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.
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Many religions have been used to prop up nationalism, and Catholicism is no exception, as a Jesuit priest and scholar explains.
Research shows that short spacing between childbirth and another pregnancy comes with heightened health risks.
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Many people do not realize they are delivering at a Catholic hospital, and others may not have a choice. But where one receives care has a profound impact on the birth control options they’re offered.
‘The Holy Family,’ by the 17th-century Spanish painter Bartolome Esteban Murillo.
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The Catholic Church considers St. Joseph a role model of fatherhood and faith. In many countries, Father’s Day is celebrated on his feast day.
Demonstrators stand outside the Supreme Court in 2014.
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Views on abortion differ not only among major religious traditions, but within each one.
A 19th-century engraving shows a cleric doing an exorcism against an evil spirit.
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In the 1960s, the Catholic Church sought to downplay demonic possession, but its views since then have changed.
The headstone of Father Damien, a Catholic saint who was canonized in 2009.
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Father Damien’s legacy has inspired health providers and humanitarians for over a century.
Venezuelan priest Arturo Sosa Abascal, second from right, receives congratulations after being chosen as new superior general of the Jesuits in 2016.
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The Jesuits are among the Catholic Church’s most influential religious orders but no strangers to controversy.
St. Brigid of Kildare’s shrine in Faughart, County Louth, Ireland.
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The Irish government recently declared a national holiday for St. Brigid. A medieval historian explains her fascinating life and history.
The flag of Ukraine has been tied around a statue of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ outside a church in Pennsylvania amid the Russian invasion.
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To many Ukrainians, Jesus’ mother has a special relationship with their country.
Bearers carry the relic and the statue in honor of St. Anthony of Padua during a procession in Rome, Italy. St. Anthony of Padua was proclaimed a doctor of the church in 1946.
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Saints are recognized for exceptional virtue and faith. But some also are commemorated for their scholarship.
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.
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Pope Benedict XVI’s many years of wrestling with the abuse crisis highlight the Catholic Church’s broader challenges addressing it.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sits in St. Peter’s Basilica Dec. 8, 2015. A long-awaited report on sexual abuse faulted his handling of four cases.
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A German report accused retired Pope Benedict XVI of mishandling several cases of sexual abuse in the 1970s and 1980s. Here are a few of our related articles on the Catholic Church’s crisis.
The number of women religious leaders is growing, but the 2018-2019 National Congregations Study, which surveyed 5,300 U.S. religious communities, found that only 56.4% of these communities would allow a woman to “be head clergy person or primary religious leader.”
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Three female academics discuss how women are forging new pathways in faith leadership throughout religions that traditionally have been patriarchal.
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Part of the Christian tradition of Allhallowtide, All Souls’ Day – or the Day of the Dead – takes on special meaning as COVID changes the way we think about life and death.
Pope John Paul I, who was pope for about a month before his death, has moved one step closer to sainthood.
AP Photo/Claudio Luffoli
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?
The Catholic Church’s two-year synodal process formally opened Oct. 10 at the Vatican.
AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
Pope Francis formally opened a two-year process called a “synod on synodality” for the Catholic Church on Oct. 10.
Pope Francis has laid emphasis on protecting the environment, but he’s not the only pope to speak about caring for nature.
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Environmentalism may seem like a new mindset, especially in the Church. But care for creation has been woven into Catholicism for centuries.
The pope is big news, and provides plenty of column inches in the US.
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An article that used geolocation data to place a priest at gay bars raises questions over journalistic ethics, and shines a light on the Catholic media landscape.
Communion has been described as the ‘fount and apex of the whole Christian life.’
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Amid controversy over US bishops’ plans to deny Communion to pro-abortion rights Catholics, a scholar of sacramental theology explains the importance of the ritual to members of the church.
The Vatican has warned U.S. bishops not to deny Communion to President Biden.
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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.