase=pope%20francis&adppopup=true">Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Once again, Pope Francis has called on Catholics to welcome and accept LGBTQ people.</p>
<p>“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” the pope said in an <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-gay-rights-ap-interview-1359756ae22f27f87c1d4d6b9c8ce212">interview</a> with The Associated Press on Jan. 24, 2023, adding, “let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.” He later <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-lgbtq-people-religion-marriage-862075728690d103bd99bbe8e1e65aba?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=b97447689d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_01_30_02_48&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-b97447689d-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D">issued a note</a> clarifying that his remarks on “sin” referred to sexual activity outside of marriage. During the interview, Francis also called for the relaxation of laws around the world that target LGBTQ people. </p>
<p>Francis’ long history of making similar comments in support of LGBTQ people’s dignity, despite the church’s rejection of homosexuality, has provoked plenty of criticism from some Catholics. But I am a <a href="https://ctu.edu/faculty/steven-millies/">public theologian</a>, and part of what interests me about this debate is that Francis’ inclusiveness is not actually radical. His remarks generally correspond to what the church teaches and calls on Catholics to do.</p>
<h2>‘Who am I to judge?’</h2>
<p>During the first year of Francis’ papacy, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/07/29/206622682/pope-francis-discusses-gay-catholics-who-am-i-to-judge#:%7E:text=Answering%20a%20question%20about%20reports,who%20am%20I%20to%20judge%3F%22">when asked about LGBTQ people</a>, he famously replied, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” – setting the tone for what has become a pattern of inclusiveness.</p>
<p>He has given <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/06/27/james-martin-lgbt-ministry-pope-francis-240938">public support</a> <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2022/11/11/james-martin-pope-francis-244131">more than once</a> to James Martin, a Jesuit priest whose efforts to <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/building-a-bridge-james-martin?variant=32117748236322">build bridges</a> between LGBTQ people and the Catholic Church have been a lightning rod for criticism. In remarks captured for a 2020 documentary, Francis expressed support for the legal protections that <a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-support-for-civil-unions-is-a-call-to-justice-and-nothing-new-148607">civil unions</a> can provide for LGBTQ people.</p>
<p>And now come the newest remarks. In <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-gay-rights-ap-interview-1359756ae22f27f87c1d4d6b9c8ce212">his recent interview</a>, the pope said the church should oppose laws that criminalize homosexuality. “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,” he said, though he differentiated between “crimes” and actions that go against church teachings.</p>
<h2>Compassion, not doctrinal change</h2>
<p>The pope’s support for LGBTQ people’s civil rights does not change Catholic doctrine about marriage or sexuality. The church still teaches – and will certainly go on teaching – that any sexual relationship outside a marriage is wrong, and that marriage is between a man and a woman. It would be a mistake to conclude that Francis is suggesting any change in doctrine. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crowd of people in jackets look up at a tall cross in front of them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506523/original/file-20230126-18-5b14ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506523/original/file-20230126-18-5b14ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506523/original/file-20230126-18-5b14ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506523/original/file-20230126-18-5b14ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506523/original/file-20230126-18-5b14ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506523/original/file-20230126-18-5b14ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506523/original/file-20230126-18-5b14ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A rosary march in Warsaw in 2019 ended with a prayer apologizing to God for pride parades in Poland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/around-a-thousand-people-took-part-in-a-rosary-march-in-news-photo/1173890431?phrase=catholic%20gay%20law&adppopup=true">Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather, the pattern of his comments has been a way to express what the Catholic Church says about human dignity in response to rapidly changing attitudes toward the LGBTQ community across the past two decades. Francis is calling on Catholics to take note that they should be concerned about justice for all people.</p>
<p>The Catholic Church has condemned discrimination against LGBTQ people for many years, even while <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P85.HTM">it describes</a> homosexual acts as “intrinsically disordered” in its catechism. Nevertheless, some bishops around the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality – <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-gay-rights-ap-interview-1359756ae22f27f87c1d4d6b9c8ce212">which Francis acknowledged</a>, saying they “have to have a process of conversion.”</p>
<p>The “<a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#INTRODUCTION">law of love embraces the entire human family and knows no limits</a>,” the Vatican office concerned with social issues said in a 2005 compilation of the church’s social thought.</p>
<p>In 2006, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recognized that LGBTQ people “have been, and often continue to be, <a href="https://www.usccb.org/resources/ministry-to-persons-of-homosexual-iInclination_0.pdf">objects of scorn, hatred, and even violence</a>.” And expressing care for other human persons – “<a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html">especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted</a>” by the indifference or oppression of others – represents obligations for all Catholics to embrace.</p>
<p>As the Francis papacy now nears the end of its 10th year, it is becoming more and more common to hear Catholic leaders attempting to make LGBTQ people feel included in the church. Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich has <a href="https://www.archchicago.org/statement/-/article/2021/03/15/statement-of-cardinal-blase-j-cupich-archbishop-of-chicago-on-same-sex-unions#:%7E:text=with%20respect%20and%20sensitivity">called on pastors</a> to “redouble our efforts to be creative and resilient in finding ways to welcome and encourage all LGBTQ people.” New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan has <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/gay-groups-st-patricks-parade-all-right-cardinal-dolan">welcomed LGBTQ groups</a> in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, against the wishes of many New York Catholics. </p>
<p>In this most recent interview, Francis emphasized that being LGBTQ is “<a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253452/being-homosexual-is-not-a-crime-pope-francis-reiterates-in-new-interview#:%7E:text=It%20is%20a%20human%20condition">a human condition</a>,” calling Catholics to see other people less through the eyes of doctrine and more through the eyes of mercy.</p>
<h2>A new ‘political reality’</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1651/gay-lesbian-rights.aspx">rapid change</a> that has happened in prevailing social attitudes about the LGBTQ community in recent decades has been difficult to process for a church that has never reacted quickly. This is especially because the questions those developments raise touch on a gray area where moral teaching intersects with social realities outside the church.</p>
<p>For decades, church leaders have been working to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-resists-change-but-vatican-ii-shows-its-possible-102543">reconcile the church with the modern world</a>, and Francis is stepping in places where other Catholic bishops have already trodden.</p>
<p>In 2018, for example, German bishops reacting to the legalization of gay marriage acknowledged that acceptance of LGBTQ relationships is a new “<a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/01/24/german-bishops-grapple-blessings-gay-marriage">political reality</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two same-sex couples stand in a church." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506521/original/file-20230126-20-54hefc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506521/original/file-20230126-20-54hefc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506521/original/file-20230126-20-54hefc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506521/original/file-20230126-20-54hefc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506521/original/file-20230126-20-54hefc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506521/original/file-20230126-20-54hefc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506521/original/file-20230126-20-54hefc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An LGBTQ couple embraces after a pastoral worker blesses them at a Catholic church in Germany, in defiance of practices approved by Rome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chantal-hoeffer-and-ivonne-fuchs-hug-each-other-after-news-photo/1317339092?phrase=catholic%20gay&adppopup=true">Andreas Rentz/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are signs that parts of the church are moving even more quickly. Catholics in Germany, in particular, have called for <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250313/synodal-way-meeting-ends-with-call-for-same-sex-blessings-change-to-catechism-on-homosexuality">changes to church teaching</a>, including permission for priests to bless same-sex couples and the ordination of married men.</p>
<h2>The next chapter</h2>
<p>But those actions are outliers. Francis <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-only-on-ap-vatican-city-germany-religion-15c469ce6a29a797f8235dd35eccb118">has criticized</a> the German calls for reform as “elitist” and ideological. When it comes to the civil rights of LGBTQ people, the pope is not changing church teaching, but describing it.</p>
<p>I believe the challenge the Vatican faces is to imagine the space that the church can occupy in this new reality, as it <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-resists-change-but-vatican-ii-shows-its-possible-102543">has had to do</a> in the face of numerous social and political changes across centuries. But the imperative, as Francis suggests, is to serve justice and to seek justice for all people with mercy above all. </p>
<p>Catholics – including bishops, and even the pope – can think, and are thinking, imaginatively about that challenge.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated on Jan. 30, 2023 to include new comments from Pope Francis. Portions of this article originally appeared in <a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-support-for-civil-unions-is-a-call-to-justice-and-nothing-new-148607">a previous article</a> published on Oct. 22, 2020.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198566/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>
Catholic leaders’ attitudes toward LGBTQ people have shifted dramatically – but the actual theology behind them, not so much.
Steven P. Millies, Professor of Public Theology and Director of The Bernardin Center, Catholic Theological Union
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/193066
2022-12-14T13:12:10Z
2022-12-14T13:12:10Z
The Catholic view on indulgences and how they work today
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500735/original/file-20221213-16222-2k9x52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C30%2C4031%2C2987&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The National Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini in Chicago recently offered indulgences.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Myriam Renaud</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1517, the German theologian <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Martin_Luther.html?id=jEQ_X5CMh2MC">Martin Luther</a> nailed <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Ninety_Five_Theses_and_Other_Writing.html?id=bbP3DQAAQBAJ">95 theses</a> to Wittenberg’s Castle Church door, attacking <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Indulgences_Luther_Catholicism_and_the_I.html?id=0Pk2DwAAQBAJ">indulgences</a>, a Catholic practice that, according to church teachings, can reduce or eliminate punishment for sin. Starting in the 11th century, the church offered indulgences to those who joined the Crusades and later sold certificates of indulgences to raise funds, giving rise to the abusive marketing tactics criticized by Luther. </p>
<p>Many people assume that the Catholic Church stopped granting indulgences after Luther’s famous rejection of them. Indeed, nearly 50 years later, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Pius-V">Pope Pius V</a> put a stop to their sale. However, Pius V also affirmed the validity of indulgences themselves so long as no money was exchanged. By 1563, he had endorsed a comprehensive doctrine on indulgences that emerged from a series of meetings with high-ranking clergy, called the Council of Trent.</p>
<p>This comprehensive doctrine, revised in 1967 by <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25022051">Pope Paul VI</a>, remains one of the church’s teachings to this day. For example, from November 2021 to November 2022, the <a href="https://www.cabrininationalshrine.org">National Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini</a> in Chicago <a href="https://www.cabrininationalshrine.org/jubilee-announcement">offered indulgences</a>. It did so to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the canonization of Mother Cabrini, the first American citizen to be declared a saint, revered by Catholics for her work with fellow Italian immigrants to the United States. </p>
<p>While some Catholics welcome the granting of indulgences as an opportunity to reduce punishment for sin, others are unconvinced and dismissive; two other branches of Christianity, Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy, unequivocally reject this practice. </p>
<p>As a scholar of religious thought and author of a <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Constructing_Moral_Concepts_of_God_in_a.html?id=TqPgzgEACAAJ">book of constructive theology focused on ideas of God</a>, I am aware that the practice of indulgences is ancient, evolving and controversial <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/opinion/l17church.html">within Catholic circles</a> and beyond.</p>
<h2>The doctrine of original sin</h2>
<p>A fundamental doctrine of the Catholic Church is that all human beings are born with the stain of <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Transmission_of_Sin.html?id=wv7HNm6BPxcC">original sin</a> as a result of Adam and Eve’s defiance of God in the Garden of Eden. This view, advanced by <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Augustine_of_Hippo.html?id=7akwDwAAQBAJ">St. Augustine of Hippo</a> in the third century, is one of the oldest teachings of the church. Because of original sin, no one, Augustine argued, can avoid sin without the assistance of God. </p>
<p>The faithful must cooperate with God’s freely given help, or grace, to heal the stain of sin. Still, according to Augustine and the church, regardless of effort, they are likely to sin again. </p>
<p>To sin, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-vi_apc_01011967_indulgentiarum-doctrina.html">Pope Paul VI wrote</a>, is to transgress the moral law and show “contempt for or disregard … the friendship between God and man.” Since sin is understood as rejecting God’s love, it deserves infinite separation from God after death: in other words, banishment to hell. </p>
<h2>Forgiveness and reconciliation with God</h2>
<p>The church has evolved a process for the forgiveness of sins, enabling Catholics to return to a state of friendship with God and offering them a reprieve from eternal punishment. This requires several steps, which together are called the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Sacrament_of_Reconciliation.html?id=KO9KLwj1StwC">sacrament of reconciliation</a>. </p>
<p>For the sacrament to be effective, Catholics must feel true sorrow for their sins (contrition), admit their sins to a priest (confession) and promise to perform works of charity and seek sincere inner change (penance). Works of charity, chosen by the confessor priest, may include saying the Lord’s Prayer, saying a prayer to the Virgin Mary, and reciting the <a href="https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe">Nicene Creed</a>, a fourth-century statement of Christian faith. These devotions are intended to turn the believer’s heart toward God. </p>
<p>After a person confesses their sins, the priest, through whom God is believed to speak, ritually grants forgiveness, saying “I absolve you.” The sacrament of reconciliation, according to the church, allows sinners to restore their friendship with God and releases them from the burden of guilt and the penalty of infinite punishment in hell. </p>
<p>The church teaches that even when a person has been ritually forgiven, God’s justice still requires some punishment to purge the sin – at the very least, suffering and miseries on Earth. Moreover, the church teaches, these hardships are to be welcomed because they purify the soul and heal the stain of original sin. </p>
<p>The doctrine of indulgences is rooted in the Catholic doctrine of punishment due after the forgiveness of sins and emerged as a means to ease the burden of this punishment. As early as the sixth century, Catholic priests in Ireland assigned difficult penitential works like pilgrimages to faraway Jerusalem, but some began to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00062278.1982.10554351">adjust these works</a> based on an individual’s ability to bear them. </p>
<h2>Reducing or eliminating punishment for sins</h2>
<p>The substitution of easier works, however, does not meet God’s just demand for punishment of sin, according to the church. When an indulgence is granted, the pope satisfies the unmet demand for punishment by drawing from the church’s so-called <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Promissory_Notes_on_the_Treasury_of_Meri/mKWODwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">treasury of merits</a>. The merits in this treasury are believed to be infinite because they include the merits offered by Christ through his redemptive work on the cross as well as merits earned by the Virgin Mary and the saints. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803110705892">doctrine was codified</a> in the late Middle Ages, in 1343, by Pope Clement VI. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500746/original/file-20221213-12651-txu6il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black-and-white illustration shows people lining up to receive indulgences." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500746/original/file-20221213-12651-txu6il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500746/original/file-20221213-12651-txu6il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500746/original/file-20221213-12651-txu6il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500746/original/file-20221213-12651-txu6il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500746/original/file-20221213-12651-txu6il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500746/original/file-20221213-12651-txu6il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500746/original/file-20221213-12651-txu6il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abuses in selling and granting indulgences were a major point of contention when Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/selling-indulgences-in-catholic-theology-an-indulgence-is-news-photo/1404445180?phrase=indulgences&adppopup=true">Ann Ronan Picture Library/Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Western_Society_and_the_Church_in_the_Mi.html?id=VEl1Cy-SwBQC">By the time of Luther</a>, certificates of indulgences were being sold to raise money on behalf of important patrons like the pope, who needed funds to build St. Peter’s Basilica. The priests who peddled these certificates preyed on faithful believers who feared punishment not just for themselves but also for loved ones who had died. </p>
<p>Terror over the fate of the dead stemmed from the church’s long-standing belief that if punishment for sin is not completed in this life, it continues after death when the soul departs for a spiritual place called <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Heaven_Can_Wait/0fqKBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">purgatory</a>. The soul must fully satisfy the <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm">punishment required by God’s justice</a> before it can leave purgatory, come before God and enter heaven. The church has never claimed it could exercise authority over purgatory, the realm of God, to reduce punishment, but unscrupulous priests claimed indulgences could help the dead. </p>
<h2>The current practice of seeking indulgences</h2>
<p>Today, Catholics may seek <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Praying_with_the_Saints_for_the_Holy_Sou/dmj8CwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">indulgences for dead relatives</a> in the same way they seek indulgences for themselves. But they are then limited to praying that Christ or the saints intervene on behalf of their loved ones so that these indulgences may count toward reduced punishment.</p>
<p>In his 1967 <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-vi_apc_01011967_indulgentiarum-doctrina.html">Indulgentiarum Doctrina</a>, Pope Paul VI summed up this teaching: “If the faithful offer indulgences in suffrage for the dead, they cultivate charity in an excellent way and while raising their minds to heaven, they bring a wiser order into the things of this world.”</p>
<p>The church offers indulgences under specific conditions. Besides visiting designated holy sites such as the National Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini during set periods of time and for special occasions, Catholics can receive indulgences by reciting a set of approved prayers or making charitable contributions. The 1999 “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Manual_of_Indulgences/IMEof2fFCHMC?hl=en&gbpv=0">Manual of Indulgences</a>” provides guidelines for church-sanctioned practices. </p>
<p>Protestant Christians view indulgences as neither biblical nor theologically defensible – in their view, only God can directly forgive sins. </p>
<p>Parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church sold their own version of <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Eastern_Christianity_in_Its_Texts/Gkp2EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">certificates of indulgences</a> well into the 20th century. Believed to be a Catholic corruption of its own theology, the Eastern Orthodox Church eradicated this practice throughout its ranks. </p>
<p>For some Catholics, to seek an indulgence is to participate in an ancient practice whose long history is rooted in the earliest centuries of the church. Other Catholics reject the doctrine of original sin or the doctrine of punishment for sins or both – for them, indulgences have little meaning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193066/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Myriam Renaud 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 Catholic Church practice of granting indulgences, criticized by Martin Luther in the 16th century, still exists, as part of the doctrine – but in a different form.
Myriam Renaud, Affiliated Faculty of Bioethics, Religion, and Society, Department of Religious Studies, DePaul University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/192808
2022-11-04T12:29:25Z
2022-11-04T12:29:25Z
Catholic conflicts on marriage continue, even decades after Vatican II
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493114/original/file-20221102-14-ymosjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C20%2C6718%2C4492&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis commemorates the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council by celebrating a Mass.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VaticanIIAnniversary/c6dc3b439e3b4bcc889cba0698ac9e29/photo?Query=vatican%20II&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2925&currentItemNo=9">AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The past 60 years have been a period of change and reflection for many in the Catholic Church, initiated by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s and continued by the current synod on synodality.</p>
<p>In the autumn of 2021, Pope Francis <a href="https://www.usccb.org/synod">announced a new synod</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-synod-of-bishops-a-catholic-priest-and-theologian-explains-168937">an official meeting of Roman Catholic bishops</a> to determine future directions for the church globally.
The <a href="https://www.synod.va/content/dam/synod/common/phases/continental-stage/dcs/Documento-Tappa-Continentale-EN.pdf">first working document</a> issued by the synod was published on Oct. 27, 2022.</p>
<p>This document was made public <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2022/documents/20221011-omelia-60concilio.html">soon after the 60th anniversary</a> of Pope John XXIII’s 1962 convocation of the Second Vatican Council. During the three years that followed, Catholic bishops from across the globe met in several sessions, assisted by expert theologians. Many guests were also <a href="https://vaticaniiat50.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/63-non-catholic-observers-attending-second-session/">invited as observers</a>, which included prominent Catholic laity and representatives from other Christian churches. </p>
<p>The council called for fresh ways to address 20th-century social and cultural issues and initiated official dialogue groups for Catholic theologians with others from different faith traditions.</p>
<p>However, Catholics have become increasingly divided over this openness to contemporary cultural changes. As a <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">specialist in Roman Catholic liturgy and worship</a>, I find that one important flashpoint where these deeper disagreements become more painfully visible is in Catholic worship, particularly in the celebration of its seven major rituals, called the sacraments. This is especially true in the celebration of matrimony.</p>
<h2>Vatican II</h2>
<p>In the mid-20th century, the church was still shaken by the repercussions of World War II and struggling to contribute to a world connected by the reality of global communication and the threat of nuclear war. Vatican II was called to “update” and “renew” the church – a process Pope John XXIII called “<a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-10/vatican-ii-council-60th-anniversary-video-history-background.html">aggiornamento</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493284/original/file-20221103-13-ibvba2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cardinals seated in St. Peter's Basilica as they attend the opening ceremony of the second session of Vatican II on Sept. 29, 1963." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493284/original/file-20221103-13-ibvba2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493284/original/file-20221103-13-ibvba2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493284/original/file-20221103-13-ibvba2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493284/original/file-20221103-13-ibvba2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493284/original/file-20221103-13-ibvba2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493284/original/file-20221103-13-ibvba2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493284/original/file-20221103-13-ibvba2.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vatican II was an attempt to renew the church in the midst of global changes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VaticanIIOpeningCeremony1963/02a3ff5b2981402998800159c236b5c8/photo?Query=vatican%20II&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2925&currentItemNo=25">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One important theme connecting all of the council’s documents was <a href="http://individual.utoronto.ca/hayes/xty_canada/vatican_ii.html">inculturation</a>, a more open dialogue with the variety of global human cultures. With the document <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html">Sacrosanctum Concilium</a>, the bishops addressed the need to revisit the centuries-old worship traditions of Catholicism, reforming the structures of the various rituals and encouraging the use of vernacular languages during prayer, rather than exclusive use of the ancient Latin texts.</p>
<p>In the intervening decades, however, sharp contradictions and disagreements have arisen, especially over clashes between flexible cultural adaptation and rigorous moral and doctrinal standards. These have become much more visible during the past two pontificates: the more conservative Pope Benedict XVI – pope from 2005 to 2013 – and the more progressive Pope Francis.</p>
<h2>The synod on synodality</h2>
<p>For the present synod, Pope Francis began with a process of consultation with <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-is-increasingly-diverse-and-so-are-its-controversies-189038">local church communities all over the world</a>, stressing the inclusion of many different groups within the church, especially of <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-10/voices-of-excluded-in-synod-document-for-continental-phase.html">those who are often marginalized</a>, including the poor, migrants, LGBTQ people and women.</p>
<p>However, there <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/is-the-synod-building-a-big-tent-or-a-house-on-sand">has also been criticism</a>. Some feel that the church should more swiftly adapt its teaching and practice to the needs of a variety of contemporary cultural shifts, while others insist it should hold on to its own traditions even more tightly.</p>
<h2>Gay marriage</h2>
<p>In North America and Europe, a major <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/02/how-catholics-around-the-world-see-same-sex-marriage-homosexuality/">cultural shift</a> has taken place over recent decades concerning gays and lesbians, from marginalized rejection to acceptance and support. </p>
<p>Over the years Pope Francis has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-endorse-same-sex-civil-unions-eb3509b30ebac35e91aa7cbda2013de2">come under fire</a> for his comments about homosexuality. He has publicly stated that gay Catholics are not to be discriminated against, that they have a right to enter secular civil unions and that they are to be welcomed by the Catholic community. On the other hand, he has also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/setback-gay-catholics-vatican-says-church-cannot-bless-same-sex-unions-2021-03-15/">refused bishops permission</a> to offer gay couples a blessing.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/gay-blessings-germany-vatican/2021/05/10/e452cea2-af6a-11eb-82c1-896aca955bb9_story.html">Progressive bishops in Germany</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/flemish-catholic-bishops-defying-vatican-approve-blessing-same-sex-unions-2022-09-20/">Belgium</a>, who had been <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250313/synodal-way-meeting-ends-with-call-for-same-sex-blessings-change-to-catechism-on-homosexuality">proponents</a> of this practice, organized an open protest by setting aside a day just for the bestowal of these blessings.</p>
<p>In contemporary Catholicism, discrimination or injustice against gay or lesbian individuals is <a href="https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/568/">condemned</a>, because each human being is <a href="https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/life-and-dignity-of-the-human-person">considered to be a child of God</a>. However, homosexual orientation is still considered “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P85.HTM">intrinsically disordered</a>” and homosexual activity seriously sinful. </p>
<p>The Vatican <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/03/15/210315b.html">has warned</a> progressives of the danger that these blessings might be considered, in the eyes of the faithful, the equivalent of a <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20210222_articolo-responsum-dubium-unioni_en.html">sacramental marriage</a>. Some might assume that homosexual activity is no longer considered sinful, a fundamental change that conservative Catholics would find completely unacceptable.</p>
<p>This doctrinal perspective has led to other liturgical restrictions. For example, the baptism of children adopted by gay parents is considered a “<a href="https://www.usccb.org/committees/doctrine/pastoral-care">serious pastoral concern</a>.” In order for a child to receive the sacrament of Catholic baptism – the blessing with water that makes the child a Catholic Christian – there must be some hope that the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann834-878_en.html">child will be raised in the Catholic Church</a>, yet the church teaches that homosexual activity is objectively wrong. Despite the current openness <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vatican-synod-gays/gays-and-their-children-should-not-suffer-church-bias-vatican-idUSKBN0F11HV20140626">to gay Catholics</a>, this conflict could lead to the child’s being denied baptism. </p>
<p>Following a <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20051104_istruzione_en.html">document issued in 2005</a> under Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis in 2018 stated that candidates for the sacrament of ordination – the ritual that makes a man a priest – <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-homosexuality/pope-tells-bishops-not-to-accept-gay-seminarians-report-idUSKCN1IP36J">must be rejected</a> if they demonstrate “homosexual tendencies” or a serious interest in “gay culture.” He also advised gay men who are already ordained to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-homosexuals-book/be-celibate-or-leave-the-priesthood-pope-tells-gay-priests-idUSKBN1O10K7">maintain strict celibacy or leave the priesthood</a>. </p>
<h2>Polygamy and colonialism</h2>
<p>This recent cultural shift in Western nations has raised difficult questions for Catholics, both clergy and laity. In some non-Western countries, however, it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-is-increasingly-diverse-and-so-are-its-controversies-189038">an older custom</a> that has become an important issue.</p>
<p>The culture of many African countries is supportive of polygamy – more specifically, the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/many-african-catholics-have-more-than-one-wife-what-should-the-church-do/">practice of allowing men to take more than one wife</a>. While the civil law in some countries might not allow for polygamy, the “<a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/she/v39n1/14.pdf">customary law</a>” rooted in traditional practice may still remain in force. </p>
<p>In some countries, like Kenya in 2014, <a href="https://cruxnow.com/cns/2018/05/11/some-kenyan-christians-support-polygamy-but-catholic-church-says-no">civil law has been changed</a> to include an <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/01/07/pushed-politicians-polygamy-abounds-among-christians-kenya?destination=/faith/2019/01/07/pushed-politicians-polygamy-abounds-among-christians-kenya">official recognition of polygamous marriage</a>. Some have argued that monogamy is not an organic cultural shift but a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8827617/">colonial imposition</a> on African cultural traditions. In some areas, Catholic men continue the practice, even those who act on behalf of the church in teaching others about the faith – called catechists.</p>
<p>At least one African bishop <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/17354/synod-for-africa-ponders-how-to-tackle-polygamy-meddling-by-foreign-interests">has made an interesting suggestion</a>. The openness to alternative cultural approaches has already resulted in one change. Divorced and remarried Catholics were once forbidden from taking Communion – the bread and wine consecrated at the celebration of the Catholic ritual of the Mass – because the church did not recognize secular divorce. </p>
<p>Today, they may <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/vatican-cardinal-amoris-laetitia-allows-some-remarried-take-communion">receive communion</a> under certain conditions. This flexibility might apply as well to Catholics in non-recognized polygamous unions, who are also <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/african-bishop-polygamy-homosexuality-divorce-oh-my">not permitted to receive Communion</a> at present.</p>
<p>As Pope Francis wrote in his 2016 document on marriage, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia_en.pdf">Amoris Laetitia</a>, some matters should be left to local churches to decide based on their own culture and traditions.</p>
<p>However, despite the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_1988_fede-inculturazione_en.html">need for increased awareness of and openness to diverse human cultures</a> stressed during Vatican II and the current synod, this traditional custom is still considered a violation of Catholic teaching. Based on the words of Jesus in the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019%3A6&version=NRSVACE">Gospel of Matthew</a>, Catholic teaching continues to emphasize that marriage can take place only between <a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/catechism/index.cfm?recnum=6219">one man and one woman as a lifelong commitment</a>.</p>
<p>How the current synod on synodality, in its effort to extend the insights of the Second Vatican Council, will deal with questions like these is still unclear. It is now set to run for an additional year, concluding in 2024 instead of 2023.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192808/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I served as a Catholic member of an official ecumenical dialogue group, the Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the United States, for seventeen years.</span></em></p>
Catholics disagree over how to adapt the church’s doctrine and practices, especially marriage, to different cultures.
Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188941
2022-08-30T13:53:15Z
2022-08-30T13:53:15Z
‘Smiling Pope’ John Paul I takes the next step toward sainthood – not all pontiffs earn this distinction
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480935/original/file-20220824-11730-aaitdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C1%2C1017%2C743&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope John Paul I greets the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in August 1978.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-john-paul-i-greets-the-crowds-gathered-in-st-peters-news-photo/103339545?adppopup=true">Keystone/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Sept. 4, 2022, Pope John Paul I, born Albino Luciani, <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-07/beatification-dates-john-paul-first-albino-luciani.html">will be beatified</a>: proclaimed as “blessed,” the last step before being canonized as a Catholic saint.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-08/pope-john-paul-i-election-anniversary-42-years.html">Elected head of the Catholic Church</a> in August 1978, he held the papacy for only one month. John Paul I was found dead in bed late that September. The cause of his unexpected death was determined to have been a heart attack, notwithstanding <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/11/04/pope-john-paul-i-smiling-pope-path-sainthood">a lingering swirl of conspiracy theories</a>.</p>
<p>Despite his short papacy, John Paul I left a mark. Called the “<a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-08/pope-john-paul-i-election-anniversary-42-years.html">Smiling Pope</a>” because of his welcoming manner, he was the first pope in centuries to refuse a formal coronation, choosing <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/09/04/john-paul-i-is-installed-as-pope/3726ae76-771b-497a-b785-92d74d8616af/">a simpler inauguration ceremony</a>. The new pope’s life as a priest, bishop, cardinal and finally pope <a href="http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.php?ID=180739">was embodied</a> in the motto he chose for his ministry: “humility.”</p>
<p>All of the past five popes who have died have been nominated for canonization, and three have been named saints. But not every pope has been revered as a saint by Roman Catholics – especially during the medieval era, a period I focus on in my work as <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">a scholar of Catholicism</a>.</p>
<h2>From powerless to powerful</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm">Nearly all the popes</a> of Christianity’s first few centuries have been recognized as saints – starting with St. Peter, Jesus’ apostle, whom Roman Catholics recognize as the first pontiff. He and St. Paul, the author of several of the letters known as <a href="https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/epistle">epistles</a> in the New Testament, are both believed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575068343-015">have been executed in Rome</a> around A.D. 64.</p>
<p>Until the early fourth century, <a href="https://theconversation.com/mythbusting-ancient-rome-throwing-christians-to-the-lions-67365">Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire</a>, although this legislation was not always rigidly enforced. Tradition holds that most of the early popes died as martyrs.</p>
<p>After <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/christianity-becomes-the-religion-of-the-roman-empire-february-27-380/a-4602728">Christianity was legalized</a>, bishops and popes became increasingly involved in the empire’s political struggles of the next several centuries. Some of these arose when the church became divided over important theological issues, and individual emperors supported one view over another.</p>
<p>Invasions by Germanic tribes from north of the Alps also caused chaos, and popes often <a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/attila2.asp">served as stabilizing figures</a> in Italy and beyond. <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm">Several popes</a> from the sixth through eighth centuries have been named saints.</p>
<h2>The age of scandal</h2>
<p>During the early medieval period, after repeated political and military upheavals, the Frankish kings north of the Alps “donated” territories in parts of northern and central Italy to the pope. These <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100304438">Papal States</a> governed directly by the pope became an important center of political activity. </p>
<p>The popes’ secular power led to struggles among aristocratic families of Rome for control of the papacy. This led to a period in the late ninth and 10th centuries often called the “<a href="https://archive.org/details/churchhistorytwe00dwye/page/154/mode/2up?view=theater">Dark Ages</a>” or “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&id=cusRoE1OJvEC&dq=will+durant+nadir+papacy&q=nadir+papacy#v=snippet&q=nadir%20papacy&f=false">nadir</a>” of the papacy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A painting shows men in robes pointing to a skeleton dressed up and sitting on a throne." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480953/original/file-20220824-4272-5w6xlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480953/original/file-20220824-4272-5w6xlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480953/original/file-20220824-4272-5w6xlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480953/original/file-20220824-4272-5w6xlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480953/original/file-20220824-4272-5w6xlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480953/original/file-20220824-4272-5w6xlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480953/original/file-20220824-4272-5w6xlw.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pope Formosus and Stephen VII, painted in 1870 by Jean-Paul Laurens. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-formosus-and-stephen-vii-1870-found-in-the-collection-news-photo/600039693?adppopup=true">Heritage Images/Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most of the men chosen to be pope during this period were clearly unworthy of the position, and far fewer were canonized. Pope Stephen VI hated his predecessor, Pope Formosus, so deeply that he had the corpse dug up and put on trial at what came to be called <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-cadaver-synod-putting-a-dead-pope-on-trial/">the Cadaver Synod</a> in 897. After the guilty verdict, he had the corpse thrown into the Tiber River. Soon after, he was himself assassinated. </p>
<p>Pope John XII, of a noble Tuscan family, was chosen to be pope as a very young man because of his political connections. He was derided at the time for <a href="https://time.com/4633580/young-pope-history/">his dissolute life</a> and for having “turned the Vatican into a brothel.” Legend has it that in 964, he died while committing adultery with another noble’s wife. </p>
<p>Ironically, perhaps, it was during this era that popes became responsible for <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-italian-teen-is-set-to-become-the-first-millennial-saint-but-canonizing-children-is-nothing-new-in-the-catholic-church-148507">naming saints</a>, and one of the Vatican offices was tasked with examining cases. Previously, groups of Christians venerated local individuals whom they considered especially holy, but apart from a declaration by the regional bishop, there was no formal process for proclaiming sainthood.</p>
<h2>Renaissance rulers</h2>
<p>The 14th century was an especially chaotic one for the papacy, with several popes <a href="https://cat.xula.edu/tpr/factors/avignon/">living in Avignon, France</a>, because of its kings’ political dominance. After Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377, the next papal election was disputed, and until 1417 there were two, then three, cardinals claiming to be the pope.</p>
<p>These disruptions led some popes of the late 15th and early 16th centuries to be even more focused on preserving their political power. The Papal States took their place among the increasingly <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pape/hd_pape.htm">wealthy and ambitious</a> Italian city-states of the Renaissance.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A bronze coin shows a profile portrait of a man in a heavy robe." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480951/original/file-20220824-14-7dd3y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480951/original/file-20220824-14-7dd3y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480951/original/file-20220824-14-7dd3y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480951/original/file-20220824-14-7dd3y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480951/original/file-20220824-14-7dd3y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480951/original/file-20220824-14-7dd3y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480951/original/file-20220824-14-7dd3y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A coin from the 15th or 16th century shows Pope Alexander VI, who was born Rodrigo Borgia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/roman-15th-or-16th-century-alexander-vi-pope-1492-obverse-news-photo/1162529633?adppopup=true">Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Again, the reputation of some popes caused scandal. Rodrigo Borgia, reigning as <a href="http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/alexanderVI.htm">Pope Alexander VI</a>, named his own son a cardinal, conducted numerous affairs, and sent the papal armies into battle against other Italian families. One of his successors, <a href="https://reformation500.csl.edu/bio/pope-julius-ii/">Julius II, known as the “Warrior Pope</a>,” actually donned armor to lead his own soldiers into battle to expand the Papal States.</p>
<p>No pope from this period would be canonized until Pope St. Pius V, a leader of the Catholic Reformation or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Counter-Reformation">Counter-Reformation</a> of the later 16th century. </p>
<h2>The modern process</h2>
<p>In the 19th century, the area under papal control was reduced to the tiny city-state of Vatican City, which is recognized to this day as a sovereign state by much of the world, including <a href="https://history.state.gov/countries/papal-states">the United States</a> and <a href="https://www.etias.info/schengen-countries/etias-vatican-city/">the European Union</a>. Since then, as popes’ most public roles have become more pastoral than political, more of them have been canonized.</p>
<p>Popes must meet <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-becomes-a-saint-in-the-catholic-church-and-is-that-changing-81011">the same requirements as any other Catholic proceeding toward sainthood</a>, which include demonstrating a life of “heroic virtue” and typically having two miracles attributed to their intercession with God. Traditionally, Catholics had to wait 50 years after a death to nominate the person for sainthood. Today, the waiting period is just five years – and sometimes waived altogether. </p>
<p>Pope St. John Paul II, for example, died in 2005, was beatified in 2011 and canonized in 2014. Even at his funeral, many in the crowd were already <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/may/13/catholicism.religion1">calling for his immediate canonization</a>. This “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/14/world/europe/john-paul-vatican.html">fast-track” decision</a> has been criticized amid concerns about his handling of clerical sexual abuse reports during his long pontificate.</p>
<p>In John Paul I’s case, the Vatican proclaimed him <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/csaints/documents/rc_con_csaints_doc_20031123_papa-luciani_it.html">a “Servant of God</a>” in 2003, <a href="https://www.usccb.org/offices/public-affairs/saints">the first step in the process</a>.</p>
<p>In 2017, after studying his life and his writings to <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2017-11/pope-approves-the-heroic-virtues-of-servant-of-god-pope-john-pau.html">confirm his “heroic virtue</a>,” Vatican officials recommended that Pope Francis take the next step and proclaim John Paul I as “Venerable.” </p>
<p>Four years later, after a further review, Pope Francis <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/recognizing-miracle-pope-clears-way-beatification-john-paul-i">recognized the recovery of a young Argentinian girl in “imminent” danger of death</a> as a miracle attributed to the intercession of John Paul I. A miracle of this kind is normally required for a “venerable” to move to beatification, <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-becomes-a-saint-in-the-catholic-church-and-is-that-changing-81011">the next step toward canonization</a>. </p>
<p>After the beatification in September, John Paul I will have the title “blessed,” and will be assigned <a href="https://thecatholicspirit.com/news/local-news/local-parishes-can-celebrate-blessed-caseys-first-feast-day/">a feast day</a> that may be observed in regions where he once lived and worked.</p>
<p>In the future, if a second miracle is officially recognized, he may be canonized and proclaimed a saint. Either way, his case illustrates the contemporary Catholic Church’s view of canonization: No one, even a pope, becomes a saint automatically – but every Catholic whose life and actions demonstrate “extraordinary virtue,” famous pope or obscure layperson, may be proposed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188941/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>
Popes’ roles have changed over time. Some periods produced plenty of saintly popes, while others are notorious for the opposite.
Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/186886
2022-08-02T19:08:42Z
2022-08-02T19:08:42Z
Pope Francis’s visit to Canada was full of tensions — both from what was said and what wasn’t
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477180/original/file-20220802-9575-pkmu0n.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C3000%2C2339&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis waves to the crowd, making his way to the Plains of Abraham during his Papal visit in Québec City on July 27, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reactions to Pope Francis’s apology in Canada for harm perpetrated by members of the Catholic Church on children at Indian Residential Schools were far from unanimous. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/28/1114207125/canada-pope-apology-indigenous">some have acknowledged the apology was genuine and deeply felt</a>, there was tension and a mix of welcome reception and protest.</p>
<p>Evelyn Korkmaz, a survivor of St. Anne’s Indian Residential School in Ontario, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sNVBll7TOk">expressed the tension well</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I had my ups and downs, my hurrays, my disappointments… my wanting more and not getting it. I’ve waited 50 years for this apology and finally today I heard it… Part of me is rejoiced, part of me is sad, part of me is numb, but I am glad I lived long enough to have witnessed his apology. But like I said I want more, because 50 years is too long to wait for an apology.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Pope’s visit to Canada, despite being met with reception and protest, was significant. Visiting Indigenous people on their land was a step in the right direction, but the visit was full of tensions — both from what was said and what wasn’t.</p>
<h2>Meeting on Indigenous land</h2>
<p>In late March an Indigenous delegation from Canada <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/indigenous-delegations-set-to-meet-pope-francis-vatican-1.6394450">visited the Pope</a>. And last week, the Pope met with Indigenous people on their land, in their homes. </p>
<p>The Pope, representing the Catholic Church, coming to what we now call Canada was significant. He came, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2022/documents/20220717-angelus.html">as he said</a>, on a “penitential pilgrimage” to encounter, to listen, to apologize. </p>
<p>The Anishinaabe speak of this as <a href="https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459748996-di-bayn-di-zi-win--to-own-ourselves-">entering one another’s lodge</a> — done in an effort to understand each other’s way of being and acting in the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in white robes wears a headdress" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477184/original/file-20220802-15-9f9vyo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477184/original/file-20220802-15-9f9vyo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477184/original/file-20220802-15-9f9vyo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477184/original/file-20220802-15-9f9vyo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477184/original/file-20220802-15-9f9vyo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477184/original/file-20220802-15-9f9vyo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477184/original/file-20220802-15-9f9vyo.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pope Francis wears a headdress he was given after his apology to Indigenous people during a ceremony in Maskwacis, Alta. on July 25, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The encounter with Pope Francis was full of tensions, in part healing for survivors and their families and in part triggering <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1363461513503380">deep wounds from a traumatic past</a>. </p>
<p>These tensions were illustrated during Cree woman <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1902094/canada-chant-cri-reprimandes-pape-excuses-si-pih-ko-maskwacis">Si Phi Ko’s protest</a>. After former Truth and Reconciliation commissioner Chief Wilton Littlechild placed a headdress on the Pope’s head, Phi Ko could not be silent as she saw it as a sign of disrespect. But for Chief Littlechild, Pope Francis choosing to visit his territory was <a href="https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/chief-wilton-littlechild-talks-about-why-he-gave-pope-francis-a-headdress">an honour</a>. </p>
<p>This tension, poles of reception and protest was evoked not only from what was said by Pope Francis in his apology, but by what was omitted. </p>
<h2>What was omitted</h2>
<p>While recognizing the importance of the apology, former TRC commissioner Murray Sinclair saw <a href="https://cochranesaxberg.com/2022/07/26/statement-from-the-honourable-murray-sinclair-on-the-popes-apology/">a “deep hole”</a> in it.</p>
<p>Sinclair said the Catholic Church’s role in the cultural genocide of Indigenous Peoples was more than just the work of a few bad people, adding it was:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“A concerted institutional effort to remove children from their families and cultures, all in the name of Christian supremacy. While an apology has been made, that same doctrine is in place.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This doctrine Sinclair is referring to is <a href="https://united-church.ca/social-action/justice-initiatives/reconciliation-and-indigenous-justice/doctrine-discovery">the Doctrine of Discovery</a>. The Doctrine of Discovery is a legal framework that justified acts like the colonization of North America and its roots are in a series of papal statements. Over the course of the Pope’s visit, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9026698/papal-apology-renounce-doctrine-of-discovery/">many called for it to be rescinded</a>.</p>
<p>As Sinclair mentioned, the church played a role in the cultural genocide of Indigenous people, which is something the Pope failed to acknowledge <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/pope-francis-residential-schools-genocide-1.6537203">until he was on the plane home</a>. “I didn’t use the word genocide because it didn’t come to mind but I described genocide,” Francis said.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sign reads 'recind the doctrine of discovery'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477185/original/file-20220802-12171-uiuh2c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477185/original/file-20220802-12171-uiuh2c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477185/original/file-20220802-12171-uiuh2c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477185/original/file-20220802-12171-uiuh2c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477185/original/file-20220802-12171-uiuh2c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477185/original/file-20220802-12171-uiuh2c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477185/original/file-20220802-12171-uiuh2c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&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 on July 29, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dustin Patar</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What was also omitted, in some instances, was the presence of survivors — from the procession to sitting in the front seats during <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eucharist">the eucharist</a>, both in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGe4C_Hg-zQ">Edmonton</a> and at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW1B6AfC6yM">Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré</a>. Indigenous symbols and ceremonies were also omitted from the altar and during the service.</p>
<p>While Pope Francis sincerely sought reconciliation, reconciliation did not seem to touch these forms of celebration and the clash of cultures was palatable. </p>
<h2>Tensions stretched wide</h2>
<p>There are also tensions within the Catholic Church itself that were reflected during the papal visit. The tension is between what philosopher <a href="https://iep.utm.edu/lonergan/">Bernard Lonergan</a> calls “<a href="https://www.pdcnet.org/lonerganreview/content/lonerganreview_2016_0007_0001_0084_0099">classism” and “historical mindedness</a>.”</p>
<p>The Catholic Church as an institution has not adopted a framework that can come to terms with its role in the spiritual, sexual, cultural, emotional and physical abuse suffered by Indigenous children at Indian Residential Schools. </p>
<p>This was clear through the lack of sensitivity to Indigenous cultures during the eucharist and the presence of cardinals, bishops and clergy in the first rows that, at times, obscured the fact that the visit was meant to be an encounter with Survivors and Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>As many said during the Pope’s visit, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/papal-apology-survivors-edmonton-1.6536793">healing must take place within both parties</a>. </p>
<p>Healing for Indigenous Survivors will constitute both an interior and exterior journey. Healing within the Catholic Church must constitute a reappropriation of truth and value in face of all evil it has been part of.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Jamieson 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>
Visiting Indigenous people on their land was a step in the right direction, but the pope’s visit was full of tensions over both what was said and what wasn’t.
Christine Jamieson, Associate Professor, Theological Studies, Concordia University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/183200
2022-07-07T12:18:39Z
2022-07-07T12:18:39Z
The patriotic Virgin: How Mary’s been marshaled for religious nationalism and military campaigns
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472863/original/file-20220706-12046-7z7nen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C73%2C8178%2C5395&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A mural in Kyiv depicts the Virgin Mary cradling a U.S.-made anti-tank weapon, a Javelin, which is considered a symbol of Ukraine's defense against Russia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/RussiaUkraineWar/26f26565d15c43dfa1ff107062c49a43/photo?Query=javelin&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=4051&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, analysts picking apart Vladimir Putin’s motives and messaging about the war have looked to religion for some of the answers. Putin’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/holy-wars-how-a-cathedral-of-guns-and-glory-symbolizes-putins-russia-176786">nationalist vision</a> paints Russia as a defender of traditional Christian values against a liberal, secular West.</p>
<p>Putin’s Russia, however, is only the latest in a centurieslong lineup of nations using religion to bolster their political ambitions. As <a href="https://dornsifecms.usc.edu/iacs/staff/">a Jesuit priest and scholar of Catholicism</a>, I’ve seen in my research on <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739140895/Toward-a-Catholic-Theology-of-Nationality">nationalism and religion</a> how patriotic loyalties and religious faith easily <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54484-7_1">borrow one another’s language, symbols and emotions</a>.</p>
<p>Western Christianity, including Catholicism, has often been enlisted to stir up patriotic fervor in support of nationalism. Historically, one <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43443-8">typical aspect of the Catholic approach</a> is linking devotion to the Virgin Mary with the interests of the state and military.</p>
<h2>The birth of a belief</h2>
<p>An Egyptian papyrus fragment from the fourth century is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctv8pzdqp.10.pdf">the first clear evidence</a> of Christians’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F106385120801700106">praying to the Virgin Mary</a>. The brief prayer, which seeks Mary’s protection in times of trouble, is written in the first person plural – using language like “our” and “we” – which suggests a belief that Mary would respond to groups of people as well as individuals. </p>
<p>That conviction appeared to grow in the following centuries. After the Roman Emperor Constantine <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/654203/summary">converted to Christianity</a> in A.D. 312, the new faith developed a close relationship with his empire, including a belief that Mary looked with particular favor on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108990530.001">the capital city of Constantinople</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A gold mosaic shows a man with a halo holding up a model of a city." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472594/original/file-20220705-12-ipwdcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472594/original/file-20220705-12-ipwdcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472594/original/file-20220705-12-ipwdcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472594/original/file-20220705-12-ipwdcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472594/original/file-20220705-12-ipwdcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472594/original/file-20220705-12-ipwdcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472594/original/file-20220705-12-ipwdcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 10th-century Byzantine mosaic of Constantine the Great offering Constantinople to the Virgin Mary, at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/constantine-the-great-byzantine-mosaic-with-representation-news-photo/946130124?adppopup=true">Photo by PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Political and religious leaders asked the Virgin for victory in battle and <a href="https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-02551-3.html">shelter from plagues</a>. In A.D. 626, Constantinople was besieged by a Persian navy. Christians believed that their prayers to the Virgin destroyed the invading fleet, saving the city and its inhabitants. The Akathist hymn, which has been prayed in both the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches ever since, gives Mary the military title “Champion General” <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203036174">in thanks for that victory</a>. </p>
<p>In the Catholic West, military successes such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/22141332-00703003">European victories over the Ottoman Empire</a> were attributed to Mary’s intervention. Her blessing has been sought on <a href="https://doi.org/10.7560/706026">imperialist endeavors</a>, including <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/la-conquistadora-9780199892983?cc=us&lang=en&">Spain’s conquest of the Americas</a>. </p>
<p>Even today, Mary holds the title of general in the armies of <a href="https://www.liceosanmartin.edu.ar/24-de-septiembre-virgen-de-la-merced-patrona-del-ejercito-argentino/">Argentina</a> and <a href="https://www.ejercito.cl/efemerides/events/Njk=">Chile</a>, where she is considered <a href="http://www.iglesia.cl/detalle_noticia.php?id=2102">a national patroness</a>. The same association between Marian devotion and patriotism can be found in <a href="http://coloquioscanariasamerica.casadecolon.com/index.php/CHCA/article/view/10523/9898">many Latin American countries</a>.</p>
<h2>National symbol</h2>
<p>Off the battlefield, many Catholic cultures have historically felt they had a special relationship with Mary. In 1638, King Louis XIII <a href="https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhef_0300-9505_1938_num_24_102_2849">formally dedicated France</a> to the Virgin Mary. Popular belief interpreted the subsequent birth of the future Louis XIV as Mary’s miraculous reward, after 23 years of waiting for a male heir. </p>
<p>About two decades later, Polish King Jan II Kazimierz <a href="https://polishfreedom.pl/en/lwow-vows-of-jan-kazimierz/">consecrated his country</a> to Mary amid a war. Both acts reflected church and political leaders’ beliefs that their countries had a sacred mission and divine approval for their political ambitions.</p>
<p>When these kinds of beliefs become widespread in a society, many scholars would label them religious nationalism – though there is a long-standing debate about when affection for one’s country becomes “<a href="http://journal.unair.ac.id/download-fullpapers-11-DUGIS.pdf">nationalism</a>.” There is widespread consensus, though, that religion is one of the most common <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/03058298000290030301">elements of nationalism</a>, and many nationalist projects have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43443-8">invoked Mary’s blessing</a>. </p>
<p>Polish territory, for example, was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria for more than a century. But Polish Catholics continued to address Mary as “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anna-Niedzwiedz/publication/314485295_Mary_in_Poland_A_Polish_Master_Symbol/links/58c2be7ba6fdcce648de1d36/Mary-in-Poland-A-Polish-Master-Symbol.pdf">Queen of Poland</a>.” Her title asserted the existence of the Polish people as a nation. And it implied that efforts to reestablish Poland as a sovereign country had a heavenly helper.</p>
<p>Similarly, in the 19th century, both Queen Victoria and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137315472_10">the Virgin Mary</a> were referred to in different contexts as “Queen of Ireland,” expressing two rival visions of Ireland: part of the Protestant United Kingdom, or a separate and essentially Catholic country.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="An illustration of the Virgin Mary inside a gold frame hangs on a wall beside a Mexican flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472600/original/file-20220705-18-8ylgw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472600/original/file-20220705-18-8ylgw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472600/original/file-20220705-18-8ylgw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472600/original/file-20220705-18-8ylgw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472600/original/file-20220705-18-8ylgw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472600/original/file-20220705-18-8ylgw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472600/original/file-20220705-18-8ylgw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration of the Virgin de Guadalupe in the Cathedral San Ildefonso in Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cathedral-san-ildefonso-in-merida-mexico-royalty-free-image/610839557?adppopup=true">John Elk III/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many different movements have used the figure of the Virgin to support their agendas. In colonial Mexico, the figure of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one title for Mary, was originally interpreted as <a href="http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S1405-09272010000200005&script=sci_arttext">being a champion of the “criollos</a>,” native-born inhabitants of Spanish descent. During the 1810-21 War of Mexican Independence, “<a href="https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/our-lady-of-guadalupe">la Guadalupana</a>” <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/537957">figured on the banners</a> of the “independista” forces. The Spanish army, meanwhile, adopted the “Virgin of Los Remedios,” another title for Mary, as their own patroness. She would later be invoked in support of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.509">Indigenous people and mestizos, people with both Indigenous and Spanish ancestry</a>.</p>
<p>Mary is invoked not only by nationalist causes. Sometimes she is inspiration for countercultural or protest movements, from <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19990124_mexico-autodromo.html">the pro-life cause</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137077714">Latina feminists</a>. Labor leader Cesar Chavez placed the image of Guadalupe <a href="https://libraries.ucsd.edu/farmworkermovement/gallery/displayimage.php?album=60&pid=1412#top_display_media">on banners</a> as his organization marched for farmworkers’ rights.</p>
<h2>Mary’s future</h2>
<p>All these uses draw on the ancient belief in Mary’s power to intervene in times of trouble. However, ideological, political and especially military ambitions and religious sentiment are a volatile mix. As the current war in Ukraine shows, allegiance to one’s nation, especially when it claims Christian inspiration, can inspire both <a href="https://theconversation.com/holy-wars-how-a-cathedral-of-guns-and-glory-symbolizes-putins-russia-176786">imperialist expansionism</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-war-rages-some-ukrainians-look-to-mary-for-protection-continuing-a-long-christian-tradition-178394">heroic resistance</a> to it.</p>
<p>This makes a better understanding of religious nationalism urgently important, especially for the church. Twentieth- and 21st-century popes have condemned <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-chronicles/nations-stirring-nationalism-betray-their-mission-pope-says">aggressive nationalism</a> but have not defined it clearly.</p>
<p>In cultures that are largely secularized, appeals for Mary’s protection or claims that she has a special relationship with any one nation are now likely to seem archaic, outlandish or sectarian. But what I know of both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935420.013.62">Marian devotion</a> and <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739140895/Toward-a-Catholic-Theology-of-Nationality">national identity</a> has convinced me that ancient patterns often survive and reassert themselves in new times and places. </p>
<p>Even where the practice of Catholicism is in decline, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gere.12307">Mary’s cultural significance</a> remains strong. And religion continues to be a regular element of many <a href="https://doi.org/doi:10.1017/nps.2021.17">nationalist agendas</a>. </p>
<p>My guess is that we have not seen the last of the warrior Virgin.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183200/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorian Llywelyn 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>
Many religions have been used to prop up nationalism, and Catholicism is no exception, as a Jesuit priest and scholar explains.
Dorian Llywelyn, President, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/179270
2022-03-28T12:37:45Z
2022-03-28T12:37:45Z
Two Orthodox Christian countries at war – here’s an explanation of the faith tradition shared by Russia and Ukraine
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454418/original/file-20220325-27-obtaxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C41%2C3948%2C2854&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill lights candles during the Orthodox Easter service in Moscow.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/russian-orthodox-patriarch-kirill-lights-candles-during-the-news-photo/943154256?adppopup=true">Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Vladimir Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine has split the Orthodox Church. </p>
<p>Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, a leading authority of the Eastern Orthodox Church, quickly condemned the “<a href="https://ec-patr.org/the-ecumenical-patriarch-condemns-the-unprovoked-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-and-expresses-his-solidarity-to-the-suffering-ukrainian-people/">unprovoked invasion of Ukraine</a>.” </p>
<p>By contrast, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has supported the war, which he claimed in a sermon was a struggle to defend “<a href="https://bitterwinter.org/patriarch-of-moscow-blesses-war-against-gay-prides/">human civilization” against the “sin” of “gay-pride parades</a>.” </p>
<p>As a scholar who has spent <a href="https://asu.academia.edu/EugeneClay">several decades studying religion in Russia</a>, I’m following the debates within the Orthodox Church very closely. To better understand the current conflict, it is helpful to know more about the structure and history of Orthodox Christianity. </p>
<h2>What is the Orthodox Church?</h2>
<p>Orthodoxy is the smallest of the three major branches of Christianity, which also includes Catholicism and Protestantism. There are about <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-statistics-show-continued-growth-number-catholics-worldwide">1.34 billion</a> Catholics, about <a href="https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2022/01/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2022.pdf">600 million Protestants</a> and approximately <a href="https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2022/01/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2022.pdf">300 million</a> Orthodox Christians globally. Most Orthodox Christians live in Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Middle East. </p>
<p>The word “orthodox” means both “<a href="https://www.goarch.org/-/introduction-to-the-orthodox-church">right belief” and “right worship</a>,” and Orthodox Christians insist on the <a href="https://pravoslavie.ru/78035.html">universal truth of their doctrine and practice</a>. </p>
<p>Like the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church claims to be the <a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1895orthodoxencyclical.asp">one true church</a> established by Christ and his apostles. </p>
<h2>Orthodox Church structure</h2>
<p>Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, which is led by the pope, the worldwide Orthodox Church has no single spiritual head. Instead, the global Orthodox communion is divided into <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/autocephalous-church">autocephalous</a> churches. Formed from two Greek roots, the word “autocephalous” means “self-headed.” </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvhrd1v7.10">Autocephalous churches</a> are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00085006.2020.1841415">completely independent and self-governing</a>. Each autocephalous Orthodox church has its own head, a bishop who presides over the territory of his church. Some, but not all, of these presiding bishops bear the title patriarch.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Orthodox_Church/_F5yntZocGIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=The%20number%20of%20autocephalous%20churches%20has%20varied%20over%20time&pg=PA8&printsec=frontcover&bsq=The%20number%20of%20autocephalous%20churches%20has%20varied%20over%20time">The number of autocephalous churches has varied over time</a>. The four oldest patriarchates – Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem – <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt28524j.9">were important religious and political centers in the Byzantine Empire</a>. When Orthodox missionaries brought their faith to other countries, patriarchates were established in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bulgarian-Orthodox-Church">Bulgaria in the year 927</a>, in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Serbian-Orthodox-Church">Serbia in 1346</a> and in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Job">Moscow in 1589</a>. In the 19th and 20th centuries, as the Ottoman and Russian empires fell apart, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x01ht">new autocephalous churches</a> were formed in the new nations of Greece, Romania, Poland and Albania, between 1850 and 1937.</p>
<p>Currently there are <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/explainer-orthodox-churches-holy-great-council/27810011.html">14 autocephalous Orthodox churches</a> that are universally recognized in the global Orthodox community. All these autocephalous churches share the same faith and sacraments.</p>
<p>Among the 14 churches, the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople is regarded as the first among equals. While the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00085006.2020.1838726">patriarch of Constantinople</a> enjoys a primacy of honor, he has no direct authority over the other churches.</p>
<p>The Russian Orthodox Church, with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russian-Orthodox-Church">over 90 million members</a>, is by far the largest. The Romanian Orthodox Church boasts the second-largest number of believers, with about 16 million. </p>
<p>In Ukraine, Orthodox believers are divided between <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-church-conflict-in-ukraine-reflects-historic-russian-ukrainian-tensions-175818">two competing church structures</a>. The <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-war-the-role-of-the-orthodox-churches/a-61063614">Orthodox Church of Ukraine</a>, which was created only in 2018, is autocephalous. The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-invasion-splits-orthodox-church-isolates-russian-patriarch-2022-03-14/">Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate</a> is under the spiritual authority of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. <a href="https://orthochristian.com/144642.html">Both Ukrainian churches</a> have <a href="https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-society/3429953-epifaniy-blesses-ukrainians-to-fight-off-occupiers.html">sharply condemned</a> Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine. </p>
<h2>The great schism of 1054</h2>
<p>Until the 11th century, the Orthodox churches recognized the Roman Catholic Church as one of the autocephalous Orthodox churches. By 1054, however, differences in theology, practice and church government led the pope and the patriarch of Constantinople to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/jul16/great-schism/">excommunicate each other</a>. In particular, the pope claimed to have authority over all Christians, not just the Christians within his autocephalous church. The Orthodox Church rejected this claim.</p>
<p>These mutual excommunications were <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/East-West-Schism-1054">lifted only in 1965</a>. In 1980, the 14 autocephalous Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic Church created the <a href="https://www.ecupatria.org/2019/11/15/the-coordinating-committee-of-the-joint-international-commission-for-theological-dialogue-between-the-roman-catholic-church-and-the-orthodox-church-met-in-bose/">Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue</a> to discuss the difficult issues that continue to divide them. These talks suffered a major blow in 2018 when the Russian Orthodox Church <a href="https://aleteia.org/2018/11/08/russian-church-withdraws-from-orthodox-catholic-dialogue/">suspended its participation</a> to protest the creation of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-church-conflict-in-ukraine-reflects-historic-russian-ukrainian-tensions-175818">new autocephalous church in Ukraine</a>.</p>
<h2>The orthodox clergy</h2>
<p>The Orthodox Church is <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eastern-Orthodoxy/The-structure-of-the-church">hierarchical</a>. Spiritual authority is invested in an ordained clergy consisting of bishops, priests and deacons. </p>
<p>Like the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church holds to the doctrine of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/apostolic-succession">apostolic succession</a>. According to this doctrine, Orthodox bishops, who rule over the territory of a diocese, are the direct, historical successors of the apostles. Bishops are exclusively male. They must also be <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Orthodox_Church/f7D-5Q-Q19MC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bishops%20are%20monks%20orthodox%20church&pg=PA291&printsec=frontcover&bsq=bishops%20">monks and must observe a vow of celibacy</a>.</p>
<p>Priests and deacons, who are <a href="http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/english/priesthood_voulgaris.htm#_Toc74193655">ordained</a> by the bishops, lead the spiritual and ritual life of Orthodox Christians in the parishes. Unlike the bishops, parish priests are usually married. While priests must be male and most deacons are male, some women have been ordained as <a href="https://publicorthodoxy.org/2017/11/22/two-views-on-the-female-diaconate/">deaconesses</a> since <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4146526">the early Christian period</a>.</p>
<h2>Orthodox spiritual life</h2>
<p>Orthodox spiritual life is centered on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eastern-Orthodoxy/The-sacraments">sacraments</a>, or “mysteries,” usually celebrated by the parish priest. The first sacrament, baptism, is a rite of initiation into Christian life.</p>
<p>Most <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43658441">Orthodox Christians are baptized</a> as infants by triple immersion in holy water. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A priest holds a baby being lowered into the font for the baptism in the church." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454421/original/file-20220325-21-1wvkxz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454421/original/file-20220325-21-1wvkxz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454421/original/file-20220325-21-1wvkxz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454421/original/file-20220325-21-1wvkxz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454421/original/file-20220325-21-1wvkxz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454421/original/file-20220325-21-1wvkxz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454421/original/file-20220325-21-1wvkxz6.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baptism is an important part of the sacraments of the Eastern Orthodox Church.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/the-baby-is-lowered-into-the-font-at-the-baptism-in-royalty-free-image/1329373720?adppopup=true">Andrey Sayfutdinov/iStock / Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Immediately, a baptized infant also receives two other <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt9qdqkk.13">sacraments</a>. The priest anoints the child with <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt32b3fg.16">chrism</a>, a special oil prepared by bishops during Holy Week. The priest also gives the baby Communion, the consecrated bread and wine that have mystically become the body and blood of Christ.</p>
<p>Like Catholics and most Protestants, Orthodox Christians regularly celebrate the Eucharist. This central sacrament of the Orthodox Church is known as the <a href="https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-divine-liturgy/the-divine-liturgy">Divine Liturgy</a>. </p>
<p>Celebrated every Sunday, the Divine Liturgy has <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Orthodox_Church/KLIFfmipXcoC?hl=en">three parts</a>: the offering, in which the priest and deacon prepare bread and wine; the gathering, which includes the reading of Scripture; and the thanksgiving, in which the bread and wine are consecrated and given to the faithful. Much of the Liturgy is sung or chanted. </p>
<p>Unlike the Catholic Mass, the Divine Liturgy <a href="https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-divine-liturgy/the-divine-liturgy">can never be celebrated by a single priest alone</a>. The Liturgy must always be celebrated by a community of Christians. While a Catholic church may have multiple Masses on Sunday, the Orthdox Divine Liturgy can be <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Orthodox_Christianity_A_Very_Short_Intro/086aDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Unlike%20the%20Catholic%20mass%2C%20the%20Orthodox%20liturgy%20can%20be%20celebrated%20only%20once%20per%20day&pg=PA84&printsec=frontcover&bsq=Unlike%20the%20Catholic%20mass%2C%20the%20Orthodox%20liturgy%20can%20be%20celebrated%20only%20once%20per%20day">celebrated only once per day on a given altar</a>.</p>
<p>Like Catholics, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/good-for-the-souls-9780192896797">Orthodox Christians regularly confess</a> their sins to their priest in the sacrament of penance. Marriage, ordination and the anointing of the sick with holy oil are also recognized as <a href="https://annunciationvestal.ny.goarch.org/our-faith/sacraments">sacraments</a>. </p>
<h2>Icons and worship</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062307">Icons</a> – consecrated images of holy persons or events – play an important role in Orthodox Church life. Orthodox churches are filled with these images, which <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0458063X.2020.1739482">believers honor</a> with kisses and bows. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity/Theology-of-icons">Orthodox theology</a>, icons are a testimony to the doctrine that God became human in Christ. Because he was a human, he could be represented artistically. Likewise, the saints, who are believed to be filled with the spirit of Christ, can be portrayed and venerated in icons. </p>
<p>Orthodox theologians carefully distinguish between worship, which is offered to God alone, and veneration, which is <a href="http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/scouteris_icons.html">appropriate for icons</a>.</p>
<p>Orthodox Christians form a worldwide community of increasing importance. After the fall of communism in <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/81085">Russia</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09637499808431813">Eastern Europe</a>, the Orthodox churches of these countries have grown in numbers and in political influence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179270/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Eugene Clay has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Science Research Council, the University of Illinois Open Research Laboratory, and the National Humanities Center.</span></em></p>
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put a spotlight on the views of the Russian Orthodox Church. A scholar of Russian religion explains the structure and history of Orthodox Christianity.
J. Eugene Clay, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/177667
2022-03-18T12:31:29Z
2022-03-18T12:31:29Z
Who are the Jesuits?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451731/original/file-20220313-27-y5iwb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C6%2C981%2C672&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Venezuelan priest Arturo Sosa Abascal, second from right, receives congratulations after being chosen as new superior general of the Jesuits in 2016. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/new-superior-general-of-the-society-of-jesus-father-arturo-news-photo/614819354?adppopup=true">Franco Origlia/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For centuries, the Jesuits have worn many hats: missionaries, educators and preachers; writers and scientists; priests with the poor and confessors to the royal courts of Europe.</p>
<p>I am <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/staff/">a scholar of Catholicism</a> and a priest who belongs to the <a href="https://www.jesuits.org/about-us/the-jesuits/">Society of Jesus</a> (more commonly known as the Jesuits) – often considered one of the Catholic Church’s <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/jesuits-and-globalization">most influential</a> religious orders.</p>
<p>But the Jesuits are also among the church’s more controversial groups: They have sometimes run afoul of Catholic groups holding different opinions or church authorities, and they also have been accused of conniving in politics. For example, fearful that the order would interfere in American politics, Founding Father <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691171623/american-jesuits-and-the-world">John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson</a> in 1816 that the order deserved “eternal Perdition on Earth and in Hell.” </p>
<p>So who are the Jesuits? And what makes them distinctive? </p>
<h2>Soldier to saint</h2>
<p>In 1521, the Basque nobleman <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470670606.wbecc0693">Iñigo López</a> – known to history as St. Ignatius of Loyola – was seriously wounded in a battle against the French in Pamplona, Spain. Intense prayer over months of painful recuperation prompted a personal transformation that would lead him to found the Society of Jesus in 1534. </p>
<p>Ignatius compiled his spiritual insights into a prayer manual called the “<a href="http://spex.ignatianspirituality.com/SpiritualExercises/Puhl">Spiritual Exercises</a>.” This book was intended to help people “seek and find the will of God” and guide them through a monthlong silent retreat.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A painting shows a man posing in armor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451730/original/file-20220313-24-2ovco5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451730/original/file-20220313-24-2ovco5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451730/original/file-20220313-24-2ovco5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451730/original/file-20220313-24-2ovco5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451730/original/file-20220313-24-2ovco5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451730/original/file-20220313-24-2ovco5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451730/original/file-20220313-24-2ovco5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">St. Ignatius, the Basque nobleman who would become founder of the Jesuits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/st-ignatius-founder-of-jesuits-french-school-chateaux-de-news-photo/959546956?adppopup=true">Photo by Christophel Fine Art/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While studying at the University of Paris, Ignatius gathered a small group of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004280601_006">like-minded men</a> whom he led through the “Spiritual Exercises.” They became the first Jesuits, soon <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jose-Coupeau-2/publication/290874574_Five_personae_of_Ignatius_of_Loyola/links/5c46141692851c22a385fd1a/Five-personae-of-Ignatius-of-Loyola.pdf">electing Ignatius</a> as their leader, the first superior general. By the time Ignatius died in 1556 there were some <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674303133&content=toc">1,000 Jesuits spread across Europe, India and Brazil</a>.</p>
<h2>One mission, many ways</h2>
<p>Catholic religious orders generally require their members to take <a href="https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/vocations/discerning-women/the-vowed-life">three lifelong vows</a>: poverty, chastity and obedience. The additional Jesuit “fourth vow” is a commitment to <a href="https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/jesuit/article/view/3721/3299">being available</a> to be sent to work wherever the needs of the church and the world are most pressing. Often, this means undertaking ministries in remote corners of the globe or in emerging fields of study. </p>
<p>Also built into the order is the desire to “<a href="https://www.georgetown.edu/news/the-jesuit-mission-seeking-god-in-all-things/#:%7E:text=What%20is%20a%20Jesuit%3F,seek%20God%20in%20all%20things.">seek God and find God’s will in all things</a>.” This conviction has historically drawn Jesuits to <a href="https://theconversation.com/jesuits-as-science-missionaries-for-the-catholic-church-47829">many different areas of study</a>, including mathematics and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08365-0">sciences</a>, and has sent them to far-flung places. Jesuit explorers <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23270072">mapped the Amazon River</a> and discovered the source of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2019.012">the Blue Nile</a>. <a href="https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/sacred-space-astronomy/asteroids-named-for-jesuits-an-update/">Sixteen asteroids</a> and some <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2019/07/12/why-are-so-many-craters-moon-named-after-jesuits">34 Moon craters</a> are named for Jesuit astronomers.</p>
<p>At a time when public education was scarce, they <a href="https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/offices/mission/pdf1/ju8.pdf">responded to that need</a> and built a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=GguXDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA153&dq=Jesuit+education+history&ots=P-QUUqNIkA&sig=Kznv1Ismzt6bAI8XbWCbftY22u8#v=onepage&q=Jesuit%20education%20history&f=false">network of schools across Europe, Latin America and Asia</a>. Their schools developed <a href="https://doi.org/10.19272/201602104009">an innovative</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823296866">curriculum</a> that incorporated rhetoric, the classics, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442681569">the arts</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08365-0">science</a>.</p>
<p>Education continues to be one of the order’s major emphases, with <a href="https://iaju.org/printable-maps">nearly 200 Jesuit-founded universities</a>, and hundreds more <a href="https://www.educatemagis.org/blogs/the-2019-map-of-the-jesuit-global-network-of-schools-is-here/">high schools and educational projects</a> across the world.</p>
<h2>Lightning rods for controversy</h2>
<p>Jesuits’ work has sometimes immersed them in controversies and criticism. </p>
<p>Among the best-known was the “<a href="https://brill.com/view/title/34019">Chinese rites</a>” debate in the 17th century. Convinced that Christianity would spread more quickly if it adapted to local cultures, <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-histoire-monde-et-cultures-religieuses1-2011-2-page-129.htm">Jesuit missionaries in China</a> incorporated elements of <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199920082/obo-9780199920082-0171.xml#:%7E:text=Ancestor%20worship%20refers%20to%20rituals,geographical%20regions%2C%20and%20socioeconomic%20groups.">Confucian ancestor veneration</a> into Catholic rituals. This move was bitterly opposed by Franciscan and Dominican missionaries, and Pope Clement XI <a href="https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1072&context=obsculta">banned the strategy in 1704</a>. </p>
<p>The Jesuits’ close association with royal courts and the papacy made the order influential, but also vulnerable to opposition. Beginning with the territories of the Portuguese Empire, Jesuits were gradually <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190639631.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190639631-e-31">expelled from all the Bourbon territories</a> – areas that today form parts of Spain, Italy and France and their former empires – and the Habsburg lands of Central Europe. Bowing to political pressure, the Vatican formally <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/rpjs/2/1/article-p1_1.xml">abolished the Jesuits</a>, and they had no official existence from 1773 until 1814.</p>
<h2>Adapting to change, embracing justice</h2>
<p>In 1965, <a href="https://jesuitsources.bc.edu/pedro-arrupe-witness-of-the-twentieth-century-prophet-of-the-twenty-first/">Father Pedro Arrupe</a>, a Basque who had spent much of his life in Japan, was elected as the Jesuits’ 28th superior general. At the time, the Catholic Church was implementing the teachings of the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/39715">Second Vatican Council</a>, adapting many practices to be more relevant to a changing world experiencing decolonialization, Cold War politics and the <a href="https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/10/latest-numbers-confirm-global-south-new-catholic-center-gravity">shift in Catholic population</a> to the Southern Hemisphere. </p>
<p>Under Arrupe’s leadership, the Jesuits formally declared that a <a href="https://www.scu.edu/ic/programs/ignatian-worldview/stories/decree-4-gc-32-service-of-faith-and-the-promotion-of-justice.html">commitment to justice</a> was essential to their order’s work. This development brought many Jesuits to take progressive stances in religion and politics alike. Jesuits in Latin America, for example, adopted aspects of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004505612_023">liberation theology</a>, which emphasized concern for the poor and oppressed: providing for people not only spiritually, but materially. Today, in the minds of many, Jesuits continue to be associated with more progressive <a href="https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2018/11/two-kinds-jesuits-dwight-longenecker.html">and liberal viewpoints</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dusk falls as protesters hold posters with black and white sketches of men's faces." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451714/original/file-20220312-24-1w5908v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451714/original/file-20220312-24-1w5908v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451714/original/file-20220312-24-1w5908v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451714/original/file-20220312-24-1w5908v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451714/original/file-20220312-24-1w5908v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451714/original/file-20220312-24-1w5908v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451714/original/file-20220312-24-1w5908v.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banners depicting six Jesuit priests massacred in 1989 in El Salvador are displayed during a 2008 memorial to mark the anniversary of their deaths.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ElSalvadorCivilWarMassacre/2834cd7f7fd5412dabbd08b19738861e/photo?Query=%22el%20salvador%22%20jesuit&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=69&currentItemNo=12">AP Photo/Edgar Romero</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p>
<p>Like those in other Catholic orders, Jesuit priests around the world have been accused of sex abuse. A <a href="https://apnews.com/article/international-news-sexual-abuse-by-clergy-spain-bd48515c52e036fcaa96dcf4edb488d2">recent church report</a> in Spain, for example, identified 96 abusers, most of whom had already died.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, more historical research is coming to light on Jesuits’ involvement <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/jjs/8/1/article-p1_1.xml">with slavery</a>. In 2021, the order <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/15/us/jesuits-georgetown-reparations-slavery.html">pledged US$100 million</a> for descendants of people enslaved by Georgetown University in the 19th century and for racial justice initiatives.</p>
<h2>Pope Francis and the future of the Jesuits</h2>
<p>The prospect of a Jesuit pope was once considered unlikely, given tensions at times between other church leaders and the order. Therefore, the 2013 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/hor.2020.66">election of Jesuit Jorge Bergoglio</a> as Pope Francis surprised many, and his papacy has continued in that vein.</p>
<p>Pope Francis has been alternately hailed as a <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250119391">modernizer</a> welcoming of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/support-your-children-if-they-are-gay-pope-tells-parents-2022-01-26/">LGBT Catholics</a> and criticized for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-12-2020-0166">insufficient responsiveness</a> to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-sex-abuse-crisis-4-essential-reads-169442">clerical sexual abuse crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Vatican observers note some characteristic <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-71377-9_3">Ignatian emphases in Pope Francis’ priorities, language and management style</a>, including more attention to the poor. He has stressed the need for <a href="https://www.marquette.edu/mission-ministry/explore/ignatian-discernment.php">considering all sides of an argument</a> when making church decisions and has shown a pragmatic willingness to consider new approaches.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two boys in a crowd hold a fan with a photo of Pope Francis." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451715/original/file-20220312-16-dp4dpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451715/original/file-20220312-16-dp4dpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451715/original/file-20220312-16-dp4dpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451715/original/file-20220312-16-dp4dpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451715/original/file-20220312-16-dp4dpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451715/original/file-20220312-16-dp4dpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451715/original/file-20220312-16-dp4dpa.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two boys wait for the arrival of Pope Francis in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2017. Francis visited to honor St. Peter Claver, a 17th-century Jesuit who ministered to African slaves who arrived in the port.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ColombiaPope/6bd53bedc1284961ac428f36347b1b68/photo?Query=%22pope%20francis%22%20jesuit&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=380&currentItemNo=92">AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Future Jesuit emphases will continue to evolve as the order adapts to new circumstances. But it is the “Spiritual Exercises” that remain the heart of the identity and mission of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-religion-jesuits/jesuits-elect-new-leader-a-latin-american-like-the-jesuit-pope-idUSKBN12E1I6">today’s 17,000 Jesuits</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorian Llywelyn 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 Jesuits are among the Catholic Church’s most influential religious orders but no strangers to controversy.
Dorian Llywelyn, President, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/174574
2022-02-09T13:18:46Z
2022-02-09T13:18:46Z
How Lourdes became a byword for hope
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444477/original/file-20220204-13-1lw84kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C0%2C1628%2C1041&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Apparitions of the Virgin Mary have inspired pilgrimages – and souvenirs – in Lourdes, France, for more than a century.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Culture Club/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thousands of <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/421085/pdf">apparitions of the Virgin Mary</a> have been reported by Christians across the world, from <a href="https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300185560-015">fourth-century Asia Minor</a>, which is now Turkey, to <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801448546/our-lady-of-the-rock/#bookTabs=1">contemporary California</a>. Of all of these, the most renowned are the visions of Our Lady of Lourdes, reported in the mid-19th century by a teenage girl in the French Pyrenees mountains.</p>
<p>Ever since, devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/23391/lourdes/9780141038483.html">has gripped the Catholic imagination</a>. Lourdes is one of the <a href="https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/a/apparitions-approved.php">very few apparitions</a> the Vatican has officially commended as <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/worthy-of-belief-how-the-catholic-church-approves-apparitions-1494581409">worthy of belief</a>, with its own feast day, Feb. 11, in the church’s annual liturgical calendar.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-lourdes-history/factbox-the-roman-catholic-pilgrimage-site-lourdes-idUKLB15892820080911">6 million pilgrims</a> come to <a href="https://www.lourdes-france.org/en/">the shrine in Lourdes, France</a>, each year to pray and seek healing. </p>
<p>This popular pilgrimage is one of the most visible examples of the devotion of many Catholics to Mary. I am a <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/staff/">Jesuit priest and theologian</a> whose research focuses <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935420.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935420-e-62">on Mariology</a>, the academic study of ideas about Mary in Christian history. </p>
<h2>The Lady in the Grotto</h2>
<p>In 1858, a 14-year-old girl named <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/bernadette-of-lourdes-9780826420855">Bernadette Soubirous</a> reported having 18 visions of a beautiful “young lady” in a cave near Lourdes, which was then a provincial town. Soubirous said that the figure identified herself as “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24459597">the Immaculate Conception</a>” and instructed the girl to dig into the earth and drink the water she found there. In other messages, the lady asked for a church to be built there so priests could come in procession.</p>
<p>Reports of the events drew large crowds who believed them to be apparitions of the Virgin Mary, and many people began attributing healing properties to the waters of the spring. These extraordinary events soon attracted the notice of the Parisian press and gained the support of the <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/23391/lourdes/9780141038483.html">French imperial court</a>. </p>
<p>Many Catholics interpreted the apparitions as confirming <a href="https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius09/p9ineff.htm">the doctrine of Immaculate Conception</a>, which Pope Pius IX in 1854 had declared to be an essential element of Catholic faith. <a href="https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/124/">This teaching</a> holds that Mary, as the mother of Jesus, was conceived without <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/beliefs/originalsin_1.shtml">original sin</a> – the incomplete union with God that, according to Catholic belief, all people are born with as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobeying God in the Garden of Eden. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A black and white vintage photograph shows a young woman in a shawl and head covering." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444480/original/file-20220204-25-10omqyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444480/original/file-20220204-25-10omqyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444480/original/file-20220204-25-10omqyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444480/original/file-20220204-25-10omqyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444480/original/file-20220204-25-10omqyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444480/original/file-20220204-25-10omqyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444480/original/file-20220204-25-10omqyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">St. Bernadette, who claimed as a young woman to have seen the Virgin Mary in Lourdes, was canonized in 1933.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keystone/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Church officials were quickly alerted to Soubirous’ experiences and were initially concerned about the truth of her account. After investigating, the local bishop became convinced that Mary had indeed appeared to the young woman. Popes later encouraged veneration at Lourdes, and in 1933, Soubirous herself was canonized as <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-bernadette-soubirous-of-lourdes-438">St. Bernadette</a>.</p>
<p>Catholic churches, schools and hospitals soon began to be dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/villianurshrine">replicas of the cave</a>, or “grotto,” are today found throughout the world. These sites are built for worshippers who cannot make the pilgrimage but who seek to share in the experience of Lourdes.</p>
<h2>Lourdes water</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/nbfr.12268">Researching popular Catholic devotions</a> has taught me that apparitions attract skeptics as easily as they do crowds of enthusiastic believers. They also stir up <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/reli.2000.0296">religious and political controversy</a>.</p>
<p>From the start, church officials at Lourdes sought to deny claims of direct supernatural intervention for cures that could be scientifically explained instead. Today physicians at <a href="https://www.lourdes-france.org/en/medical-bureau-sanctuary">the International Medical Committee of Lourdes</a> run a rigorous process of investigating claims of miraculous healings there. </p>
<p>Most reported healings turn out to have purely natural causes, but if the committee does not find a medical explanation, it refers the case to the local bishop for investigation. Since the 1860s, church officials have formally declared 70 of the Lourdes healings to be miracles. The <a href="https://www.lourdes-france.org/en/miraculous-healings/">most recent case</a>, which they confirmed in 2018, involved <a href="https://www.lourdes-france.org/en/how-do-we-recognise-a-lourdes-miracle/">the healing of a French nun</a> who had been using a wheelchair and suffering severe pain for almost 30 years, but recovered soon after her pilgrimage to the grotto.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white vintage photograph shows nurses in white assisting people on stretchers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444481/original/file-20220204-25-10jfcmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444481/original/file-20220204-25-10jfcmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444481/original/file-20220204-25-10jfcmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444481/original/file-20220204-25-10jfcmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444481/original/file-20220204-25-10jfcmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444481/original/file-20220204-25-10jfcmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444481/original/file-20220204-25-10jfcmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People seeking healing visit Lourdes, France, in 1932 with the help of Italian nurses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vittoriano Rastelli/Corbis Historical via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the course of the 20th century, the number of new miracles confirmed in Lourdes <a href="https://www.lourdes-france.org/en/miraculous-healings/">has gradually slowed</a> because of growth in scientific understanding.</p>
<p>In 2006, church officials declared that, beyond “miracles,” they would recognize <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2006/03/25/une-reforme-des-miracles-a-lourdes_754608_3214.html">three additional categories of healing</a> at Lourdes, in light of advances in medical knowledge: “unexpected,” “confirmed” or “exceptional” healings. The new categories relax the previous strict division between “natural” and “supernatural” healings, with the implication that God intervenes in many cases in which health is restored, even those that do not strictly qualify as <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-a-miracle-heres-how-the-catholic-church-decides-170183">“miracles” in the sense traditionally used by the Catholic Church</a>.</p>
<h2>Devotion goes digital</h2>
<p>If the number of officially recognized miracles has declined, grassroots faith in Lourdes is as strong as ever. An understanding that sickness and healing involve psychological, emotional and spiritual aspects as well as physical ones <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2012.756411">helps explain</a> some of Lourdes’ continuing appeal for many contemporary Catholics.</p>
<p>Devotional practices involve the sensory experiences of <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003094968">seeing, touching, tasting and hearing</a>. Visitors travel from all over the world to light candles in the grotto, touch the rock where Soubirous said the Virgin appeared, join in the chants of the twice-daily processions, attend Mass, take Communion, and bathe in and drink the holy waters of the spring.</p>
<p>Psychologically, being in the company of large crowds of fellow believers strengthens social <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1015969">faith identity</a>, as does seeing sick pilgrims treated with dignity and honor.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman with her back to the camera sits on the bank of a stream, facing a Catholic shrine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444479/original/file-20220204-27-hiebo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444479/original/file-20220204-27-hiebo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444479/original/file-20220204-27-hiebo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444479/original/file-20220204-27-hiebo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444479/original/file-20220204-27-hiebo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444479/original/file-20220204-27-hiebo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444479/original/file-20220204-27-hiebo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A pilgrim prays in front of the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes on May 16, 2020, after it was closed for the first time in its history amid the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Bob Edme</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many family, friends, spiritual advisers and volunteers from international Catholic organizations, such as the <a href="https://orderofmaltaamerican.org/spirituality-in-action/lourdes/overview/">Order of Malta</a>, accompany visitors too ill to travel alone. The physical work of caring for the sick affects people spiritually. I have visited Lourdes several times as both helper and chaplain and heard many confessions there. I know that many of those who volunteer their time as helpers – including people who are not practicing Catholics or even Christians – return home with deeper gratitude for their own health and a livelier faith.</p>
<p>For two months in 2020, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200405-virtual-easter-as-virus-closes-lourdes-shrine">the shrine at Lourdes closed for the first time in its history</a> because of the pandemic. Since then, <a href="https://www.lourdes-france.org/en/tv-lourdes">live-streaming of the grotto</a> has attracted an even wider audience. Its <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7zlbnNCnuAPiC3goKcFgUg">dedicated YouTube channel</a> and other social media are <a href="https://theconversation.com/online-christian-pilgrimage-how-a-virtual-tour-to-lourdes-follows-a-tradition-of-innovation-142965">21st-century virtual equivalents</a> of the replica grottoes built in church grounds, schools, hospitals and <a href="https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/h/home-shrines-to-mary.php">homes around the world</a>.</p>
<p>Skeptics will likely continue to dispute claims of miraculous healings and apparitions of the Virgin Mary. For millions, however, Lourdes will indisputably continue to be an important faith symbol of comfort and care, and a byword for healing and hope. </p>
<p>[<em>More than 140,000 readers get one of The Conversation’s informative newsletters.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140K">Join the list today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorian Llywelyn 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>
St. Bernadette’s visions of the Virgin Mary in the 19th century inspired the pilgrimage site millions of Catholics flock to each year.
Dorian Llywelyn, President, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/175487
2022-01-28T19:48:21Z
2022-01-28T19:48:21Z
Pope Benedict faulted over sex abuse claims: New report is just one chapter in his – and Catholic Church’s – fraught record
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442800/original/file-20220126-13-1ais4ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C0%2C2928%2C1971&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges the crowd during an audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Oct.24, 2007. A January 2022 report faulted his handling of several sex abuse cases.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GermanyChurchAbuse/e452d9c9b1e34d82b432e4ec5371c247/photo?Query=pope%20benedict&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=14279&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Plinio Lepri</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-pope-benedict-xvi-reinhard-marx-germany-europe-c75f721f469f969d05348703c093e53d">An in-depth report</a> released last week alleges that former Pope Benedict XVI allowed four abusive priests in Munich to remain in ministry. The pope, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, led the German archdiocese from 1977 to 1982.</p>
<p>The 1,900-page audit was commissioned by the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising but conducted by independent investigators. It covers the period from 1945 to 2019 and lists 235 alleged clergy who were perpetrators of sexual abuse and at least 497 minors who were victims.</p>
<p>Given Benedict’s status – he was pope from 2005 to 2013, until <a href="https://theconversation.com/out-with-gods-rottweiler-the-resignation-of-pope-benedict-xvi-12159">his historic resignation</a> due to ill health – the news has put additional scrutiny on top leaders’ roles in allowing abusers to go unpunished. It also raises the classic questions of what Benedict knew, and when.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://news.fordham.edu/living-the-mission/david-gibson-to-head-center-for-religion-and-culture/">a journalist</a>, I covered Ratzinger in Rome in the 1980s and <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-rule-of-benedict-david-gibson?variant=32127230312482">wrote a biography of him</a> in 2006. Today, as director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, I see this episode as an opportunity to understand the church’s fitful evolution on dealing with abuse.</p>
<h2>Influential role</h2>
<p>After Ratzinger left Munich in 1982, he came to Rome to serve as Pope John Paul II’s top defender of doctrine. For 23 years he led the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/storia/documents/rc_con_cfaith_storia_20150319_promuovere-custodire-fede_en.html">Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith</a>, a body tasked with defending Catholic teaching, and arguably the most influential department in the Vatican.</p>
<p>As head, Ratzinger had a say in developing the church’s response to <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/timeline-crisis">the increasingly public sex abuse crisis</a>. John Paul <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-rule-of-benedict-david-gibson?variant=32127230312482">consulted Ratzinger</a> on important decisions, and major documents from other departments at the Vatican required <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/imprimatur">his approval, or imprimatur</a>, before they could be published.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pope John Paul II stands beside Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443029/original/file-20220127-21-1bqwblp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443029/original/file-20220127-21-1bqwblp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443029/original/file-20220127-21-1bqwblp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443029/original/file-20220127-21-1bqwblp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443029/original/file-20220127-21-1bqwblp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443029/original/file-20220127-21-1bqwblp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443029/original/file-20220127-21-1bqwblp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pope John Paul II stands beside Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would go on to become Pope Benedict XVI, in 1979.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ratzinger’s initial responses to abuse cases mirrored his record in Munich. In one case in 1985, for example, he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/world/europe/10pope.html">rejected an appeal</a> to defrock, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/40548/what-does-it-mean-to-be-laicized-defrocked-or-dismissed-from-the-clerical-state">or “laicize</a>,” an American priest who sexually abused children, even though the priest himself, as well as the bishop, requested it.</p>
<p>One of Ratzinger’s successors at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, defended his mentor by arguing that in the 1970s and 1980s, neither the church nor society at large understood child sex abuse properly. “It was thought that therapy could resolve the problem. Today we know that this is useless for these criminals,” <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/01/21/pope-vows-justice-for-abuse-victims-after-ratzinger-faulted/">he said</a> after the release of the Munich report.</p>
<h2>‘Weakness of faith’</h2>
<p>Another key factor many critics blame for the hierarchy’s resistance to punishing clergy is <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/priestly-diary/tackle-clericalism-first-when-attempting-priesthood-reform">an attitude called “clericalism</a>,” or treating priests as superior. The <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/coronavirus/father-donald-cozzens-who-challenged-clericalism-church-dies-82">late Rev. Donald Cozzens</a>, a Cleveland priest, seminary director and psychologist who <a href="https://litpress.org/Products/2504/The-Changing-Face-Of-The-Priesthood">published a book</a> on the priesthood in 2000, defined clericalism as an attitude of “privilege and entitlement” among clergy, elites who “think they’re unlike the rest of the faithful.”</p>
<p>Ratzinger and many other church leaders preferred to view the problem as a spiritual one. “I think the essential point is a weakness of faith,” Ratzinger <a href="https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2003/cardinal-ratzinger-sees-weakness-of-faith-behind-the-crisis/">insisted in 2003</a>. He also blamed the secular world, particularly <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/41013/full-text-of-benedict-xvi-essay-the-church-and-the-scandal-of-sexual-abuse">what he called</a> the “unprecedented” moral breakdown of the 1960s and 1970s, and the acceptance of homosexuality.</p>
<p>Two studies <a href="https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/The-Causes-and-Context-of-Sexual-Abuse-of-Minors-by-Catholic-Priests-in-the-United-States-1950-2010.pdf">by professors at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice</a> showed that abuse did start to spike in the 1960s and declined sharply in the 1980s. But the researchers note that almost 44% of accused abusers were ordained before 1960 and dismiss the notion that gay men are to blame. Moreover, historians have often pointed out that pedophilia and other sexual abuses by clergy <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/534/article/11th-century-scandal">are nothing new</a> but date back to at least the 11th century.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://www3.bostonglobe.com/metro/specials/clergy/">The Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” series</a> finally broke the scandal wide open in January 2002, American bishops sought to institute a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/05/23/one-strike-policy-on-priests-foreseen/08264e3b-13c1-465d-8269-4f2e5ccf260c/">zero-tolerance policy</a> for abusers and to hold bishops who covered up accountable. The Vatican <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-09-22-0209220271-story.html">pushed back</a>, though the U.S. bishops were able <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/11/14/bishops-clear-new-sex-abuse-policy/129e07cc-4c41-45da-8265-f774d7a6e6d1/">to adopt a relatively strong system</a> laying out procedures for removing accused priests.</p>
<p>Ratzinger also continued to minimize the extent of the scandal, <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/will-ratzingers-past-trump-benedicts-present">arguing in November 2002</a> that “less than one percent” of priests were guilty of abuse and blaming the media for “a planned campaign” to “discredit the church.” The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/27/us/two-studies-cite-child-sex-abuse-by-4-of-priests.html">real figure</a> was over 4% nationally.</p>
<h2>A sudden shift</h2>
<p>The previous year, however, Ratzinger had <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/41013/full-text-of-benedict-xvi-essay-the-church-and-the-scandal-of-sexual-abuse">persuaded John Paul</a> to let his office take charge of all abuse cases worldwide to expedite trials and defrock the guilty. The ensuing flood of cases seemed to have an effect: When John Paul died in April 2005 and Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI, he moved quickly to begin <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/01/17/263481709/pope-benedict-reportedly-defrocked-hundreds-of-priests-for-abuse#:%7E:text=Pope%20Benedict%20Reportedly%20Defrocked%20Hundreds%20Of%20Priests%20For%20Abuse,-Facebook&text=In%20a%20period%20of%20just,rare%20collection%20of%20such%20data.">laicizing hundreds of abusers</a>. He also apologized to victims and became the first pope ever to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/us/nationalspecial2/18pope.html">meet face to face</a> with clergy abuse victims. This was a sea change for the church, and for Benedict.</p>
<p>But it went only so far. Though Benedict <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/tackling-wrong-problem">publicly dismissed a bishop</a> whom he considered too liberal, he was not as assertive in taking action against bishops suspected of covering up abuse or being abusers themselves. A key example is the case of Theodore McCarrick, a former Washington, D.C., cardinal.</p>
<p>Allegations that McCarrick had abused children emerged in July 2018 and <a href="https://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_rapporto-card-mccarrick_20201110_en.pdf">led to an investigation</a> that showed that Benedict knew of other accusations against McCarrick of sexual misconduct with adults <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/tackling-wrong-problem">but took no public action</a>.</p>
<p>After Francis was elected pope in 2013, he <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/16/695422007/pope-defrocks-theodore-mccarrick">stripped McCarrick of his cardinal’s title and defrocked him</a>. McCarrick has pleaded not guilty to <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/court-sets-march-date-former-cardinal-mccarricks-hearing">charges of sexually assaulting a teenager</a> in the 1970s.</p>
<p>Francis also began <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pope-francis-fires-paraguayan-bishop-suspected-child-abuse-cover-up-n211311">firing other bishops</a> for covering for abusers and started to <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/vos-estis-expires-one-year-what-works-and-what-changes-are-needed-version-20">institute a system of accountability</a>.</p>
<p>Benedict is nearing the end of his life, living in seclusion in a quiet monastery inside the Vatican walls. Beyond the damage to his reputation, he likely won’t face sanctions for his actions decades ago in Munich.</p>
<p>But this episode helps illustrate how the Catholic Church got to this point and what remains to be done. And it may sway cardinals in the next conclave to <a href="https://theconversation.com/cardinal-numbers-what-in-gods-name-is-happening-in-the-sistine-chapel-12783">choose a pope</a> who has a stronger record on abuse.</p>
<p>[<em>This Week in Religion, a global roundup each Thursday.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-global-roundup">Sign up.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Gibson 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>
Pope Benedict XVI’s many years of wrestling with the abuse crisis highlight the Catholic Church’s broader challenges addressing it.
David Gibson, Director, Center on Religion and Culture, Fordham University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/169918
2021-12-08T13:36:41Z
2021-12-08T13:36:41Z
Nuns against nuclear weapons – Plowshares protesters have fought for disarmament for over 40 years, going to prison for peace
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435125/original/file-20211201-23-1ws01cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C8%2C2991%2C1944&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sister Megan Rice answers questions from members of a church group at a home in Maryville, Tennessee, in 2013.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sister-megan-rice-answers-questions-from-members-of-a-news-photo/470578409?adppopup=true">Linda Davidson / The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In July 2012 Sister Megan Rice, an 82-year-old Catholic nun, and two men walked past multiple broken security cameras and into the heart of a high-security nuclear complex. Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was the birthplace of the atomic bomb and now stores enriched uranium for nuclear warheads. Although <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-112hhrg85180/html/CHRG-112hhrg85180.htm">thanked by Congress</a> for exposing astoundingly lax contractor security, the three were also convicted and served two years in prison.</p>
<p>Rice, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/obituaries/megan-rice-dead.html">who died in October 2021</a>,
was part of a protest tradition called Plowshares. Since 1980, there have been <a href="https://kingsbayplowshares7.org/plowshares-history/">over 100 Plowshares actions</a> in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe. The name comes from the books of Isaiah and Micah in the Bible: “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Isaiah%202%3A4">They shall beat their swords into plowshares</a>, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Isaiah and Micah are accepted as Scripture by Christians, Jews and Muslims.</p>
<p>As a historian studying <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/world-free-nuclear-weapons">faith-based calls for nuclear disarmament</a>, I focus on nuns at the forefront of this significant movement. My upcoming book, “<a href="https://litpress.org/Products/3722/Transform-Now-Plowshares">Transform Now Plowshares</a>,” shows how they use existing international law and their own creative courtroom strategies to guide U.S. courts and even Congress to include pacifist principles in court records and congressional documents.</p>
<h2>Civil resistance, not disobedience</h2>
<p>Rice’s journey with Plowshares began when she retired after four decades teaching science and math in schools founded in Nigeria by her religious order, the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. <a href="http://www.jonahhouse.org/personal-bios/history/">At Baltimore’s Jonah House</a>, a faith-based activist peace community, she met Sister Anne Montgomery, a Society of the Sacred Heart nun and the daughter of a prominent World War II naval commander. Montgomery became Rice’s Plowshares mentor.</p>
<p>Montgomery helped develop Plowshares’ legal strategies, such as <a href="https://youtu.be/QiUytMNscag">attempting to put nuclear weapons on trial</a>. This means explaining to juries that nukes have been internationally illegal since the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/22/959583731/u-n-treaty-banning-nuclear-weapons-takes-effect-without-the-u-s-and-others">Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons</a> and even its <a href="https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2013/apr/24/former-us-attorney-general-testifies-hearing-3-who/106249/">1968 predecessor</a> – and also how their use violates the <a href="https://fsi.stanford.edu/news/why-atomic-bombing-hiroshima-would-be-illegal-today">Geneva Conventions</a> and other binding treaties.</p>
<p>When testifying, these nuns do not describe their actions as “civil disobedience,” because that would mean they did something illegal. Instead, they prefer “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2202810">civil resistance</a>,” which Montgomery called “<a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/memoriam-anne-montgomery-doer-word">divine obedience</a>” to higher principles of peace.</p>
<p>One of Plowshares’ most effective strategies is to represent themselves in court, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29759980">known as pro se</a>, which in Latin means “for oneself.” It allows protesters, including these nuns, to discuss humanitarian law, the necessity defense – meaning you broke a small law to stop a large crime – and the U.S. 1996 War Crimes Act. Lawyers cannot discuss these issues because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/685076">judges limit cases</a> to mere trespassing or property damage. Using pro se, activists speak freely in ways that might get a real lawyer professionally reprimanded. Lawyers often do, however, <a href="https://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/whos-who-in-the-plowshares-y-12-trial-ep-358341871-355880591.html/">stand by as advisers</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435135/original/file-20211201-28-lzu9dt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Sister Carol Gilbert, center, and Sister Ardeth Platte, right, standing with protesters in front of the White House holding a placard that says, 'Stop Saudi War.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435135/original/file-20211201-28-lzu9dt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435135/original/file-20211201-28-lzu9dt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435135/original/file-20211201-28-lzu9dt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435135/original/file-20211201-28-lzu9dt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435135/original/file-20211201-28-lzu9dt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435135/original/file-20211201-28-lzu9dt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435135/original/file-20211201-28-lzu9dt.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">Sister Carol Gilbert, center, and Sister Ardeth Platte, right, join other demonstrators in front of the White House to protest against the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sister-ardeth-platte-right-joins-other-demonstrators-news-photo/1228817800?adppopup=true">Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sabotage charges</h2>
<p>Rice wasn’t the first nun to be convicted of sabotage. Ten years earlier, Dominican Sister Ardeth Platte, who inspired the nun character on the popular Netflix prison series “Orange is the New Black,” went to prison in Danbury, Connecticut, on the same charge. Platte (pronounced Platty) <a href="https://theconversation.com/celebrating-sister-ardeth-platte-anti-nuclear-activist-and-peacemaker-in-a-hostile-world-147397">spent her retirement years engaging in Plowshares</a> and other protests at weapons sites.</p>
<p>In 2002, along with fellow Dominican nuns, Sister Carol Gilbert and Sister Jackie Hudson, Platte <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-10th-circuit/1154851.html">breached an intercontinental ballistic missile facility in Colorado</a>. The three poured blood in the shape of a cross to remember victims of war. Then they rapped on the blast lid with a household hammer. The small hammers do not damage such massive weapons in any significant way. The three were accused of preventing the United States from attacking its enemies or defending itself, which is the definition of sabotage.</p>
<p>Just like Rice’s group and many other Plowshares activists, the three nuns carried rosaries, Bibles and other objects in small black bags. <a href="https://www.greeleytribune.com/2003/03/31/nuns-trial-starts-today/">Explosives experts, however, thought they might have bombs</a>. Attack helicopters swooped in as they sang and prayed. Police pointed semiautomatic rifles at them and shut down a nearby highway. This was an unusual reaction, since Plowshares protesters are usually stopped and arrested with far less fanfare, and it may be why the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/us/ardeth-platte-dead.html">prosecutors won a sabotage conviction</a>.</p>
<p>Rice’s prosecutors brought up Platte’s case during her trial, in which she and her companions were also convicted of sabotage. <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-nun-walks-free-the-governments-sabotage-case-dismissed">However, two years later an appeals court overturned it</a>, admonishing that “<a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-circuit/1700452.html">no rational jury could find</a>” they actually injured the national defense.</p>
<h2>Leadership for prisoner justice</h2>
<p>Rice, Montgomery, Platte, Gilbert and Hudson all showed exceptional leadership in prison. Since their first sentences were handed down in the 1980s, they have used incarceration time to run prayer groups, teach prisoners to read and help them earn high school diplomas. They advocate for poor women, many of color, who often receive <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/dec/10/alarming-number-of-women-behind-bars-rises-by-100000-in-past-decade">unjustly harsh sentences</a> for prostitution and nonviolent drug offenses committed because of poverty.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/obituaries/megan-rice-dead.html">Rice identified with poor people</a>. She called her fellow prisoners friends and asked to remain with them. Her ultimate act of leadership ideally would have been to die serving them. As she said in 2015, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/science/sister-megan-rice-anti-nuclear-weapons-activist-freed-from-prison.html">Good Lord, what would be better than to die in prison for the antinuclear cause</a>?”</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation’s politics, science or religion articles each week.</em><a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-best">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169918/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carole Sargent 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 Catholic historian writes about nuns who protested against nuclear weapons. Even when convicted of sabotage, they used prison time to serve fellow inmates and push for justice.
Carole Sargent, Literary Historian, Georgetown University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/168849
2021-11-05T02:36:34Z
2021-11-05T02:36:34Z
Big Mouth, an animated series about periods, masturbation and anxiety. What’s not to like?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423519/original/file-20210928-14-1ycl0uv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2041%2C1150&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Still : Andrew Glouberman, a character in the Netflix's animated comedy Big Mouth watches a condom demonstration from mother.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Animation and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ari-Chand/publication/307610006_Breathing_Life_into_a_Character_Vol_11_Issue_2_2016/links/592cec6e0f7e9b9979b38552/Breathing-Life-into-a-Character-Vol-11-Issue-2-2016.pdf">character design</a> allow us to hold a mirror up to society. We get to see humanity, warts and all, and understand the complexity of what it means to be human. But this reflection of ourselves ties back to a very old artform: the ideas of masking our real selves in the festivity of the Roman Catholic concept of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Carnival-pre-Lent-festival">Carnival</a>. </p>
<p>One of the strongest contemporary adult animated shows right now is <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6524350/">Big Mouth</a>, the nuanced, lewd, coming-of-age series on Netflix. The show investigates the complex, awkward and often taboo experiences of pubescent teens: cultural identity, sexual identity and inclusivity, social media, pornography, periods, masturbation, anxiety and depression.</p>
<p>Through the use of carnival, Big Mouth tells complex stories about what it means to be a teenager with a monster-verse of shoulder angels. Shoulder angels (or representations of our conscience) have traditionally been a small angel or devil, representing good or bad. </p>
<p>Big Mouth draws on a rich history of adult animation while also making the genre entirely its own. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430420/original/file-20211105-23-1undi0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A cartoon dressed up as Beyoncé in Lemonade." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430420/original/file-20211105-23-1undi0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430420/original/file-20211105-23-1undi0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430420/original/file-20211105-23-1undi0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430420/original/file-20211105-23-1undi0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430420/original/file-20211105-23-1undi0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430420/original/file-20211105-23-1undi0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430420/original/file-20211105-23-1undi0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Big Mouth uses popular culture references to explore complex ideas about teenagehood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NETFLIX © 2020</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Disarming the viewer through play</h2>
<p>Animation allows us to disassociate from reality and create a visual dimension to explore ideas: the drawings act as a mask through which viewers engage in a form of role playing, hidden identity and a sense of play.</p>
<p>Masks have been an important part of many cultures from the <a href="https://www.nihonsun.com/tengu-matsuri-in-tokyo/">Tengu Matsuri</a> mask, <a href="https://www.bahamas.gov.bs/wps/portal/public/Culture/Junkanoo/">Junkanoo</a> masks, <a href="https://philippines.travel/events/dinagyang-festival">Dinagyang</a> masks, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/day-of-the-dead">Dia de los Muertos</a> masks, Venetian carnival masks, to the masks of the Hindu Gods.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429861/original/file-20211103-15-1a5yqk9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429861/original/file-20211103-15-1a5yqk9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429861/original/file-20211103-15-1a5yqk9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429861/original/file-20211103-15-1a5yqk9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429861/original/file-20211103-15-1a5yqk9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429861/original/file-20211103-15-1a5yqk9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429861/original/file-20211103-15-1a5yqk9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429861/original/file-20211103-15-1a5yqk9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This engraving from 1875 shows a Carnival masquerade party in New Orleans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Wells Champney, Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Carnival-pre-Lent-festival">Carnival</a> was traditionally a Christian celebration in the last three days before Lent, where the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1016/0304-4181%2887%2990036-4">sumptuary laws</a> – the restraint on consumption and luxury – were suspended. During this time, people could wear a mask and break from the conventional rules of society, their identity, hierarchies and become other-than-self. </p>
<p>Like the Carnival, the Russian philosopher <a href="https://g.co/kgs/3tU4Gj">Mikhail Bakhtin</a>’s notion of <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095550811">Carnivalesque</a> is a literary device used to assist people in unshackling themselves: using a mask to explore the complexities of experience without consequence. </p>
<p>In animated form, Carnivalesque utilises <a href="https://g.co/kgs/U2eSCw">four techniques</a>: laughter, bodily excess, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billingsgate">Billingsgate</a> (or vitriolic language) and inversions of normal social roles. Big Mouth employs a range of these elements in the character design and dialogue to engage the audience in social commentary.</p>
<h2>From family fare to adult sitcoms</h2>
<p>The animated sitcom has been evolving since the middle of the last century, and with it questions of what is “appropriate” for viewers. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024404/">Betty Boop</a> first appeared in 1930s. Drawing influences from burlesque, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/06/17/betty-boop-the-original-lewdie-toon/e24d8859-1205-4f5b-ac41-6cc934c4707d/">lewd nature</a> of the show was highly criticised. Soon, censorship would play an important role in limiting sexually suggestive content.</p>
<p>From 1934 to 1968, animation was self-censored by the <a href="https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/early-hollywood-and-hays-code/">Hays Code</a>: a set of guidelines preventing profanity, suggestive nudity, excessive violence and sexual content. This gave rise to the closed morality tale built around the nuclear family and patriarchal structure presented in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053502/">The Flinstones</a> (1960-66) and the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055683/">The Jetsons</a> (1962-63).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430422/original/file-20211105-28-15m2h9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Flintstones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430422/original/file-20211105-28-15m2h9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430422/original/file-20211105-28-15m2h9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430422/original/file-20211105-28-15m2h9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430422/original/file-20211105-28-15m2h9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430422/original/file-20211105-28-15m2h9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430422/original/file-20211105-28-15m2h9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430422/original/file-20211105-28-15m2h9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cartoons of the 1960s were family-friendly morality tales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1989, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697/">The Simpsons</a> moved animated content into the adult frame, each episode dealing with a particular cultural and moral issue. </p>
<p>With the advent of cable television, cartoons could move even more firmly into the adult realm. We saw the rise of absurdity in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105950/">Beavis and Butt-head</a> (1993-2011) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182576/">Family Guy</a> (1999-) and the introduction of crude language and sexual innuendo in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121955/">South Park</a> (1997-). 2001 saw the launch of US cable network <a href="https://www.adultswim.com/">Adult Swim</a>, with its suite of adult-focused content.</p>
<p>Even in this age, Big Mouth is not without its critics. It is often vulgar and has been criticised for sexualising puberty too much. Critics have asked: has it gone too far? Is this really how these issues should be explored?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gods-of-ancient-egypt-as-seen-through-bojack-horseman-156565">The gods of ancient Egypt as seen through 'BoJack Horseman'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Hormones become monsters</h2>
<p>At the heart of good animation is character design, with strong characters translating the human experience – goals, mannerisms, habits and worldviews – into moving abstract versions of ourselves. Animation manipulates the character to give a drawing life. We view the characters in the carnival as if they could be our experiences.</p>
<p>In Big Mouth, chemicals and inanimate objects become personified, allowing the show to explore complex topics.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pkfrBZFpS8U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcfKg23Xf_4">Maury</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U11H-3j3Ho">Connie</a> are “Hormone Monsters”, who become the internal conversation around the rushes of chemicals influencing teen decisions. Tito the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM3TB6dvSXo">Anxiety Mosquito</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7808478/">Depression Kitty</a> introduce the way mental illness can feel and operate. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13014326/">Gratitoad</a> and other characters explore the positivity we experience together, and eats anxiety. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjKGZGoLoNI">Pam the Sex Pillow</a> and the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7808456/?ref_=ttep_ep3">Shame Wizard</a> present ways we feel in response to other people. </p>
<p>In the new fifth season we are introduced to Lovebugs and Hateworms. All of these characters help communicate the relationship we have with our experiences.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430421/original/file-20211105-19-1dqwq6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pink fairy sits above a girl's shoulder." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430421/original/file-20211105-19-1dqwq6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430421/original/file-20211105-19-1dqwq6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430421/original/file-20211105-19-1dqwq6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430421/original/file-20211105-19-1dqwq6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430421/original/file-20211105-19-1dqwq6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430421/original/file-20211105-19-1dqwq6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430421/original/file-20211105-19-1dqwq6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Season five introduces new Carnival characters to the cast, including Sonya the love bug.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NETFLIX © 2020</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Breaking taboos</h2>
<p>Big Mouth creator Nick Kroll has described how using animation allows them to tell stories which they “might not be able to discuss” in live action shows starring actual teens or tweens. A character like a hormone monster or shame wizard, <a href="https://youtu.be/kt3EqlHcc0I?t=126">he says</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>gives us a lot of latitude to have these more complicated discussions and delve into the subjects kids are dealing with.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Growing up is never easy, but visualising complex ideas can enhance our shared experience. Watching a coming-of-age show as an adult allows us to reflect and better communicate the complex experience of puberty. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/21st-century-character-designs-reflect-our-concerns-as-always-40382">21st-century character designs reflect our concerns, as always</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168849/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Growing up is never easy, but visualising complex ideas can help. Animation and character design allow us to put a metaphorical mirror up to society.
Ari Chand, Lecturer in Visual Communication Design, University of Newcastle
Jack McGrath, Lecturer in Animation at the University of Newcastle, University of Newcastle
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/170183
2021-10-28T12:33:02Z
2021-10-28T12:33:02Z
What’s a ‘miracle’? Here’s how the Catholic Church decides
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428910/original/file-20211027-14962-tce5xe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=71%2C0%2C2923%2C1841&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope John Paul I, who was pope for about a month before his death, has moved one step closer to sainthood.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PopeJohnPaulI/a01d7aa464cf4429a22ffe11bf6a4ed4/photo?Query=%22john%20paul%20i%22&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=250&currentItemNo=10">AP Photo/Claudio Luffoli</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Albino Luciano, better known to the world as Pope John Paul I, reigned as pope for only 34 days before his death in September 1978. But he will soon <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-10/pope-john-paul-i-miracle-for-canonization.html">join the ranks</a> of 20th-century popes <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/24/papal-saints-once-a-given-now-extremely-rare/">who the Catholic Church has canonized</a>. This literally means they have been entered on the “canon,” or list, of people formally declared to be in heaven and have been granted the title “Blessed” or “Saint.” </p>
<p>The process requires a rigorous examination of the life and holiness of a candidate and involves <a href="https://www.usccb.org/offices/public-affairs/saints">several stages</a> that can last years or even centuries.</p>
<p>After someone with a reputation for exceptional holiness dies, a bishop can open an investigation into their life. At this stage, the person can be granted the title “Servant of God.” Further details and research are needed for them to be recognized as “Venerable,” the next stage in canonization.</p>
<p>The following step is beatification, when someone is declared “Blessed.” This usually requires that the Vatican confirm that the person performed a “miracle” by interceding with God. Two miracles are required before a “Blessed” can be declared a saint.</p>
<p>What, then, is a miracle? </p>
<h2>More than medicine</h2>
<p>The word is used widely in nonreligious ways. However, the <a href="https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/890/">Catechism of the Catholic Church</a>, which sums up the church’s teachings, defines it as “a sign or wonder such as a healing, or control of nature, which can only be attributed to divine power.”</p>
<p>In the canonization process, a miracle almost always refers to the spontaneous and lasting remission of <a href="https://wgntv.com/news/medical-watch/a-chicago-mothers-miracle-baby-and-the-making-of-a-saint/">a serious, life-threatening medical condition</a>. The healing must have taken place in ways that the best-informed scientific knowledge cannot account for and follow prayers to the holy person.</p>
<p>Pope John Paul I’s beatification was greenlighted by <a href="http://www.causesanti.va/it/archivio-della-congregazione-cause-santi/promulgazione-di-decreti/decreti-pubblicati-nel-2021.html">the sudden healing</a> of an 11-year-old girl in Buenos Aires who had been suffering severe acute brain inflammation, severe epilepsy and septic shock. She had been approaching what doctors considered almost-certain death in 2011 when her mother, nursing staff and a priest <a href="https://www.laprensalatina.com/recovered-argentine-woman-reflects-on-late-popes-vatican-confirmed-miracle/">began praying desperately</a> to the former pope. </p>
<h2>The bigger picture</h2>
<p>Catholic belief in miracles is long-standing and rooted in what the church believes about the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospels portray Jesus as a teacher, but also as a wonder-worker who <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+2&version=KJV">turned water into wine</a>, walked on water and <a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9">fed a large crowd</a> with minimal food. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/staff/">a Catholic theologian and professor</a>, I have written about saints, <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935420.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935420-e-62">especially the Virgin Mary</a>, and taught university courses on hagiography, or writing about saints’ lives. In Catholic tradition, miracles represent more than physical healing. They also confirm what Jesus preached: that God is willing to intervene in people’s lives and can take away their suffering. </p>
<p>For Christians, then, Jesus’ miracles suggest strongly that he is Son of God. They point to what Jesus called “<a href="http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2046.htm">the reign of God</a>,” in which Christians hope to be reunited with God in a world restored to its original perfection. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman wearing a black shawl walks down a red carpet at the Vatican with children around her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428668/original/file-20211027-27-hdj8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428668/original/file-20211027-27-hdj8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428668/original/file-20211027-27-hdj8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428668/original/file-20211027-27-hdj8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428668/original/file-20211027-27-hdj8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428668/original/file-20211027-27-hdj8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428668/original/file-20211027-27-hdj8pp.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Melissa Villalobos walks with her family during a canonization Mass at the Vatican in 2019. She experienced a healing after praying to Cardinal John Henry Newman, and the Catholic Church recognized it as a miracle, clearing the way for Newman’s canonization.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Vatican%20Saints/c9359fd8ff8348e48eaef8ce177b4084?Query=miracle%20catholic&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=292&currentItemNo=223">AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Devil’s advocate?</h2>
<p>Naturally, thoughtful people can object to the claimed supernatural origin of such events. And the development of medical science means that some healing processes can indeed now be explained purely as the work of nature, without needing to claim that divine intervention has been at work. Some Christian writers, notably the Protestant theologian <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=UPZTDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA131&dq=Rudolf+bultmann+miracles&ots=xTVxFRg56R&sig=3FsfremirJgrGncTxlS44dQgEl4#v=snippet&q=miracle&f=false_">Rudolf Bultmann</a>, have also interpreted Jesus’ miracles as having a purely symbolic meaning and rejected them as being necessarily historical, literal truth.</p>
<p>The Catholic Church has for centuries held that science and faith are <a href="https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/a-catholic-history-of-the-conflict-between-religion-and-science/">not sworn enemies</a> but rather different ways of knowing which complement each other. That understanding guides investigations of supposed miracles, which are undertaken by the Vatican’s <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/romancuria/en/congregazioni/congregazione-delle-cause-dei-santi/profilo.html">Congregation for the Causes of Saints</a>, which has about two dozen staff and more than 100 clerical members and counselors. </p>
<p>Theologians working for the Congregation assess all aspects of the life of a candidate for canonization. These include the “Promoter of the Faith” (sometimes called “the Devil’s advocate”), whose role was <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_25011983_divinus-perfectionis-magister.html">changed in 1983</a> from finding arguments against canonization to supervising the process.</p>
<p>Separately, <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/09/23/160923a.html">a medical board</a> of independent scientific experts is appointed to investigate a claimed miracle. They begin by looking for purely natural explanations as they review the medical history.</p>
<h2>New rules</h2>
<p>The process of canonization has undergone continuous revisions throughout history.</p>
<p>In 2016, Pope Francis initiated <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/money-and-saint-making">reforms in how the church assesses miracles</a>, which are meant to make the process more rigorous and transparent. </p>
<p>The Catholic groups who request to open a canonization case for a particular person fund the investigation. Costs include fees paid to medical experts for their time, administrative expenses and research. But cases were often <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-saints/how-much-is-that-halo-pope-imposes-checks-on-costs-of-making-saints-idUSKCN0WC1WH">opaque and expensive</a>, reaching well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi wrote in a 2015 book.</p>
<p>Among Francis’ 2016 reforms was a new rule that all payments be made by traceable bank transfer so groups can better track the Vatican’s spending.</p>
<p>Another of Francis’ reforms is that in order for a canonization case to go forward, <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2016/09/23/0666/01504.html">two-thirds of the medical board</a> are required to affirm that the miraculous event cannot be explained by natural causes. Previously, only a simple majority was needed. </p>
<p>The overall point of <a href="http://www.archivioradiovaticana.va/storico/2016/03/10/pope_francis_approves_new_rules_for_funds_of_saints_causes/en-1214383">these reforms</a> is to protect the integrity of the canonization process and avoid mistakes or scandals that would discredit the church or mislead believers.</p>
<p>Since Catholics believe that the “Blesseds” and saints are in heaven and intercede before God on behalf of people who seek their help, the question of miracles is a matter of being confident that prayers can and will be heard. </p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170183/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorian Llywelyn 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>
To qualify as a Catholic ‘saint,’ someone must have two miracles credited to them. But how does the church define a miracle in the first place?
Dorian Llywelyn, President, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.