This centuries-old argument over doctrine needs to change and we have a pope who wants that to happen.
Madonna with child and angels by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato, 1674. The cult of the Virgin is emblematic of the way the church silences women and marginalises their experience.
Wikimedia Commons
Belief in the eternal virginity of Mary has inflicted damage to women, who can never attain her sexless motherhood or unsullied ‘purity’. Yet in the Gospels, Mary is strong-minded and courageous.
Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutch humanist and theologian.
Quentin Matsys
Martin Luther is credited with initiating the split in Christianity that came to be called the Protestant Reformation. But don’t count out Erasmus, an early proponent of similarly radical ideas.
Revelers dressed as Catrina, an iconic Day of the Dead skeleton, at a holiday parade in Mexico City, Oct. 21, 2018.
Reuters/Andres Stapff
Kirby Farah, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
It may sound like a solemn affair, but the Day of the Dead – which blends indigenous and Catholic ritual – is a convivial celebration that allows Mexicans to reconnect with deceased loved ones.
A 2012 photograph of the Sunrise Church of Christ in Buffalo’s East Side. The building has since been demolished.
AP Photo/David Duprey
In up-and-coming neighborhoods, old churches are often converted to apartments or offices. But what about the vacant or underused churches in areas that aren’t attractive to developers?
Whitlanders in the 1940s. Established in 1941 near the base of Victoria’s Mount Buffalo, this Catholic community celebrated the ‘dignity of manual labour’ and was led by a charismatic athlete and former judge’s associate, Ray Triado.
Joe Pisani
Long before 70s hippies and hipster artisans, Australians were seeking solace by going back to the land. They ranged from anarchists to suffragists to Catholic agrarians.
Flames and smoke rise as fire rages in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
AP Photo/Thierry Mallet
The Notre Dame Cathedral was long a powerful symbol of church authority - but it wasn’t static. The design kept changing to keep up with the changing times.
A man dressed as Saint Patrick blesses the crowd in Dublin as the parade makes its way through the Irish capital in 1998.
AP Photo/John Cogill
The Irish continue to express gratitude for St. Patrick’s unselfish commitment to their spiritual well-being, even as the rest of the world celebrates by drowning in booze.
The real lessons of Jesus Christ as outlined in the Bible are socialist. But the Church, a veritable old boys club, doesn’t teach us that.
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, detailing the grim fate of Protestant clerics Latimer and Ridley, is one clue as to why Baldwin hesitated before publishing his irreverent book.
Wikimedia Commons
Argentina’s Senate voted down an abortion bill 38-31 after a 16-hour debate. The Catholic Church thanked senators for defending ‘life,’ but ever more Catholics here insist on women’s right to choose.
Argentina’s pro-choice movement, which began in 2003, hopes that the Senate will vote in favor of legalizing abortion on Aug. 8, 2018.
Abortion support is high in Argentina, even among Catholics. That puts the church, which opposes an abortion bill up for vote on August 8, in the awkward position of fighting a law its members demand.
Our work on the International Panel for Social Progress has led us to conclude that religion is neither inherently pro-democracy nor inherently anti-democracy.
President Donald Trump sits down for an iftar dinner, in the State Dining Room of the White House.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated 50 years ago, began his career as a conservative anti-communist. At the end of his life, he was transformed into a liberal who championed civil and workers’ rights.