Like their ancient ancestors, contemporary Mandaeans revere John the Baptist and consider baptism the most important of their religious rituals.
Hadi Mizban/AP
Mandaeans are followers of ancient Gnostic religion, whose traditional homeland was the region of Iraq and Iran. Today, this small minority lives in many parts of the world, including the US.
The Vatican has warned U.S. bishops not to deny Communion to President Biden.
L'Osservatore Romano/Pool photo via AP
A debate over whether President Biden’s views on abortion disqualify him from taking Communion serves to expose a rift between US bishops and the pope, and is a threat to the church itself.
President Joe Biden’s progressive values jar with the conservatism of some Catholic bishops.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Attacks on churches and targeted killings of Christians began as Iraq descended into sectarian violence after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
A mural depicting Pope Francis on a concrete wall around the Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad, in preparation for the pontiff’s visit,
AP/Photo/Khalid Mohammed
The events that followed the 2003 US invasion of Iraq started a cycle of violence against the country’s minority Christian population. The pope’s visit is meant to bring some ‘healing and comfort.’
Joe Biden quoted Pope Francis in speeches ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Mindy Schauer/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images
The US Catholic Church is more diverse and more divided than it was in JFK’s time. Biden could offer an opportunity for the church to move beyond so-called “culture war” issues.
Young people at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines, cheer Pope Francis in 2015, following his comments endorsing same-sex civil unions.
AP Photo/Aaron Favila
The Vatican has clarified that Pope Francis’ support of civil unions did not change church doctrine. A theologian explains what Francis is doing is departing from Catholic rhetoric on the family.
Pope Francis’ comments on same-sex unions underline his commitment to justice for all.
Buda Mendes/Getty Images
The pontiff hasn’t changed church teaching on marriage in indicating support for same-sex civil unions. Rather, he is reminding Catholics they should be concerned about justice for all.
Members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal organization, which began in Pennsylvania in 1967, holding a meeting in France.
Photo by Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty Images
The Catholic charismatic movement in the United States began during the 1960s. The practices of Catholic charismatics encompass various forms of Pentecostalism.
Pope Francis observes a minute of silence for the victims of Hiroshima at the city’s Peace Memorial Park.
Carl Court/Getty Images
As Pope Francis becomes the first pontiff in the nuclear era to call for total disarmament, all of us – whether secular or religious – can engage through creative and proactive moral responsibility.
Bishop Mark Seitz and priests from his diocese knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds to honor George Floyd, El Paso, June 1, 2020.
Courtesy of Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters
Though often seen as socially conservative, the Catholic church has a strong progressive strain that can be traced back 50 years to Latin America’s liberation struggles.
The biblical book of Ezekiel describes a vision of the divine that medieval philosophers understood as revealing the connection between religion and science.
By Matthaeus Merian (1593-1650)
Those experiencing stress and uncertainty amid the coronavirus may find guidance in medieval responses to plagues, which relied on both medicine and prayer.
He may be praying, but so far the Pope has declined to intervene in Venezuela’s crisis to aid a unified coronavirus response.
LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images
If anyone can convince the Maduro government and the Venezuelan opposition to come together to fight COVID-19, it’s the Pope. But the Church’s power to negotiate an emergency deal is limited.
Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce star in ‘The Two Popes.’
(Netflix)
Pope Francis recently removed a rule known as Pontifical Secrecy, which allowed clergy and church officials to withhold information regarding sexual abuse. Will it make the church truly transparent?
Anthony Hopkins (left) as Benedict and Jonathan Pryce as Francis in The Two Popes (2019).
Netflix
Hundreds of bishops, priests, missionaries and tribal leaders are at the Vatican for the Synod of the Amazon, a three-week meeting focused on the environmental crisis threatening Amazonian peoples.
A survey conducted in Jauary 2018 by the Pew Research Centre showed 84 percent of US Catholics had a ‘favourable’ opinion of Pope Francis. Six out of ten people also said he represented a ‘major change for the better’.
Vatican Media/AAP
Pope Francis continues to champion the importance of science in our world. Having the head of the Catholic Church support various scientific movements is a win for us all.
Professor of Management & Organizations; Professor of Environment & Sustainability; Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the Ross School of Business and School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan