tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/catholics-13996/articlesCatholics – The Conversation2024-01-10T13:30:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207612024-01-10T13:30:13Z2024-01-10T13:30:13ZPope Francis called surrogacy ‘deplorable’ – but the reasons why women and parents choose surrogacy are complex and defy simple labels<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568467/original/file-20240109-17-1nw9j8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=137%2C31%2C6938%2C4678&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis baptizes 16 infants in the Sistine Chapel on Jan. 7, 2024, in Vatican City.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-baptises-16-infants-in-the-sistine-chapel-on-news-photo/1914446578?adppopup=true">Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pope Francis made headlines on Jan. 8, 2024, when he called for a global surrogacy ban, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/world/europe/pope-francis-surrogacy-ban.html">stating</a>, “I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs.”</p>
<p>The use of surrogacy, in which a woman carries and delivers a child for someone else, has grown exponentially in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2016.03.050">recent years</a> and is expected to <a href="https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/surrogacy-market">continue to do so</a>. While headlines often surface when celebrities like <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/paris-hilton-on-why-she-chose-surrogacy-for-her-children">Paris Hilton</a> grow their family using the technology, it also gets attention on the rare occasion a surrogate <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356176/Surrogate-mother-wins-case-baby-giving-birth.html">refuses to relinquish the child they carried</a>, or when <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-red-market-scott-carney?variant=32123686453282">surrogates experience exploitation</a>.</p>
<p>Such human rights violations appear to be the reason that Francis condemned the practice. But in so doing, I argue, the pope is failing to recognize how varied and nuanced the experiences of intended parents, surrogates and children are.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481310567/conceiving-family/">I have researched surrogacy</a> <a href="https://candler.emory.edu/faculty-profiles/danielle-tumminio-hansen/">for over a decade</a> and have learned many things: Some women indeed become surrogates out of desperation and <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/wombs-in-labor/9780231169905">are abused in the process</a>, as the pope says. But others, like the Christian ethicist <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31699">Grace Kao</a>, are thriving professionals who make the choice for altruistic reasons and never accept remuneration.</p>
<p>The complex reasons why women become surrogates and why parents choose to create families in this way <a href="https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/a-lack-of-consensus-around-surrogacy-regulation-at-the-national-level/">make it nearly impossible</a> to issue a universal conclusion about it. Instead, like many technologies, surrogacy’s ethical value is dependent upon the people and systems who use it. </p>
<h2>Catholicism and surrogacy</h2>
<p>While the pope framed his condemnation of surrogacy as a human rights abuse, the Catholic tradition has <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html">consistently opposed</a> <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html">surrogacy, in vitro fertilization</a> and <a href="https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/respect-for-unborn-human-life">abortion</a> on the grounds that they violate natural law. </p>
<p>Natural law is a philosophy that states there are certain unchangeable parts of human nature that God endows. Catholic theologians who support this basic view extrapolate that intercourse within heterosexual marriage is the only acceptable way to reproduce, that life begins at conception, and that an embryo has a right to life from conception until natural death.</p>
<p>Hence, the Roman Catholic Church only encourages reproduction within the confines of heterosexual marriage, and when a heterosexual couple cannot conceive via intercourse, they are encouraged to adopt or remain childless.</p>
<p>The church has consistently condemned IVF because conception takes place outside of heterosexual intercourse. IVF results in the destruction of embryos and involves conception via a test tube. The church likewise has never supported surrogacy, so the pope’s recent assessment of surrogacy as “despicable” is consistent with the church’s overall views of reproduction.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, surrogacy is the only form of assisted reproduction documented in the Bible, unless one considers Mary’s conception of Jesus to be a form of assisted reproduction. In the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2016-18&version=NRSVUE">Book of Genesis</a>, the wife of Abraham begs her husband to have sex with <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301577539_Hagar_the_Egyptian_Wife_Handmaid_and_Concubine">her slave Hagar</a> in order to procreate. Sarah abuses the slave and orchestrates both sex and procreation without Hagar’s consent. </p>
<p>Hagar eventually bears a son <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/religion/articles/2008/01/25/why-scholars-just-cant-stop-talking-about-sarah-and-hagar">named Ishmael</a>. Later, Sarah demands that both Hagar and Ishmael be cast out into the wilderness. Muslims regard Ishmael as a prophet and believe he and Abraham built <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/introduction-cultures-religions-apah/islam-apah/a/the-kaaba">the Kaaba</a> in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.</p>
<h2>Myths and fears</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Four women standing together wearing masks, with two of them holding new-born babies." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C31%2C5176%2C3554&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nurses with babies born to Ukrainian surrogate mothers in Kyiv.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nurses-hold-babies-as-foreign-couples-gather-to-collect-news-photo/1219071333?adppopup=true">Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fast forward to modern times, and surrogacy is now performed predominantly in high-priced in vitro fertilization centers in one of two ways. In “traditional surrogacy,” the fertilized egg belongs to the surrogate. In “gestational surrogacy,” which is <a href="https://surrogate.com/about-surrogacy/types-of-surrogacy/what-is-traditional-surrogacy/">more common today</a>, the fertilized egg comes from either the intended mother or a donor.</p>
<p>In both cases, that egg combines with a sperm to become an embryo that grows in the surrogate’s womb and not the intended mother’s.</p>
<p>Gestational surrogacy may be preferable because it allows intended mothers to maintain a genetic connection with their child. Others may prefer it because of fears that a surrogate could lay claim to the child with whom <a href="https://www.americansurrogacy.com/blog/the-legal-and-emotional-risks-of-traditional-surrogacy/">she had a biological connection</a>.</p>
<p>The concern that a surrogate will try to steal or adopt a child is one of many legal and ethical fears surrounding surrogacy. In the 1980s, the <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/supreme-court/1988/109-n-j-396-1.html">Baby M Case</a> in the United States attracted much media attention because it tapped into these fears. In this situation, the surrogate, named Mary Beth Whitehead, attempted to retain custody of the baby she birthed. </p>
<p>The case <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deu339">fueled a stereotype</a> of surrogates as emotionally unstable, defying the reality that surrogates undergo psychological testing before participating in a procedure.</p>
<p>Documented instances of surrogates retaining children are also rare. Research shows that surrogates often experience pregnancy and birth differently than they did with their <a href="https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/33/4/646/4941810">own children</a>. They also often see themselves as <a href="https://academic.oup.com/california-scholarship-online/book/17848">heroes or gift givers</a> instead of mothers. </p>
<p>If the public perceives surrogates negatively, intended parents often fare no better. They are often categorized as selfish, desperate and rich, especially when they choose surrogacy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/25/having-a-child-doesnt-fit-womens-schedule-the-future-of-surrogacy">without a medical reason</a>. </p>
<p>Those popular images of intended parents fail to account for the <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/reproductive-trauma-second-edition">reproductive trauma</a> many of them experience prior to turning to surrogacy. The decision to hire a surrogate is <a href="https://syndicate.network/symposia/theology/conceiving-family/#:%7E:text=In%20Conceiving%20Family%3A%20A%20Practical,class%20and%20are%20often%20white">often the last option</a> for parents who have tried everything else and are, as <a href="https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481310567/conceiving-family/">I’ve proposed in my own research</a>, attempting to write a happy ending to the story of their reproductive lives.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.filia.org.uk/latest-news/2023/4/19/dont-buy-adopt-stop-surrogacy-now">Critics</a> counter that individuals who use surrogates should be turning to adoption instead. However, this logic fails to recognize that adoption can be traumatic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105309">for the child</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2276293/">the birth mother</a>. Adoption, therefore, isn’t a cure-all for individuals who can’t conceive via heterosexual intercourse.</p>
<h2>Ethical concerns about surrogacy</h2>
<p>It is true that surrogacy is expensive, at least in the U.S., where use of the technology routinely costs over <a href="https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/how-much-surrogacy-costs-and-how-to-pay-for-it">US$100,000</a>. The cost is so extreme because intended parents pay health care fees for both themselves and the surrogate, many of which aren’t covered by insurance. </p>
<p>They also have to pay legal and agency fees and compensate the surrogate, which alone can range from <a href="https://www.westcoastsurrogacy.com/become-a-surrogate-mother/surrogate-mother-compensation">$45,000 to $75,000</a>. Contrast that price tag to the one in India prior to its ban on international surrogacy in 2015: Couples who traveled there could expect to spend <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/04/surrogacy-tourism-india-nayna-patel/">$15,000 to $20,000</a> in total for their surrogacy journey. The extreme costs of surrogacy in the U.S. also limit its availability to the wealthy. </p>
<p>In addition, feminists are divided on how surrogacy affects women. Some feminists feel that surrogates have a right to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3174860">choose what to do with their bodies</a>. Others object to surrogacy on the grounds that systemic oppression drives women into surrogacy, or that it’s unethical for people to <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/wombs-in-labor/9780231169905">buy women’s bodies</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/04/surrogacy-tourism-india-nayna-patel/">Cases documented in India</a> support these concerns. Investigative journalist <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-red-market-scott-carney?variant=32123686453282">Scott Carney</a> found one prominent Indian surrogacy clinic where surrogates were kept in crowded bedrooms on restricted diets and forced to have Cesarean sections in order to streamline the labor and delivery process. </p>
<p>Scholars also worry about surrogacy’s <a href="https://cbc-network.org/issues/making-life/surrogacy/?fbclid=IwAR13wlHiYvqQ_crLOiatzk6XpkFvp0WKXBWOYfi4BURgMLm00aY4EZDC9Sk">impact on children</a>.
Extensive research hasn’t been conducted with children of surrogates, but research by social scientists studying children born via egg and sperm donation largely mirrors the findings of adoption research: Children have questions about their identity, and they find answers from individuals who are <a href="https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/15/9/2041/2915461">part of their birth story</a>.</p>
<p>Yet agencies and governments rarely regulate how surrogates, intended parents and children interact following the baby’s birth. </p>
<h2>The case for surrogacy</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a green shirt stands in front of colorful red and orange flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.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">Actress Gabrielle Union has talked openly about her surrogacy journey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/gabrielle-union-attends-the-veuve-clicquot-polo-classic-at-news-photo/1344504189?adppopup=true">Frazer Harrison/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such objections might lead to the conclusion that there is never a reason to hire a surrogate. But this might be too simplistic. Even with the documented struggles on the parts of both intended parents and surrogates, many are profoundly grateful for the technology.</p>
<p>Intended parents often feel surrogates are “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520259645/birthing-a-mother">gifts from God</a>” who help them reach their dream of parenthood. Meanwhile, some surrogates believe their powers of procreation provide them with a unique opportunity to help others. Many surrogates see their ability to create life as a source of power, a profound act of altruism that is part of their legacy.</p>
<p>When I spoke with a group of surrogates in Austin, Texas, while conducting research for my book, I found that their stories aligned with <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Surrogate-Motherhood-Conception-In-The-Heart/Ragone/p/book/9780367289249">the findings of other researchers</a> who discovered that many surrogates had positive experiences in which they <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520259645/birthing-a-mother">experienced themselves as heroes</a>. These women felt empowered because they helped infertile heterosexual couples and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbms.2018.10.019">gay couples</a> create families. Without surrogacy, these individuals would have no way to have a genetic connection with their children. </p>
<p>The surrogates acknowledged that sometimes intended parents could be difficult, that pregnancy and labor could be challenging, and that it could be confusing when a checkout clerk at the grocery store asked what they were planning to name the baby.</p>
<p>Becoming a parent through surrogacy can be awkward and humbling, confusing and miraculous all at the same time.</p>
<p>But when surrogates and intended parents can act freely, with <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520259645/birthing-a-mother">appropriate regulations and the support of society</a>, there is the potential for them to discover that family is not just biological but also social and relational. In those encounters, many experience the technology as life-giving, both metaphorically and literally.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/becoming-a-parent-through-surrogacy-can-have-ethical-challenges-but-it-is-a-positive-experience-for-some-167760">article first published on Oct. 6, 2021</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danielle Tumminio Hansen 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>Surrogacy can exploit women, but others may choose to be involved for altruistic reasons. A scholar points out that surrogacy’s ethical value is dependent upon the people and systems who use it.Danielle Tumminio Hansen, Assistant Professor of Practical Theology & Spiritual Care, Emory UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2170902023-11-21T23:04:11Z2023-11-21T23:04:11ZJFK’s death 60 years on: what Australian condolence letters reveal about us<p>US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas 60 years ago, on November 22 1963. Within hours, the news ricocheted around the world. </p>
<p>Perhaps we could imagine a substantial impact in Europe, where Kennedy had only recently, and somewhat famously, <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/berlin-w-germany-rudolph-wilde-platz-19630626">declared</a> “Ich bin ein Berliner”. </p>
<p>But Kennedy’s death was also deeply felt in Australia, prompting many people to write personal letters to Jacqueline Kennedy. They paint a revealing portrait of life down under in the 1960s.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jfk-conspiracy-theory-is-debunked-in-mexico-57-years-after-kennedy-assassination-148138">JFK conspiracy theory is debunked in Mexico 57 years after Kennedy assassination</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Letters from ‘far flung corners’</h2>
<p>People from around the world felt compelled to write to the first lady. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/11/jfk-assassination-jacqueline-kennedy-mourned-in-public-with-grace-purpose-and-blood-on-her-suit.html">45,000 letters</a> arrived on one day alone. White House staff were still processing more than one million letters years later. </p>
<p>Sometimes they came with cards and gifts, including pieces of especially composed music. </p>
<p>Hundreds of letters came all the way from Australia, from what a Rockhampton woman described as “a far flung corner”.</p>
<p>At a time when the national sentiment under Menzies’ leadership was more in favour of the United Kingdom than the United States, it’s somewhat surprising Kennedy’s death prompted such an outpouring of grief.</p>
<p>Kennedy never visited the “far flung corner”. There was some talk that he would come to Australia as part of a wider visit to the Pacific, but diplomatic sensibilities and logistics proved difficult to overcome.</p>
<p>In any case, one of the proposed dates clashed with <a href="https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/original/00000843.pdf">a visit</a> from the Queen Mother. </p>
<p>But some believed it was the assassination that ended the plans. A Sydney couple wrote to Jacqueline Kennedy:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I believe you were to honour us by a visit from you & the President this year […] but fate decided against it to our deepest disappointment […] and regret. We were all looking forward so eagerly to that great pleasure. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Interestingly, that same letter suggested that Robert Kennedy might have time in the future to bring Jacqueline and the children to Australia, revealing how restrictive gender roles were understood in 1963.</p>
<h2>Political figures as personal friends</h2>
<p>Many of the letter writers admitted they mourned Kennedy as if he was a family member or a close friend. </p>
<p>A lot of this intimacy came from watching Kennedy on television.</p>
<p>One man from Mt Kuring-gai explained after he began his letter with “Dear Jacki”: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I ask your pardon for using your Christian name, but I feel that both you and John Kennedy are my personal friends. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similar sentiments were expressed by a Brisbane woman:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Television is a wonderful thing […] although you have never met me, yet by seeing you several times on the television screen, I feel that I have met you.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>During the Kennedy years, the quantity of TV time devoted to news in the US expanded considerably, meaning that mediated access to Kennedy also increased. </p>
<p>His youth, Hollywood good looks, and his glamorous wife became part of US and Australian cultural consumption. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-withering-public-trust-in-government-be-traced-back-to-the-jfk-assassination-87719">Can withering public trust in government be traced back to the JFK assassination?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/41860109?browse=ndp%3Abrowse%2Ftitle%2FA%2Ftitle%2F112%2F1962%2F10%2F10%2Fpage%2F4932576%2Farticle%2F41860109">Australian Women’s Weekly</a> also helped to popularise the Kennedy image. Readers were shown how to make their own Jackie pillbox hat and cultivate Jacqueline Kennedy’s intellectual style. The magazine instructed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Start by reading the newspaper, go to art exhibitions, see a few historical film spectaculars, and learn to read a menu in French. Don’t chatter. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Seeing themselves in the Kennedys</h2>
<p>Widows and mothers especially identified with Jacqueline Kennedy. They wrote to her “as woman to woman”, relating their own grief experiences and offering to help mind the “kiddies”, if only she lived closer.</p>
<p>Catholics also wrote in large numbers. Kennedy was the great Catholic hero at a time of deep sectarianism in Australian society. They were proud of his political success. </p>
<p>It also helped that he had Irish roots, like much of the Catholic priesthood in Australia at the time. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-luck-of-the-irish-might-surface-on-st-patricks-day-but-it-evades-the-kennedy-family-americas-best-known-irish-dynasty-201445">The luck of the Irish might surface on St. Patrick's Day, but it evades the Kennedy family, America's best-known Irish dynasty</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>During the Cold War, Kennedy offered a sense of security.</p>
<p>That proved important to Robert Menzies in his reelection campaign, given that Kennedy died only a week before polling day. Labor Party leader Arthur Calwell saw the writing on the wall. </p>
<p>When Menzies mentioned Kennedy while electioneering, Calwell <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20635464?seq=4">complained</a> that Menzies was trying to use the assassination for political purposes. </p>
<p>Calwell’s messaging didn’t cut through. Instead, voters wanted safety and familiarity in their leadership amid global upheaval.</p>
<p>One Strathfield woman who wrote to Jacqueline Kennedy explained that the idea of Menzies’ having “been in too long” disappeared with the assassination. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] there was a great swing to Liberals & they won with the amazing majority of 22 seats.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A unique mixture of television, religion and personality meant Kennedy’s death had cultural repercussions in “the far flung corner”. We would not see a grief response like this again until the death of the Princess of Wales, 34 years later. </p>
<p>But so great was the impact in Cold War-era Australia that the death of an overseas president also had some bearing on the formation of government back home.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217090/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Clark 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>Hundreds of Australians wrote to Jackie Kennedy after her husband was killed. The letters paint a revealing portrait of who we were and who we wanted to be.Jennifer Clark, Professor of History, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2137222023-10-02T12:29:39Z2023-10-02T12:29:39ZPope Francis has appointed 21 new cardinals – an expert on medieval Christianity explains what it means for the future of the Catholic Church<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551264/original/file-20230930-19-qn921n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C5964%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New cardinals at St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sept. 30, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXVaticanNewCardinals/55e2e1150801420ca3e91bb06eab2313/photo?Query=Pope%20Francis%20created%2021%20new%20cardinals&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=12&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Sept. 30, 2023, Pope Francis swore in <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-07/pope-announces-consistory-for-creation-of-new-cardinals.html">21 clergymen as new members of</a> the College of Cardinals. The College is an important part of the church’s governance structure – each new member <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/pope-francis-names-21-new-cardinals-including-vaticans-ambassador-us">takes a formal oath</a> during a ritual ceremony in the presence of present members of the College. </p>
<p>This assembly of cardinals, <a href="https://slmedia.org/blog/consistory-2023">known as a consistory</a>, is the ninth that Francis has held to create new cardinals since 2013, when he succeeded the retiring Pope Benedict XVI. </p>
<p>The new appointments will take the <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali---statistiche/elenco_per_eta.html">membership of the College from 221 to 242</a>, including retirees. Francis has ensured that the College includes clergy from around the world and is <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/07/09/pope-francis-new-cardinals-conclave-245656">representative of the diversity</a> within Catholicism. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">specialist in medieval Christianity</a>, I have studied the complex history of the College of Cardinals. Shaped by past challenges, it is a crucial institution – for its members will elect the next pope and help develop the policies the Catholic Church will follow in the future.</p>
<h2>Early church leadership</h2>
<p>During the Roman Empire, when Christianity was illegal, Christians would meet secretly. These meetings were often held <a href="https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/when-did-christianity-begin-to-spread/">in private homes called house churches</a> – domestic buildings that were later <a href="http://historyofchristianart.com/files/Origins_Program_Dura_Europos_A.pdf">adapted solely for worship</a> by members of the local Christian community. </p>
<p>It was during this time that leadership of these communities developed into three main orders of ordained clergy: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+3&version=NRSVCE">Overseers became bishop</a>, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+5%3A+17-22&version=NRSVCE">elders became priests</a>, and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+3%3A+8-13&version=NRSVCE">ministers became deacons</a>. </p>
<p>After the legalization of Christianity in the early fourth century, Christians were free to build large, more elaborate public buildings for worship, which often expanded some of these original house churches. New churches were also built in various sections of Rome, as well as in seven areas surrounding the city — like suburbs – <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14324a.htm">called the suburbicarian churches</a>. </p>
<p>By the sixth century, key members of the clergy staffing many of these Roman and Italian churches, especially the older ones, were referred to as cardinals, from the Latin word referring to a hinge, or a central joint. Leading deacons, senior priests and prominent bishops serving these parishes were all called cardinals. </p>
<h2>Papacy as a political prize</h2>
<p>Over these later centuries, Christianity also spread more widely north of the Alps, and the numbers of Christian churches and clergy expanded. However, because of ongoing warfare, conquest and political turmoil, Christianity in western Europe entered a more turbulent period. Popes came to exert political as well as spiritual power, leaving the office of the papacy vulnerable to the influence of competing secular powers, as well as powerful local Roman families and foreign rulers. </p>
<p>This became such a problem that in 769, under Pope Stephen III, <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14289a.htm">a council held at one of the central churches in Rome</a> – St. John Lateran – ruled that no layperson could be elected pope or influence the election of anyone to the papacy; only candidates holding the title of cardinal could be elected pope.</p>
<p>This requirement improved the situation for a time, but also contributed to the increasing political power of cardinals, traditionally the popes’ closest advisers.</p>
<p>In the later ninth and 10th centuries, however, the papacy again became a political prize for prominent Roman families and Italian nobility. This period, called the “<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Age-of-Faith/Will-Durant/The-Story-of-Civilization/9781451647617">nadir of the papacy</a>,” produced a series of unworthy popes, including Pope Stephen VI, who put the corpse of his <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-cadaver-synod-putting-a-dead-pope-on-trial/">predecessor on trial</a>; and Pope John XII, at 17 the youngest pope ever elected, who <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08426b.htm">spent his papacy in the mid-10th century</a> in drinking, gambling and debauchery.</p>
<p>However, many changes took place during the next two centuries, supported by reform-minded clergy and rulers in what is now France. </p>
<p>Several popes, notably Popes Leo IX and Gregory VII, brought organizational improvements to the bureaucratic structure of the Catholic Church in the <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0131.xml">11th and early 12th centuries</a>; many individual cardinals came to direct administrative departments. </p>
<p>In 1059, Pope Nicholas II declared that <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/papalel.asp">a pope could only be elected</a> by members of the College of Cardinals, and a <a href="https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum11.htm">special election consistory</a> was mandated in 1179.</p>
<h2>Vatican II and other developments</h2>
<p>In the following centuries, cardinals in the Catholic Church continued to assume important roles in Rome as curial officers, diplomats – called papal legates – and experts in the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann330-367_en.html#CHAPTER_III">Catholic legal system, the canon law</a>. Others served as advisers to rulers in Catholic countries or directed groups of bishops in their local pastoral ministry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551016/original/file-20230928-17-tc7ng6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white image showing a large number of people seated in pews." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551016/original/file-20230928-17-tc7ng6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551016/original/file-20230928-17-tc7ng6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551016/original/file-20230928-17-tc7ng6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551016/original/file-20230928-17-tc7ng6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551016/original/file-20230928-17-tc7ng6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551016/original/file-20230928-17-tc7ng6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551016/original/file-20230928-17-tc7ng6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&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 Benedict XV, cardinals and others pray for peace in Europe at St Peter’s (San Pietro) on Feb. 7, 1915, at the Vatican.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-benedict-xv-cardinals-and-faithfuls-praying-for-peace-news-photo/872464604?adppopup=true">DeAgostini/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several popes made more substantial changes in the number and selection of cardinals in the 20th and 21st centuries. The requirements for a cardinal candidate were narrowed. In 1917, Pope Benedict XV <a href="https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/c.php?g=251196&p=1673402">promulgated a universal Code of Canon Law</a>. In it, the office of cardinal was restricted to priests and bishops, and deacons were excluded.</p>
<p>Later, on the eve of the Second Vatican Council, held from from 1962 to 1965, Pope John XXIII declared that <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/la/motu_proprio/documents/hf_j-xxiii_motu-proprio_19620415_cum-gravissima.html">all cardinals must be ordained bishops</a>. Subsequently, John Paul II – pope from 1978 until his death in 2005 – dispensed certain exceptional priests, often elderly theologians, from this requirement. The first so honored in 1983 was the <a href="https://aleteia.org/2021/09/04/remembering-the-life-of-henri-de-lubac/">French theologian Rev. Henri de Lubac</a>, and the first American, named in 2001, was <a href="https://www.fordham.edu/academics/faculty/endowed-chairs/mcginley-chair/avery-cardinal-dulles-biography/">Rev. Avery Dulles, S. J.</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, popes at this time, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/it/speeches/1946/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19460220_la-elevatezza.html">stressing the universality of the church</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180523005422/http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2018/cardinal-stats-pope-makes-college-more-international-not-much-younger.cfm">added several new cardinals</a> from countries around the world.</p>
<h2>A larger College of Cardinals</h2>
<p>Partly because of this stress on diversity, the size of the College of Cardinals increased dramatically. During the later medieval period, popes and councils set the maximum number of cardinals who could serve at one time, varying from 20 in the 14th century to 70 in the 16th century. That limit remained in effect until the 20th century, when John XXIII <a href="https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consist-58.htm">expanded the College</a> to 88 cardinals, which his successor, Pope Paul VI, expanded to 134 – less than half the size of the College today. </p>
<p>The duties expected of individual cardinals have also changed. During his papacy, Paul VI set out rules for the retirement of all bishops and priests, as well as cardinals: All were expected to submit a letter of intent to retire when they reached the age of 75. </p>
<p>He also set another age limit: After reaching the age of 80, cardinals would not be eligible to vote in a papal election, although they <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19701120_ingravescentem.html">kept the title of cardinal</a> for the remainder of their lives. Even before the September 2023 consistory, almost half of the total number of cardinals were over 80, and so <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali---statistiche/elenco_per_eta/distribuzione-per-tipo.html">were barred from voting</a> in future papal elections.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551015/original/file-20230928-15-xqp6f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Clergymen in green robes seated in the pews." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551015/original/file-20230928-15-xqp6f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551015/original/file-20230928-15-xqp6f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551015/original/file-20230928-15-xqp6f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551015/original/file-20230928-15-xqp6f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551015/original/file-20230928-15-xqp6f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551015/original/file-20230928-15-xqp6f0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551015/original/file-20230928-15-xqp6f0.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">The College of Cardinals at the Holy Mass, presided over by Pope Francis at the Vatican Basilica, on Aug. 30, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-cardinals-at-the-holy-mass-at-the-end-of-the-consistory-news-photo/1419592930?adppopup=true">Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cardinals and the future of the church</h2>
<p>During his pontificate, Francis’ selections have continued to shape the composition of the College of Cardinals in several ways. </p>
<p>Many believe that with his appointments, Francis has tried to ensure that his vision of the church’s future will continue after his death; he is 86 years old and in failing health. </p>
<p>Given the fact that the vast majority of cardinals under 80 are Francis appointees, some commentators have noted that the <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/09/25/pope-conclave/">pope has “stacked</a>” the College with cardinals who are inclined to agree with his more liberal focus on inclusivity and social justice issues, rather than Benedict XVI’s stress on doctrinal orthodoxy and traditional values. Francis’ latest round of cardinal appointments have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/04/pope-wars-against-american-bishops/">further underscored this tension</a>.</p>
<p>Some more conservative Catholic bishops and cardinals have criticized the pope’s statements and actions as increasingly divergent from Catholic traditional teaching. The late Cardinal George Pell from Australia, who served over a year in prison until his conviction for child sex abuse was overturned in 2020, <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/01/17/commentary-cardinal-pells/">called Francis’ pontificate a “catastrophe</a>” in an anonymous letter sent to other cardinals in 2022. </p>
<p>Other bishops and cardinals disagree. For example, <a href="https://www.archchicago.org/about-us/cardinal-blase-j-cupich">Cardinal Blase Cupich</a>, archbishop of Chicago, <a href="https://www.archchicago.org/about-us/cardinal-blase-j-cupich">has publically approved</a> of the pope’s determination to “situate the church for its future” by <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/cardinal-cupich-francis-giving-new-life-vatican-ii-reforms">emphasizing a more collaborative approach</a>, and praising Francis’ <a href="https://www.archchicago.org/statement/-/article/2020/10/04/statement-of-cardinal-blase-j-cupich-archbishop-of-chicago-on-pope-francis-encyclical-letter-fratelli-tutti-">stress on inclusion</a> rather than division.</p>
<p><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/by-stacking-the-odds-in-his-favour-does-pope-francis-risk-splitting-the-vote-at-the-next-conclave/">Whatever the outcome</a> of the next papal election, members of the College of Cardinals, as bishops in active ministry, diplomats, intellectuals and papal advisers, <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2023/07/17/pope-francis-cardinals-conclave-245695">will have a profound role</a> in shaping that future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213722/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>The College of Cardinals is an important part of the church’s governance structure. Its members elect the next pope and help develop future policies for the church.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2104472023-08-21T12:25:33Z2023-08-21T12:25:33ZWhat the pope’s visit to Mongolia says about his priorities and how he is changing the Catholic Church<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542824/original/file-20230815-23-w5anbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C0%2C5343%2C3583&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis' upcoming visit to meet the tiny Catholic community of Mongolia is drawing considerable interest.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-gestures-during-the-weekly-general-audience-on-news-photo/1586313499?adppopup=true"> Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Mongolia, which is home to fewer than 1,500 Catholics, has <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-asia/2023/07/missionaries-say-shock-of-papal-visit-to-mongolia-a-chance-to-introduce-the-faith">elicited curiosity</a> among Catholics and non-Catholics alike. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/31/map-which-countries-has-pope-francis-visited">This will be the pope’s 43rd</a> trip abroad since his election on March 13, 2013: He has visited 12 countries in the Americas, 11 in Asia and 10 in Africa. </p>
<p>What do these visits tell us about this pope’s mission and focus? </p>
<p>As a scholar of Roman Catholicism, I <a href="https://clas.uiowa.edu/religion/people/kristy-nabhan-warren">have studied Catholicism’s appeal</a> for immigrants and refugees, and I argue that the pontiff’s official travels since 2013 are part of his decadelong effort to rebrand the Roman Catholic Church as a religious institution that centers the poor.</p>
<h2>Prioritizing the poor</h2>
<p>While previous popes have included the poor in their speeches, what has distinguished this pope is that he has focused on the Global South and prioritized immigrants, refugees and the less privileged, from Bolivia to Myanmar to Mongolia.</p>
<p>At his July 2013 visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa to commemorate migrants who had drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/10-years-later-pope-francis-lampedusa-cry-offers-renewed-call-welcome-migrants#:%7E:text=When%20Pope%20Francis%20visited%20Lampedusa,become%20synonymous%20with%20his%20papacy">Francis gave a blistering critique</a> of the world’s failure to care for the poor: “In this globalized world, we have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/08/pope-globalisation-of-indifference-lampedusa">fallen into globalized indifference</a>. We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn’t affect me; it doesn’t concern me; it’s none of my business!” </p>
<p>Three years later, the pope flew 12 Syrian Muslim refugees from a Greek refugee camp to Rome. Francis is the first pope to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/12/05/world/pope-francis-greece-migrants#">relocate refugees and to work with groups</a> like The Community of St. Egidio charity in Rome that have successfully resettled thousands of refugees. </p>
<p>During my own interviews with Central American Catholic immigrants and refugees in central and eastern Iowa between 2013-2020 for my book, “<a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469663494/meatpacking-america/">Meatpacking America</a>,” I heard from women and men who fled violence and poverty in their home nations that they look up to this pope “because he cares about us,” as Fernando said. And Josefina told me back in 2017 that this pope is “the real deal” in terms of supporting immigrants and the poor. </p>
<h2>Francis and liberation theology</h2>
<p>His predecessors – Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict – specifically <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2007/5/8/20017359/benedict-to-confront-liberation-theology">condemned liberation theology</a>, a philosophy <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-50-years-liberation-theology-is-still-reshaping-catholicism-and-politics-but-what-is-it-186804">rooted in Catholic social teachings</a> that calls for a preferential option for the poor and an embrace of Marxist ideology. </p>
<p>According to Austen Ivereigh prior to his becoming pope, Francis — <a href="https://sojo.net/articles/pope-francis-liberation-theologian">then Jorge Mario Bergoglio – condemned liberation theology as well</a>. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/11/vatican-new-chapter-liberation-theology-founder-gustavo-gutierrez">He would say</a> “that they were for the people but never with them,” wrote Ivereigh, in his biography of Pope Francis.</p>
<p>Since his election as pope, however, Francis has undertaken what I call “people-focused” liberationism. In one of his first official announcements in 2013, “Evangelii Gaudium,” or “The Joy of the Gospel,” the pope <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html">wrote about the essential inclusion</a> of the poor in society, arguing that “without the preferential option for the poor, the proclamation of the Gospel, which is itself the prime form of charity, risks being misunderstood or submerged by the ocean of words which daily engulfs us in today’s society of mass communications.” </p>
<p>In other words, the Gospel’s message that all Christians proclaim doesn’t mean a whole lot if the poor are not central to the goal of personal as well as collective salvation.</p>
<h2>Journeying to Mongolia</h2>
<p>How does the pope’s upcoming visit to Mongolia factor into this decade-spanning trajectory of his people-focused liberation?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542822/original/file-20230815-27-42kbnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Catholic nun handing out food to children seated on a rug in two rows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542822/original/file-20230815-27-42kbnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542822/original/file-20230815-27-42kbnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542822/original/file-20230815-27-42kbnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542822/original/file-20230815-27-42kbnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542822/original/file-20230815-27-42kbnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542822/original/file-20230815-27-42kbnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542822/original/file-20230815-27-42kbnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Food service for homeless children in a shantytown in Mongolia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/food-service-for-homeless-children-organised-by-fraternite-news-photo/524114802?adppopup=true">Michel Setboun/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Christianity has been present in Mongolia since the seventh century. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40463470">Nestorianism, an Eastern branch of Christianity</a> named after the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, who lived from 386 C.E. to 451 C.E., coexisted alongside an even older religious practice, shamanism, which emphasized the natural world and dates to the third century. Nestorians believe that Christ had two natures – one human and one divine. </p>
<p>While Mary was seen as important within Nestorian theology as Christ’s mother, she is not seen as divine. This is similar to Roman Catholic theology where Mary is deemed special because she is Christ’s mother and worthy of veneration.</p>
<p>According to historian <a href="https://www.giffordlectures.org/lecturers/robert-merrihew-adams">Robert Merrihew Adams</a>, the missionary activity of Nestorian Christians in central Asia from the seventh to the 13th centuries was “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/monist/onab005">the most impressive Christian enterprise</a>” of the Middle Ages because of its rapid spread and influence. </p>
<p>Adams argues that Nestorianism’s spread was in part because of its belief that Christ was a two-natured individual – one divine and one human. These two natures in one body meshed well with preexisting shamanic beliefs, as shamanism sees individuals as able to harness the supernatural. </p>
<p>In addition to this branch of Eastern Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism came to Mongolia in the 13th century, as did Islam. Today, <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-religions-are-practiced-in-mongolia.html">Buddhism is the dominant religion of Mongolia</a>, while Islam and Christianity remain very small percentages at 3% and 2.5%. </p>
<p>Pope Francis has made it clear throughout his tenure that interfaith dialogue is an essential remedy to division. During his visit he will <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2023/07/18/pope-visits-mongolia-community-245698">preside over an interfaith gathering</a> and the opening of a Catholic charity house. </p>
<h2>A strategic visit</h2>
<p>The past decade has brought rapid urbanization and growth in major cities such as the capital of Ulaanbaatar, along with <a href="https://asiafoundation.org/2014/06/25/poverty-inequality-and-the-negative-effects-of-mongolias-economic-downturn/">high rates of unemployment and Covid-era</a> economic downturn. </p>
<p>And yet, according to the World Bank, the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/mongolia/overview">economic forecast</a> for Mongolia remains “promising” because of its rich natural resources, such as gold, copper, coal and other minerals. </p>
<p>However, extraction of Mongolia’s resources is <a href="https://hir.harvard.edu/mongolia-on-the-verge-of-a-mineral-miracle/">occurring at a rapid pace</a> – so much so that the country, according to the Harvard International Review, has been called “Minegolia.” The United States has <a href="https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/china-mongolia-taiwan/mongolia#:%7E:text=Mongolia%27s%20economy%2C%20traditionally%20based%20on,uranium%2C%20tin%2C%20and%20tungsten">made significant investment</a> in Mongolia’s mining industry, and China is a major importer of Mongolian coal. Two rail lines connecting Mongolia to China were installed in January 2022 and a third is being built. </p>
<p>In the past, Francis has made strong comments against corruption and environmental degradation, and it would not be surprising if he addressed the challenges of the mining industry during his trip. During his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023, <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/world/pope-francis-visit-congo/">he critiqued the Global North</a> that contributed to “the poison of greed” that has “smeared its diamonds with blood.” In 2018, the pope spent a few hours in Madre de Dios, an area in the Peruvian Amazon, where <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/bio/susan-egan-keane/popes-visit-highlights-gold-mining-problems-and-solutions">mining has led to</a> large-scale environmental degradation.</p>
<p>The pope’s visit will be bold given the challenges before Mongolia and its geographic location between Russia and China. A peace delegation on behalf of Pope Francis for the war in Ukraine, led by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, that visted Russia this summer is <a href="https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2023/07/china-could-be-next-stop-for-popes-ukraine-peace-envoy">likely to head to China in the coming months</a>. </p>
<p>As Italian Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, a missionary in Mongolia for two decades, has emphasized, Pope Francis’s visit to this country with a tiny minority of Catholics will “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-mongolia-cardinal-china-6812de8a1cd238b88d6226cd20c8f042">manifest the attention</a> that the (pope) has for every individual, every person who embarks in this journey of faith.”</p>
<p><em>This piece has been updated to correct the depiction of the Roman Catholic Church’s view on Mary’s divinity.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristy Nabhan-Warren 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 scholar of Roman Catholicism explains why Pope Francis’ visit to Mongolia, home to fewer than 1,500 Catholics, is significant.Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Associate Vice President of Research, University of IowaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2088252023-07-06T12:28:14Z2023-07-06T12:28:14ZCan chatbots write inspirational and wise sermons?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535891/original/file-20230705-22346-guktbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=62%2C44%2C5892%2C3910&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">AI-created sermons have proved controversial for some religious leaders.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/june-2023-bavaria-f%C3%BCrth-visitors-and-attendees-during-the-news-photo/1258555134?adppopup=true">Daniel Vogl/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When several hundred Lutherans in Bavaria, Germany, attended a service on June 9, 2023, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-church-protestants-chatgpt-ai-sermon-651f21c24cfb47e3122e987a7263d348">designed by ChatGPT</a>, the program not only selected hymns and prayers, but also composed and delivered a sermon, delivered by an avatar on a big screen. </p>
<p>Indeed, programs like ChatGPT, that can produce a sermon in seconds, might seem attractive to busy clergy. But several religious leaders, including rabbis serving Jewish congregations as well as Christian Protestant pastors, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-artificial-intelligence-kentucky-religion-65822bf1c46de7630d3441e9ff4ff41a">have conflicting feelings</a> about utilizing chatbots in preparing sermons. </p>
<p>There may be several reasons for being cautious. From my perspective, as <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">a specialist in Catholic liturgy and ritual</a>, the most important critique has to do with true intent of preaching – to offer insight and inspiration on the human experience of faith.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xmXghWi2lf8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">More than 300 people attended an experimental Lutheran Protestant church service almost entirely generated by artificial intelligence in Germany on June 9, 2023. (AP video: Daniel Niemann)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Historical practice</h2>
<p>In the early centuries of Christianity, <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07443a.htm">preaching was largely reserved for bishops</a>, considered to be the successors to Jesus’ apostles. During the Middle Ages, priests were also allowed to preach, although their chief responsibility was to say the Mass – ritually consecrating the offerings of bread and wine – especially on Sundays. </p>
<p>In some religious orders, priests <a href="https://www.op.org/history/">became famous traveling preachers</a>, although much of the time they were preaching in other settings, not during Mass. <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/15499">The Franciscan</a> and <a href="https://exhibitions.lib.cam.ac.uk/dominicans/case/medieval-preachers-and-teachers/">Dominican</a> orders, for example, would send priests to preach on the streets and in city centers, traveling from town to town in fulfillment of this ministry. </p>
<p>During the next few centuries, preaching brief sermons or homilies became increasingly important during the celebration of Sunday Mass. The Second Vatican Council, convened in 1962, <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-10/vatican-ii-council-60th-anniversary-video-history-background.html">took a fresh look at all the church’s rituals</a> and stressed the role of preaching at worship, especially at Mass. </p>
<p>These principles have been <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20140629_direttorio-omiletico_en.html#I._THE_HOMILY">reaffirmed in more recent documents</a> that guide Catholic preachers when writing a sermon. In essence, preaching was always believed to be a human activity grounded in faith. </p>
<h2>Insight and inspiration</h2>
<p>Preaching as a human activity has a special meaning for Catholics – and most Christians – because they believe that Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God, who <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1J.HTM">came into human life to save all of humanity from their sins</a> and gave his <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+16%3A15&version=NRSVCE">apostles the commandment to preach the gospel</a> about this “good news” to people of all nations. </p>
<p>In the decades since Vatican II ended in 1965, preaching in the Catholic tradition has been emphasized as a “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651207_presbyterorum-ordinis_en.html">primary duty</a>” of all priests. </p>
<p>The sermon is meant to <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20140629_direttorio-omiletico_en.html#I._THE_HOMILY">inspire people</a> in their ordinary lives of faith. The preacher must spend time in preparing the sermon, but this does not just mean compiling theological quotes or doing research on the history of the Bible. </p>
<p>A good sermon is not just a classroom lecture. In fact, several contemporary popes have stressed that the language of sermons should avoid technical or obscure terminology. In 1975, Pope Paul VI wrote that the language of preaching should be “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi.html">simple, clear, direct, well-adapted</a>” for the congregation in the pews. And in 2013, Pope Francis echoed these same words in his observation that “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html#_ftn125%5D">simplicity has to do with the language we use</a>.”</p>
<p>But preaching is not just about offering pious mottoes or generic religious formulas. The preacher’s experience, insights and emotions all come into play when composing the homiletic text.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photo of Billy Graham preaching to a packed audience. Graham stands at a lectern in front of many onlookers, with his hands raised above his head" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evangelist Billy Graham reached millions who were attracted by his charisma and preaching style.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/evangelist-billy-graham-preaches-to-a-crowd-of-21-000-in-st-news-photo/515575744?adppopup=true">Bettmann / Contributor via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The preacher is not simply offering good advice, but speaking out of personal reflection in a way that will inspire the members of the congregation, not just please them. It <a href="https://www.mccrimmons.com/shop/homilies/preaching-as-paying-attention--theological-reflection-in-the-pulpit/">must also be shaped</a> by an awareness of the needs and lived experience of the worshipping community in the pews. </p>
<h2>Use with caution</h2>
<p>In practice, chatbots might help clergy save time by finding sources and compiling relevant facts, but the results would need to be <a href="https://mashable.com/article/microsoft-bing-ai-chatbot-weird-scary-responses">checked for errors</a>. Chatbots have been known to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/09/ai-blunders-google-chatbot-chatgpt-cause-trouble-more-firms">make some factual blunders</a> or <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/lawyer-who-cited-cases-concocted-by-ai-asks-judge-spare-sanctions-2023-06-08/">invent sources completely</a>. </p>
<p>Above all, I believe chatbots, as of now, are not capable of preparing a text suitable for being offered as a sermon. From what we know about chatbots, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-isnt-close-to-becoming-sentient-the-real-danger-lies-in-how-easily-were-prone-to-anthropomorphize-it-200525">they cannot know</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-takes-a-body-to-understand-the-world-why-chatgpt-and-other-language-ais-dont-know-what-theyre-saying-201280">what it means to be human</a>, to experience love or be inspired by a sacred text. </p>
<p>Perhaps Baptist pastor Hershael York, Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has put it best. He has noted that the ultimate failure of a chatbot’s sermon lies in the fact that it “lacks a soul.” Without that empathetic consciousness, a chatbot-composed sermon cannot include genuine insights based on personal spiritual experience. And without that essential element of embodied human awareness, true preaching is simply not possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208825/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>Not quite, writes an expert on Christian worship. Chatbots do not have human experience of love – and, above all, they lack a soul.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2069652023-06-08T12:29:50Z2023-06-08T12:29:50ZWhat is incorruptibility? A scholar of Catholic worship explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530195/original/file-20230605-7458-6wa3q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C15%2C5232%2C3391&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People pray over the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster at the abbey of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, near Gower, Mo., in April 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PicturesoftheWeek-NorthAmerica-PhotoGallery/d32f680364ec4c5b97171fe0ba54f042/photo?Query=sister%20lancaster&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=45&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Charlie Riedel</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Catholic tradition <a href="https://laycistercians.com/incorruptible-catholic-saints/">offers occasional examples</a> of holy men and women whose bodies, exhumed some years after death, remained completely or partially untouched by the natural process of decay. </p>
<p>Sometimes witnesses have also <a href="https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/sta23.htm">reported the scent of flowers</a> instead of the odor of decay from the open coffin; others have <a href="https://cnewa.org/magazine/a-saint-without-borders-33388/">described seeing a bright light</a> illuminating the grave itself. </p>
<p>These are examples of a rare phenomenon referred to as <a href="https://www.tektonministries.org/incorrupt-saints/#">incorruptibility</a>.</p>
<p>Clergy and laypeople sometimes argue these are special signs from God that the person should be venerated as a saint. Officially, however, <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-becomes-a-saint-in-the-catholic-church-and-is-that-changing-81011">incorruptibility is no longer considered a miracle</a>, a requirement for proclaiming someone a saint.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">specialist in Catholic liturgy and ritual</a>, I know that these occurrences have a long and complicated history. </p>
<h2>Past evidence</h2>
<p>Techniques for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12160">anointing and embalming the bodies of the dead</a> were well known in the ancient Near East and were used occasionally in Greek and Roman antiquity. However, in early medieval Europe, these techniques were rarely used until they were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0167988">rediscovered in the later Middle Ages</a> and practiced well into the Renaissance. </p>
<p>As medical knowledge expanded, these procedures became more sophisticated. Since the 18th century, church officials seriously considered other factors that <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20010610014402/http:/www.discover.com/june_01/featsaints.html">could have rendered a body more immune from decay</a>, like attempts at embalming or burial conditions supporting natural mummification. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, for many Catholics, incorruptibility was a sign of sanctity. There were also instances of partial incorruptibility, when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780195098259.003.0087">only a part of the body would remain untouched by decay</a>. These would also be preserved in a church or shrine and venerated by pilgrims. </p>
<p>Thousands of Catholics turned up to view the right arm of the 16th-century Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier, which <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/st-francis-xavier-forearm-canada-tour-1.4469974">was taken on a pilgrimage tour of Canada</a> in 2017 and 2018. This saint, who became famous for baptizing thousands of people in Asia, was buried on an island off China upon his death. His body, considered incorrupt, was later returned to Goa in India, where the <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/relics-of-st-xavier-still-a-draw/articleshow/5294078.cms">right arm was cut off</a> and sent to the Jesuits in Rome. Over time, other parts of the body were also removed for veneration in other locations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman holds the crucifix close to a sacred Catholic relic encased in glass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530197/original/file-20230605-21-7j31s5.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">Catholics venerate the forearm of Saint Francis Xavier in Toronto in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/catholics-venerate-the-forearm-of-saint-francis-xavier-a-news-photo/904488528?adppopup=true">Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, the incorrupt body of a saint is no longer considered a miracle in support of a canonization, although a report can still prompt Catholics to travel to venerate it. In April 2023, for example, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/missouri-nun-wilhemina-lancaster-exhumed-pilgrimage/">thousands of pilgrims traveled to Missouri</a> to view the body of the founder of the <a href="https://religiouslife.com/vocation/benedictines-of-mary-queen-of-apostles-gower">Benedictine sisters of Gower</a>, an independent monastic community of women following precepts set by sixth-century Italian monk <a href="https://osb.org/our-roots/saint-benedict/">St. Benedict of Nursia</a>. Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster died in 2019, but her <a href="https://apnews.com/article/missouri-catholic-nun-decomposed-wilhelmina-lancaster-50f099ca4346fd7192c78a8b5e22ae01">body and religious clothing were found to be virtually intact</a> when her coffin was opened in 2023.</p>
<h2>Why it matters today</h2>
<p>Contemporary Catholic teaching situates the phenomenon of incorruptibility in the context of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A+1-12&version=NRSVCE">Christ’s resurrection from the dead</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+1%3A9-11&version=NRSVCE">ascension into heaven</a>. </p>
<p>Elsewhere in the New Testament, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A+35-44&version=NRSVCE">St. Paul stresses this</a>, and, like most Christian churches, the Catholic Church emphasizes that the resurrection of the faithful from the dead at the end of time will be like “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2H.HTM">Christ’s own resurrection</a>.” The incorrupt bodies of some saints are <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Incorruptibles.html?id=2NlINwAACAAJ">understood to be a sign of that promise</a>. </p>
<p>Usually, the incorrupt body is taken to a nearby church soon after its discovery and displayed to the faithful, often in a glass tomb. Since these remains frequently decay naturally after exhumation, the face and other parts may be covered with wax or silicone. </p>
<p>Catholics have always viewed <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-patron-saints-and-why-do-catholics-venerate-them-148508">saints as intercessors and partners in prayer</a>, whether in gathering by their graves <a href="https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/church-teaching-on-relics.html">or venerating their relics</a>, which could include pieces of bone, hair, ashes or clothing they have left behind. Even today, pilgrims travel miles to pray by the remains of these “incorruptibles.” </p>
<p>This is understood to be an exceptional expression of what Pope Francis has called the “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2021/documents/papa-francesco_20210407_udienza-generale.html#:%7E:text=A%20saint%20is%20a%20witness,they%20have%20left%20on%20earth">mysterious solidarity in Christ</a>” between the living and the dead in expectation of eternal life to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206965/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>People are congregating in Missouri after news spread that the exhumed body of a nun had not decayed four years after her death. There is a long history to these claims.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2015702023-04-30T20:02:42Z2023-04-30T20:02:42ZAndré Dao’s brilliant debut novel explores his grandfather’s ten-year detention without trial by the Vietnamese government<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523362/original/file-20230428-18-feaoqj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3994%2C2000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>André Dao’s remarkable debut novel began as an investigation into his paternal grandfather’s ten-year detention without trial by the Vietnamese government, from 1978, three years after the war ended. </p>
<p>It turned into a full quest for the truth of his family history, which spans the two Vietnam Wars: the first, with occupying France, from 1946 to 1954 (the first Indochinese War); the second, 1954 to 1975 (the second Indochinese War, or the American War). </p>
<p>Dao was born in Australia to Vietnamese refugee parents. He’s a writer, editor and artist – and a refugee advocate who co-founded of <a href="https://behindthewire.org.au/">Behind the Wire</a>, an oral history project documenting people’s experience of immigration detention. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Anam – André Dao (Hamish Hamilton)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>His novel is not based solely on data, recorded materials and official documents: this proved impossible in dealing with repressed memory, and rendering the complexity of Dao’s family story. Instead, Anam is a work of imagination in which the narrator tries to allow all the rival voices and conflicting versions of this saga to be heard. </p>
<p>From Hanoi to Saigon, Laon to Boissy-Saint-Léger, and Melbourne to Cambridge, this richly layered novel invites the reader to join Dao in disentangling different narrative threads.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523363/original/file-20230428-113-gy0qd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523363/original/file-20230428-113-gy0qd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523363/original/file-20230428-113-gy0qd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523363/original/file-20230428-113-gy0qd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523363/original/file-20230428-113-gy0qd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523363/original/file-20230428-113-gy0qd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523363/original/file-20230428-113-gy0qd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523363/original/file-20230428-113-gy0qd6.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andre Dao’s paternal grandfather (pictured) was detained without trial for ten years by the Vietnamese government.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Forgetting and remembering</h2>
<p>Readers familiar with Vietnamese history will notice the peculiar spelling of the book’s title: Anam, with one “n”. It’s a homonym of “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Annam">Annam</a>” (Pacified South), a name imposed on Vietnam by the Chinese imperialists in the seventh century and perpetuated by the French colonialists. It refers in fact to “anamnesis”: that is, forgetting and remembering.</p>
<p>Anam is therefore not a physical place, but an imagined, mythologised “time-place”, one the narrator has created and made his own through the torturous process of writing. He connects the reader with his story, which resonates beyond the Vietnamese diaspora to touch all diasporic peoples haunted by dispossession and unbelonging. We accompany him on his journey. </p>
<p>Reflecting the missing “n” in Anam, the book intriguingly opens with two short entries, puzzlingly labelled C and D. This points not only to the missing entries A and B, but also their recovery at the end of the novel – in the form of a series of derivatives: A, B and C. </p>
<p>Visually, this evokes Anam’s central tropes of memory loss and retrieval. It highlights the novel’s painful false starts – and its completion, as the narrator attempts one last time to relate the interwoven stories of his family in three chapters, named “Michaelmas”, “<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-lent-is-the-perfect-time-to-spiritually-prepare-for-revolution-200715">Lent</a>” and “<a href="https://theconversation.com/easter-what-the-catholic-church-teaches-about-bread-and-wine-and-christs-flesh-and-blood-115521">Easter</a>”. </p>
<p>The significance of this deliberate structure is twofold. It references the three important periods in the Catholic calendar, and the three academic terms at Cambridge University, where the narrator completes his thesis on the life story of his grandparents. </p>
<p>It’s a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_abyme"><em>mise-en-abyme</em></a>, highlighting the embedding of one story within another, in an intricate weaving of voices that alternates between the narrator’s present and his family’s past. As a religious framework, it supports the narrator’s endeavour to portray his grandparents through their Catholic faith.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/model-minorities-and-murder-tracey-lien-investigates-the-vietnamese-cabramatta-of-the-1990s-189590">Model minorities and murder: Tracey Lien investigates the Vietnamese Cabramatta of the 1990s</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Generational journeys</h2>
<p>The first chapter, “Michaelmas”, refers to the celebration of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Michael_in_the_Catholic_Church">Saint Michael</a>, the saint of protection in time of peril. It’s presented as an investigation that aims to piece together the grandfather’s perilous journey – from his commitment to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viet_Minh">Viet Minh</a> cause (the Communist national independence coalition) in the 1940s, during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Indochina_War">first Indochinese war</a> with Vietnam’s French occupiers, to his fight for survival in the infamous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%AD_H%C3%B2a_Prison">Chí Hòa Prison</a> in the 1980s. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523163/original/file-20230427-681-rp85uo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523163/original/file-20230427-681-rp85uo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523163/original/file-20230427-681-rp85uo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523163/original/file-20230427-681-rp85uo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523163/original/file-20230427-681-rp85uo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523163/original/file-20230427-681-rp85uo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523163/original/file-20230427-681-rp85uo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523163/original/file-20230427-681-rp85uo.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">The narrator’s grandfather, like Dao’s, fights for survival in the infamous Chí Hòa Prison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This chapter is motivated by questions related to the grandfather’s choices: his desertion from the Viet Minh to join the (Western-backed) regime of South Vietnam, his forgiveness of his jailers, and his silence in the face of injustice. It convincingly demonstrates how, by blending facts and fiction, the narrator comes to an understanding of his grandfather’s decisions. </p>
<p>Anam inhabits the lives of real political figures such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/book-reveals-new-surprising-nuggets-about-nelson-mandelas-last-years-in-jail-145852">Nelson Mandela</a> and <a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%E1%BB%8Bnh_%C4%90%C3%ACnh_Th%E1%BA%A3o">Trịnh Đình Thảo</a>, a famous French-educated Saigonese attorney whose participation in the anti-war and peace movement in Vietnam landed him in Chí Hòa Prison numerous times. Their fight and willingness to sacrifice for their cause shed light on the narrator’s enigmatic grandfather. </p>
<p>Dao’s creation of a fictional Vietcong ghost in Chí Hòa Prison serves the same purpose. The grandfather and the ghost are on opposite sites in the Vietnam War and motivated by different ideologies, but as fellow inmates, they share the same suffering and the same fate.</p>
<p>The cover photo of the grandfather seems to suggest he’s the principal character in Anam. But the second chapter, “Lent”, focuses on the grandmother in Laon, France.</p>
<p>Her story reflects the novel’s themes of sacrifice, love and hope. A migrant mother, her life is characterised by her selfless care for her children and her faithful love for her husband, incarcerated in Vietnam. </p>
<p>Despite her willingness to talk about herself, starting with her childhood in Hanoi, her marriage and resettlement in Saigon, then her flight to France, the grandmother remains an elusive figure. The narrator feels compelled to rely on different perspectives and multiple voices to cast light on his grandmother and her life experiences. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523365/original/file-20230428-26-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523365/original/file-20230428-26-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523365/original/file-20230428-26-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523365/original/file-20230428-26-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523365/original/file-20230428-26-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523365/original/file-20230428-26-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523365/original/file-20230428-26-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523365/original/file-20230428-26-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&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 narrator’s grandmother is characterised by her selfless care for her children and faithful love for her husband, incarcerated in Vietnam. (Pictured: Andre Dao’s grandparents.).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Imaginative writing (in addition to family conversations and recorded interviews) is again an effective tool for the narrator, as he faces the complex task of telling his grandmother’s story. </p>
<p>And he repeats his use of <em>mise-en-abyme</em> by inserting a minor (fictional) novel, The Crowned Mountain, (or Montagne Couronnée – the name of Laon’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laon_Cathedral">Cathedrale Notre Dame de Laon</a>) within the novel, which captures the essence of the grandmother through the symbolic figure of the Madonna. </p>
<p>The last chapter coincides with the completion of the narrator’s academic term and his thesis. Here, his long journey into writing his family’s past comes to an end. Fittingly, “Easter” signals resurrection and new beginnings. </p>
<p>The grandfather symbolically returns to life, after his release from prison and his reunification with his family in France. And there’s renewal through future generations: in the form of two long, moving letters, labelled A and B, which the narrator addresses to his baby daughter. (These letters overlap the missing entries, A and B, at the start of the novel.) </p>
<p>With these <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-lament-for-the-lost-art-of-letter-writing-a-radical-art-form-reflecting-the-full-catastrophe-of-life-197420">letters</a>, the narrator’s daughter becomes custodian of her great-grandparents’ memories – and the full story of Anam has been told and transmitted.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wars-physical-toll-can-last-for-generations-as-it-has-for-the-children-of-the-vietnam-war-119428">War's physical toll can last for generations, as it has for the children of the Vietnam War</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A fine example of a global novel</h2>
<p>Uncompromising and honest, Anam is a brilliant book of immense scope. Dao has kept the legacy of his grandparents alive through his literary creation. He raises moral questions of doubt, complicity and guilt, while showing compassion and generosity towards all choices. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523364/original/file-20230428-22-tscp5h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523364/original/file-20230428-22-tscp5h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523364/original/file-20230428-22-tscp5h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523364/original/file-20230428-22-tscp5h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523364/original/file-20230428-22-tscp5h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523364/original/file-20230428-22-tscp5h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523364/original/file-20230428-22-tscp5h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523364/original/file-20230428-22-tscp5h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The novel’s themes are not uncommon in Vietnamese diasporic literature: separation of family into enemy camps, the trauma of war and dislocation, the difficulty of retrieving and representing memories, hope and renewal. But Dao handles these themes in an original and convincing way, appealing emotionally and intellectually to his reader. </p>
<p>Through his compelling narrative strategy, he lays bare the writing process, allowing us to take part in his experimentation with different forms and narrative styles, and transporting us across all borders: not only of geography and time, but linguistic, political and cultural boundaries. </p>
<p>Dao’s quest to include all perspectives means both Western and Eastern <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-to-start-reading-philosophy-51745">philosophy</a> and beliefs are called upon to shed light on the past. Pivotal questions of social justice and forgiveness are illuminated through the Catholic concept of God’s love and mercy, but also through the Vietnamese concept of “phúc đức”, in which the forebear’s moral conduct is passed on as a legacy of blessings from one generation to the next. </p>
<p>In terms of thematic, linguistic, and cultural scope, Anam is a fine example of what a global novel should be like. It beautifully connects East and West; Europe and Australasia; Oceania and the Middle East. It is an insightful addition to a series of acclaimed books on memory, war, and migration by Anglophone writers of Vietnamese origin – such as Nam Lê’s <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-boat-9780143009610">The Boat</a>, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674979840">Nothing Ever Dies</a>, or GB Tran’s <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/vietnamerica-9780345508720">Vietnamerica</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-journey-with-the-boat-students-connect-over-a-common-story-8363">A journey with The Boat: students connect over a common story</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Dao gives us a privileged reading experience. Throughout the novel, he makes us feel the immensity of the task he has set himself – to ethically tell the story of Vietnam, of forgetting and remembering. And he makes us feel the full weight of his literary and family commitment to this project. </p>
<p>To use his judicious metaphor, a book on family memories is not a memorial to the past, lifeless and cold, like “a slab of black granite”. It’s a “house with many rooms” and “many windows”: each with a different angle, each looking out on a different memory, each perspective equally valid. </p>
<p>Anam encourages us to reflect on the ethics of forgetting and remembering. And it inspires us to think of a way to create our own houses, from which to tell the stories of our past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201570/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tess Do 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>André Dao has kept the legacy of his grandparents alive in Anam, a brilliant novel of immense scope that became a full quest for the truth of his family history, which spans the two Vietnam Wars.Tess Do, Lecturer in French Studies, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2044202023-04-25T10:52:00Z2023-04-25T10:52:00ZThe 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 UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2032292023-04-06T19:32:12Z2023-04-06T19:32:12ZThe Vatican just renounced a 500-year-old doctrine that justified colonial land theft … Now what? — Podcast<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/a51538ad-52c3-4f39-b060-550a73ea8017?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>Last week, the Vatican finally <a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-indigenous-papal-bulls-pope-francis-062e39ce5f7594a81bb80d0417b3f902">distanced itself from the Doctrine of Discovery</a> — a hundreds of years old decree that justified land theft and enslavement of people who were not Christian. </p>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/the-vatican-just-renounced-a-500-year-old-doctrine-that-justified-colonial-land-theft-now-what">In this episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>, political and Indigenous studies scholar Veldon Coburn explains why the Vatican’s repudiation of the Doctrine is a huge symbolic victory. We also examine what this repudiation may mean for members of Indigenous Nations, what prompted this renouncement, and what still needs to happen.</p>
<p>Coburn said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“For an Indigenous person like myself, it’s profound because after four, five hundred years, since the first Papal Bull was issued, I didn’t think I’d see it. Even though it may not have great material influence over my relationship with the colonial state, I do know that it’s very difficult to get the church to change positions on things because, I mean, you had to twist their arm for a long time to get them to see that the sun was at the centre of the solar system and not the Earth.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Moral justifications for settler colonialism</h2>
<p>Coburn explained how the Doctrine became the ideological justification for settler colonialism and enslavement in the Americas, Africa and much of the former colonies as well as the basis of a legal framework that continues to operate and support land dispossession today. </p>
<p>For example, Coburn brings up a 2005 court case involving the Oneida Nation. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I know people cherished Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but she wrote the decision for the courts in 2005… It was kind of a cruel decision too. It’s like, we stole your land. We get it. You’re not getting it back. And then she explicitly cites the Doctrine of Discovery [denying] Indigenous title to the Oneida Nation in New York State.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We also get into the difference between western ideas about land and Indigenous Knowledge. And how ownership and commodification were central to this decree.</p>
<p>Coburn explained how the original decree declared Indigenous territories ready to be claimed because, under western Christian philosophies, land was to be used to generate profit. Coburn said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“They viewed our ‘non-usage’ of the whole territory as wasting God’s gifts. So these were to be exploited … in market exchange for the creation of wealth.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A protest sign is held up. It says: Rescind the Doctrine of Discovery (sic)." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519874/original/file-20230406-28-jfzc31.jpeg?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">A protester holds a sign as Pope Francis takes part in a public event in Iqaluit, Nunavut, July 29, 2022, during his papal visit across Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The legacy of the Doctrine</h2>
<p>While the Church’s role in land theft was quickly taken up by new political entities, the lingering effects of the Doctrine are still evident in current legislative practices. </p>
<p>Christian and European supremacist ideas are evident in the decree: Indigenous Peoples and their existence on land was not sufficient evidence of proper governance. These ideas continue to function as a rationale for ongoing colonial practices. </p>
<h2>A welcome symbolic gesture</h2>
<p>For followers of the church, Coburn said, the Vatican’s official repudiation may work to alleviate the moral stain of colonial plunder. It may also serve as an admittance of culpability. </p>
<p>Mostly, Coburn suggests, the repudiation is a symbolic gesture offered alongside many others. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“…as we’ve seen with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau … the symbolic has moved ahead quite quickly [while] the material aspects of our lived existence still linger in a state that’s more resembling of the worst times of colonial assertions of sovereignty over it. So it really hasn’t changed. They’re still holding onto our land and saying, well, we said we’re sorry. What more can we do? There’s a lot more… the rightful return, restorative justice means: land back.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Read more</h2>
<p><a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/capitalism-and-dispossession"><em>Capitalism and Dispossession</em> by Veldon Coburn</a></p>
<p><a href="https://humanrights.ca/story/doctrine-discovery">What is the Doctrine of Discovery?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.afn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/18-01-22-Dismantling-the-Doctrine-of-Discovery-EN.pdf">Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery</a>:
Recommendations from the Assembly of First Nations on how to dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery</p>
<p><a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/capitalism-and-dispossession"><em>Corporate Canada at Home and Abroad</em> (May 2022) (edited by David P. Thomas and Veldon Coburn)</a>: “This edited collection brings together a broad range of case studies to highlight the role of Canadian corporations in producing, deepening and exacerbating conditions of dispossession both at home and abroad.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/30/1167056438/vatican-doctrine-of-discovery-colonialism-indigenous?tpcc=nlraceahead">The Vatican repudiates ‘Doctrine of Discovery,’ which was used to justify colonialism</a>:
“The ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ that was used to justify snuffing out Indigenous people’s culture and livelihoods is not part of the Catholic faith.”</p>
<p><a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/rcmp-arrests-wetsuweten-gidimten-camp/">RCMP arrest five land defenders on Wet’suwet’en territory as Coastal GasLink construction continues</a>: Dinï ze’ (Hereditary Chief) Gisday’wa says: “There’s no such thing as Crown land in Canada … It belongs to us, the Natives.” In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the Wet’suwet’en never gave up their Rights and Title to the territory in a landmark case called Delgamuukw-Gisdaywa.</p>
<h2>Listen and Follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203229/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Vatican has repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, a 500-year-old decree used to justify settler colonialism. Scholar Veldon Coburn explains this symbolic victory and what still needs to happen.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientBoké Saisi, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2028732023-03-31T11:41:33Z2023-03-31T11:41:33ZThe Pope Francis puffer coat was fake – here’s a history of real papal fashion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518162/original/file-20230329-24-yl530w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1748%2C1153&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The AI-generated images of Pope Francis that fooled much of the internet. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/midjourney/comments/120vhdc/the_pope_drip/">Created by Midjourney</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before news of his <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-65125655">hospitalisation for a respiratory infection</a> this week, a fake image of Pope Francis wearing a <a href="https://time.com/6266606/how-to-spot-deepfake-pope/">Balenciaga-style</a> white puffer jacket was <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/midjourney/comments/120vhdc/the_pope_drip/">posted to Reddit</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/singareddynm/status/1639655045875507201?s=20">Twitter</a>. The image – created through AI programme <a href="https://www.midjourney.com/home/?callbackUrl=%2Fapp%2F">Midjourney</a> – had many viewers fooled into believing that the head of the Catholic church had dramatically updated his style.</p>
<p>As an art historian and an ecclesiastical historian, the image has fascinated me, not least in thinking about the rich history of papal fashion.</p>
<p>First of all, it caught my eye because it looks like shot silk (fabric made of silk woven from two or more colours producing an iridescent appearance). Intentionally or not, it’s a nice nod to the <a href="https://aleteia.org/2019/08/28/why-does-pope-francis-wear-a-sash/"><em>fascia</em></a>, a sash worn by clerics over their cassocks.</p>
<p>This detail hints at the way papal dress and indeed the attire of many people in formal positions works. It not usually just about the shape and colour, but also the quality or materials used. </p>
<p>Being the pope is a bit like dressing for a wedding every day: even as a guest you wouldn’t turn up in your denims. You honour your hosts by wearing the best you possibly can.</p>
<h2>The palette of the Pope</h2>
<p>In the 21st century, popes have increasingly worn only white, now generally identified as the papal colour. But red is also a pope hue of choice – for example, John Paul II (1920-2005) usually wore white, but he also wore <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Colorization/comments/nbfhyj/pope_john_paul_ii_by_yousuf_karsh_in_1979/">red capes and cloaks</a>.</p>
<p>Benedict XVI (1927-2022) brought back the <em>camauro</em> – <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2013-feb-17-la-oe-allen-pope-fashion-20130217-story.html">nicknamed the “Santa hat”</a> – which is a red silk and velvet cap trimmed with ermine reserved for the pope’s use. The <em>camauro</em> goes back to at least the 12th century when it was related more closely to philosophers and teachers and the hat they wore, known as a <em>pileus</em>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518229/original/file-20230329-1469-5kepao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting of Pope Gregory the Great writing at a desk wearing a shiny red cape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518229/original/file-20230329-1469-5kepao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518229/original/file-20230329-1469-5kepao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518229/original/file-20230329-1469-5kepao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518229/original/file-20230329-1469-5kepao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518229/original/file-20230329-1469-5kepao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518229/original/file-20230329-1469-5kepao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518229/original/file-20230329-1469-5kepao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&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 Gregory the Great (c. 540–604), in a painting by Carlo Saraceni (c. 1610).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gregorythegreat.jpg">National Gallery of Ancient Art, Rome</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Historically, portraits of senators, lawyers and academics often show them wearing red which is used to communicate a message of “official”. </p>
<p>Cardinals, the most senior clerics in the Roman Catholic Church next to the pope, wear red precisely because it is a papal colour and their power (or more accurately, influence) derives entirely from the pope.</p>
<p>Pope Paul II (1417-1471) tried to ensure quality over quantity when, amid shortages, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/17934885/ONCE_UPON_A_TIME_THE_KERMES">he officially reserved</a> the very best red dye for himself and his cardinals.</p>
<p>As a result of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, trade from the eastern Mediterranean was disrupted. This meant that the supply of red dye kermes – which derives from the galls produced by parasitic wasps on oak trees indigenous to the Mediterranean basin and eastern Continent – was severely curtailed.</p>
<p>It was not until the middle of the 16th century that <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/cochineal">cochineal</a> – which comes from parasitic insects on prickly pear cactuses – became available in Europe because of Spanish and Portuguese expansion into South America. </p>
<p>Whatever the dye, papal quality is also communicated by fabrics which hold unparalleled depths of hue: silk, not cotton or linen, alpaca not ordinary wool.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518230/original/file-20230329-22-h8xtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Portrait of John Paul II wearing a red cape and holding a wooden crucifix." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518230/original/file-20230329-22-h8xtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518230/original/file-20230329-22-h8xtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518230/original/file-20230329-22-h8xtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518230/original/file-20230329-22-h8xtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518230/original/file-20230329-22-h8xtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=972&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518230/original/file-20230329-22-h8xtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=972&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518230/original/file-20230329-22-h8xtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=972&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of John Paul II wearing a red cape, by Guido Greganti (1983).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rome-italy-august-28-2021-portrait-2060097083">Renata Sedmakova/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Historians know from <a href="https://archive.org/details/RationaleDivinorumOfficiorumDurandoEBeletho/page/n7/mode/2up">13th century sources</a> that popes have always worn white next to their skin (though from at least the 15th century <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-and-off-the-avenue/where-the-pope-gets-his-socks">their socks have been red</a>). </p>
<p>White represents Christlike purity, innocence and charity, while red symbolises compassion and the pope’s willingness to sacrifice himself for his people.</p>
<p>In ancient Rome, red was the colour of imperial power whereas white was associated specifically with the city. So, the papal colours represent the pope’s universal significance as head of the Catholic church as well as his local position as Bishop of Rome.</p>
<p>Popes can also wear blue – <a href="https://archive.org/details/diuominiillu00vesp/page/30/mode/2up">Pope Nicholas V</a> (1997-1455) particularly liked this colour. John Paul II, on one of his famous hiking trips, wore his white cassock <a href="https://www.monacosporthotel.com/en/activities/itineraries/the-hiking-trails-of-pope-john-paul-ii-_63c20.html">under a padded blue jacket</a>.</p>
<p>For papal fashion purposes, blue can stand in for red. In penitential seasons (<a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/42900/what-is-advent-anyway-a-cna-explainer">Advent</a> and <a href="https://christianity.org.uk/article/what-is-lent">Lent</a>) or during periods of mourning, bright colours are not appropriate. But dip your bright red silks in a final dye bath of indigo and you get peacock (<em><a href="https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004415447/BP000041.xml">pavonazzo</a></em>) which has the iridescence of the bird’s feathers.</p>
<p>Someone with the social conscience of Pope Francis I probably doesn’t give two hoots about what he wears. But as a Jesuit – one of the most highly educated, intellectual and thoughtful of all the groups in the Roman Catholic Church – he would understand the values of continuity and devotion communicated by both what he wears and how he wears it.</p>
<p>I would like to imagine, as he recovers from his respiratory infection, that he would be cheered up by high-tech mashups, such as this image of himself in a puffer coat – so long as they play within the rules of such a dignified man in such a venerable office.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol Richardson receives funding from British Academy/Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>Popes wear white to represent Christlike purity and red to symbolise compassion.Carol Richardson, Professor of Early Modern Art History, History of Art, The University of EdinburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2003612023-03-05T14:23:59Z2023-03-05T14:23:59ZWho is Joseph Kony? The altar boy who became Africa’s most wanted man<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512165/original/file-20230224-649-j2ktnx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joseph Kony speaks to journalists in southern Sudan in November 2006. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stuart Price/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/who-is-joseph-kony-the-altar-boy-who-became-africas-most-wanted-man-200361&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>Eleven years ago, a documentary catapulted the name Joseph Kony onto the global stage. The <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/03/08/148235430/while-controversial-kony-2012-has-put-focus-on-atrocities">controversial film Kony 2012</a> told the story of a Ugandan warlord whose forces are <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2013/05/20/konys-lra-has-killed-more-than-100000-un/">believed by the United Nations</a> to be responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 people, the abduction of at least 20,000 children and the displacement of more than two million people.</p>
<p>Though most of the world hadn’t heard of Kony before then, Ugandans knew and feared him. The founder of the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/topic/international-justice/joseph-kony-lra">Lord’s Resistance Army</a> unleashed a wave of violence across northern Uganda for two decades. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/uganda/kony">In 2005</a>, the International Criminal Court brought charges of crimes against humanity against Kony and four of his top commanders. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hunt-may-be-off-but-a-5-million-pledge-might-bring-kony-to-justice-13234">In 2013</a> and <a href="https://cf.usembassy.gov/united-states-announces-5-million-reward-for-joseph-kony/">2021</a>, the US announced a US$5 million bounty for information leading to Kony’s capture. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/icc-upholds-jail-term-for-ugandan-rebel-commander-ongwen-why-it-matters-for-africa-196349">ICC upholds jail term for Ugandan rebel commander Ongwen - why it matters for Africa</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>He remains at large. </p>
<p>Now the International Criminal Court wants to <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-prosecutor-international-criminal-court-karim-aa-khan-kc-request-hold-hearing">confirm the charges</a> against Kony in his absence. The hope is that this will renew international efforts to find Africa’s most wanted fugitive. </p>
<p>So, who is Joseph Kony?</p>
<h2>His early life</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Kony">Joseph Rao Kony</a> was born in 1961 in Odek sub-county in northern Uganda. He was one of six children in the Acholi middle-class family of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Nile-Hunt-Africas-Wanted/dp/1846270316#:%7E:text=See%20more-,%22Wizard%20of%20the%20Nile%22%20or%20the%20hunt%20for%20Joseph%20Kony,and%20political%20instability%20in%20general">Luizi Obol and Nora Oting</a>. </p>
<p>Kony’s parents were farmers. His father was a Catholic, his mother an Anglican. Kony was an <a href="https://archive.org/details/innocentslostwhe0000brig">altar boy until 1976</a>. He dropped out of school at age 15 to become a traditional healer. </p>
<p>In 1987, aged 26, Kony founded the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/the-lords-resistance-army-violence-in-the-name-of-god/a-18136620">Lord’s Resistance Army</a>, a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/heterodox#:%7E:text=%2F%CB%88h%C9%9Bt%C9%99r%C9%99%CB%8Cd%C9%91%CB%90ks%2F-,adjective,established%20beliefs%20or%20standards%20%3A%20unorthodox">heterodox</a> Christian fundamentalist organisation that operated in northern Uganda until 2006. </p>
<h2>Altar boy turned rebel leader</h2>
<p>Kony rose to prominence after taking over the <a href="https://observer.ug/news-headlines/14665-the-roots-of-war-how-alice-lakwena-gave-way-to-joseph-kony">Holy Spirit Movement</a>, a rebel group led by Alice Lakwena, his aunt, to topple the Ugandan government. </p>
<p>The Holy Spirit Movement was formed after Ugandan president <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/10/world/gen-tito-okello-ex-ugandan-leader-82.html">Tito Okello</a>, an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Acholi">Acholi</a>, was overthrown by the National Resistance Army – led by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yoweri--Museveni">Yoweri Museveni</a> – in January 1986. The Acholis largely occupy northern Uganda. </p>
<p>Museveni’s National Resistance Army was a rebel outfit that later metamorphosed into the <a href="https://www.updf.go.ug/">Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces</a>. Today it’s the national army. </p>
<p>When it came to power, the National Resistance Army appeared to <a href="https://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=topic&tocid=463af2212&toid=469f2f892&publisher=&type=&coi=BDI&docid=3ae6ad345c&skip=0">deliberately target</a> the Acholi population in the north. Villagers were violently attacked by army troops and subjected to food shortages. Houses were burnt down, leading to forced displacements. The scale of these attacks was never documented or substantiated.</p>
<p>Kony joined the Holy Spirit Movement to fight for the <a href="https://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=topic&tocid=463af2212&toid=469f2f892&publisher=&type=&coi=BDI&docid=3ae6ad345c&skip=0">rights of the Acholi</a>. By 1987, however, army troops had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/world/africa/19lakwena.html">crushed the movement</a> – Lakwena escaped into Kenya where she died in a refugee camp in 2007.</p>
<p>Kony established the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lords-Resistance-Army">Lord’s Resistance Army</a> and proclaimed himself his people’s prophet. He soon turned against his supporters, supposedly in an effort to “purify” the Acholi and turn <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-deadly-cult-of-joseph-kony-1001084.html">Uganda into a theocracy</a>. </p>
<p>The rebel group carried out <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/northern-uganda-understanding-and-solving-conflict">indiscriminate killings</a>. It <a href="https://invisiblechildren.com/challenge/kony/">forcibly recruited</a> boys as soldiers and girls as sex slaves.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-one-of-2016s-best-books-a-former-lords-resistance-army-child-soldier-reveals-the-reason-behind-the-mayhem-70027">In one of 2016's best books, a former Lord's Resistance Army child soldier reveals the reason behind the mayhem</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Ideologically, the group espoused a mix of mysticism, Acholi nationalism and Christian fundamentalism. It claimed to be establishing a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article-abstract/98/390/5/32908?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false">theocratic state</a> based on the biblical <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2020&version=NIV">10 commandments</a> and Acholi tradition.</p>
<p>Kony proclaimed himself the spokesperson of God. He claimed to have been visited by a multinational host of 13 spirits, including a Chinese phantom.</p>
<h2>Kony’s military offensive</h2>
<p>Kony and his rebel outfit committed a string of atrocities against civilians. The group waged war for more than two decades within Uganda – and later in the politically unstable neighbouring countries of Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic – in an effort to topple Museveni. The actual number of militia members varied over this period, hitting a high of 3,000 soldiers in the early 2000s. </p>
<iframe title="" aria-label="Locator maps" id="datawrapper-chart-dAyjw" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/dAyjw/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="650" data-external="1" width="100%"></iframe>
<p>After the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks">11 September 2001</a> terror attacks in the US, the American government designated the Lord’s Resistance Army <a href="https://irp.fas.org/world/para/dos120601.html">a terrorist group</a>. </p>
<p>In 2005, the International Criminal Court <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/warrant-arrest-unsealed-against-five-lra-commanders">issued arrest warrants</a> for top commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army for crimes against humanity. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2008/08/29/E8-20164/in-the-matter-of-the-designation-of-joseph-kony-as-a-specially-designated-global-terrorist-pursuant">August 2008</a>, the US declared Kony a global terrorist, a designation that carries financial and other penalties. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ugandan-rebel-joseph-kony-the-latest-us-arrest-bid-raises-questions-177578">Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony: the latest US arrest bid raises questions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Lord’s Resistance Army was eventually forced out of Uganda following the failed <a href="https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PB-Uganda-Lord.PDF">Juba peace talks</a> of 2006-2008 between the group’s leadership and the Ugandan government. The talks were mediated by the government of southern Sudan. </p>
<p>Kony and his militia <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jul/30/jeevanvasagar">went into hiding</a> in the DRC. <a href="https://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17456">In December 2008</a>, Uganda, DRC and Sudan launched an offensive dubbed <a href="https://www.independent.co.ug/revisiting-operation-lightning-thunder/">Operation Lightning Thunder</a> to track them down. </p>
<p>Kony’s rebel group attacked Congolese civilians suspected of supporting the operation. Villagers were raped, their limbs mutilated and <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2009-01-29-un-more-than-100-killed-in-massacre-by-ugandan-rebels/">hundreds killed</a>. The group <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/world/africa/07congo.html?pagewanted=all">eventually splintered</a> to evade capture, with most members escaping into the Central African Republic.</p>
<p>Uganda called off the operation in March 2009, saying the Lord’s Resistance Army was at its <a href="https://www.independent.co.ug/revisiting-operation-lightning-thunder/">weakest point ever</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-25036874">November 2013</a>, Central African Republic officials reported that Kony was ready to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/kony-2013-us-quietly-intensifies-effort-to-help-african-troops-capture-infamous-warlord/2013/10/28/74db9720-3cb3-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_story.html">negotiate his surrender</a>. He was reported to be in poor health in Nzoka, a town in the country’s eastern region. He never showed up.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/07/surrender-aide-joseph-kony-blow-lords-resistance-army">By 2017</a>, the rebel group’s membership had shrunk to an estimated 100 soldiers. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/world/africa/uganda-joseph-kony-lra.html">In April</a> that year, the US and Ugandan governments ended efforts to find Kony. They stated he no longer posed a significant security risk to Uganda. But he is still wanted by the International Criminal Court. </p>
<h2>Kony today</h2>
<p>Some of the fighters from the Lord’s Resistance Army took advantage of <a href="https://www.ulrc.go.ug/system/files_force/ulrc_resources/amnesty-act.pdf?download=1">Uganda’s 2000 amnesty programme</a>, which offered blanket immunity to any rebel who had taken up arms against the government since 1986. </p>
<p>Kony’s exact location, however, remains unknown. He’s thought to be hiding in <a href="https://observer.ug/news/headlines/52475-why-updf-abandoned-hunt-for-kony-in-car.html">the vast jungles</a> of the Central African Republic or in <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/is-lra-rebel-leader-joseph-kony-hiding-in-darfur/a-61478125">Sudan</a>.</p>
<p>While attempts to bring Kony to justice continue, post-conflict northern Uganda is on the <a href="https://odi.org/en/publications/the-mental-landscape-of-post-conflict-life-in-northern-uganda/">slow path</a> to economic and social recovery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200361/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>The Ugandan militant remains on the run despite a US$5 million bounty on his head for war crimes committed between 1987 and 2006.Dennis Jjuuko, Doctoral Candidate, UMass BostonTonny Raymond Kirabira, Teaching Fellow, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994242023-02-09T09:05:11Z2023-02-09T09:05:11ZWhat does the Bible say about homosexuality? For starters, Jesus wasn’t a homophobe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508641/original/file-20230207-21-ed2xy3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pope Francis was recently asked about his views on homosexuality. He <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-francis-says-laws-criminalising-lgbt-people-are-sin-an-injustice-2023-02-05/">reportedly replied</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This (laws around the world criminalising LGBTI people) is not right. Persons with homosexual tendencies are children of God. God loves them. God accompanies them … condemning a person like this is a sin. Criminalising people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This isn’t the first time Pope Francis has shown himself to be a <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html">progressive leader</a> when it comes to, among other things, gay Catholics. </p>
<p>It’s a stance that has <a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-visit-to-africa-comes-at-a-defining-moment-for-the-catholic-church-197633">drawn the ire</a> of some high-ranking bishops and ordinary Catholics, both on the African continent and elsewhere in the world.</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>Some of these Catholics may argue that Pope Francis’s approach to LGBTI matters is a misinterpretation of Scripture (or the Bible). But is it? </p>
<p>Scripture is particularly important for Christians. When church leaders refer to “the Bible” or “the Scriptures”, they usually mean “the Bible as we understand it through our theological doctrines”. The Bible is always interpreted by our churches through their particular theological lenses. </p>
<p>As a biblical scholar, I would suggest that church leaders who use their cultures and theology to exclude homosexuals don’t read Scripture carefully. Instead, they allow their patriarchal fears to distort it, seeking to find in the Bible proof-texts that will support attitudes of exclusion. </p>
<p>There are several instances in the Bible that underscore my point.</p>
<h2>Love of God and neighbour</h2>
<p>Mark’s Gospel, found in the New Testament, records that Jesus entered the Jerusalem temple on three occasions. First, he visited briefly, and “looked around at everything” (<a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/mrk.11.11">11:11</a>). </p>
<p>On the second visit he acted, driving “out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves” (<a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/mrk.11.15">11:15</a>). Jesus specifically targeted those who exploited the poorest of the people coming to the temple. </p>
<p>On his third visit, Jesus spent considerable time in the temple itself (<a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/MRK.11.NIV">11:27-13:2</a>). He met the full array of temple leadership, including chief priests, teachers of the law and elders. Each of these leadership sectors used their interpretation of Scripture to exclude rather than to include. </p>
<p>The “ordinary people” (<a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/mrk.11.32">11:32</a> and <a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/mrk.12.12">12:12</a>) recognised that Jesus proclaimed a gospel of inclusion. They eagerly embraced him as he walked through the temple. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.bible.com/bible/100/MRK.12.24.NASB1995">Mark 12:24</a>, Jesus addresses the Sadducees, who were the traditional high priests of ancient Israel and played an important role in the temple. Among those who confronted Jesus, they represented the group that held to a conservative theological position and used their interpretation of the Scripture to exclude. Jesus said to them:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Jesus recognised that they chose to interpret Scripture in a way that prevented it from being understood in non-traditional ways. Thus they limited God’s power to be different from traditional understandings of him. Jesus was saying God refused to be the exclusive property of the Sadducees. The ordinary people who followed Jesus understood that he represented a different understanding of God.</p>
<p>This message of inclusion becomes even clearer when Jesus is later confronted by a single scribe (<a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/100/mrk.12.28">12:28</a>). In answer to the scribe’s question on the most important laws, Jesus summarised the theological ethic of his gospel: love of God and love of neighbour (<a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/MRK.12.NIV">12:29-31</a>).</p>
<h2>Inclusion, not exclusion</h2>
<p>Those who would exclude homosexuals from God’s kingdom choose to ignore Jesus, turning instead to the Old Testament – most particularly to <a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/GEN.19.NIV">Genesis 19</a>, the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their interpretation of the story is that it is about homosexuality. It isn’t. It relates to hospitality.</p>
<p>The story begins in <a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/GEN.18.NIV">Genesis 18</a> when three visitors (God and two angels, appearing as “men”) came before <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham">Abraham</a>, a Hebrew patriarch. What did Abraham and his wife Sarah do? They offered hospitality. </p>
<p>The two angels then left Abraham and the Lord and travelled into <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019%3A1-29&version=NIV">Sodom (19:1)</a> where they met Lot, Abraham’s nephew. What did Lot do? He offered hospitality. The two incidents of hospitality are explained in exactly the same language. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019%3A1-29&version=NIV">“men of Sodom” (19:4)</a>, as the Bible describes them, didn’t offer the same hospitality to these angels in disguise. Instead they sought to humiliate them (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019%3A1-29&version=NIV">and Lot (19:9)</a>) by threatening to rape them. We know they were heterosexual because Lot, in attempting to protect himself and his guests, offered his virgin daughters to them <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019%3A1-29&version=NIV">(19:8)</a>. </p>
<p>Heterosexual rape of men by men is a common act of humiliation. This is an extreme form of inhospitality. The story contrasts extreme hospitality (Abraham and Lot) with the extreme inhospitality of the men of Sodom. It is a story of inclusion, not exclusion. Abraham and Lot included the strangers; the men of Sodom excluded them.</p>
<h2>Clothed in Christ</h2>
<p>When confronted by the inclusive gospel of Jesus and a careful reading of the story of Sodom as one about hospitality, those who disavow Pope Francis’s approach will likely jump to other Scriptures. Why? Because they have a patriarchal agenda and are looking for any Scripture that might support their position.</p>
<p>But the other Scriptures they use also require careful reading. <a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/lev.18.22">Leviticus 18:22</a> and <a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/lev.20.13">20:13</a>, for example, are not about “homosexuality” as we now understand it – as the caring, loving and sexual relationship between people of the same sex. These texts are about relationships that cross boundaries of purity (between clean and unclean) and ethnicity (Israelite and Canaanite). </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%203%3A28&version=NRSVUE">Galatians 3:28</a> in the New Testament, Paul the apostle yearns for a Christian community where:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Paul built his theological argument on the Jew-Greek distinction, but then extended it to the slave-free distinction and the male-female distinction. Christians – no matter which church they belong to – should follow Paul and extend it to the heterosexual-homosexual distinction. </p>
<p>We are all “clothed in Christ” (<a href="https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/gal.3.27">3:27</a>): God only sees Christ, not our different sexualities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gerald West 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>Those who exclude any groups of people from God’s kingdom choose to ignore the teaching of Jesus.Gerald West, Senior Professor of Biblical Studies, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1986552023-02-07T13:35:05Z2023-02-07T13:35:05ZMany Ukrainians are fleeing to the Greek Catholic Church in Lviv, which has a long and complex history in the Orthodox faith<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508438/original/file-20230206-23-vim98d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=62%2C0%2C8198%2C5506&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests celebrating Sunday Mass in Lviv, in western Ukraine.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/RussiaUkraineWar/4f665e91443f4c4da90c53cc66cee035/photo?Query=Ukrainian%20Greek%20Catholic%20Church%20lviv&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=6&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Bernat Armangue</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/topic/russias-invasion-of-ukraine/">Russia invaded Ukraine</a>, millions of refugees have fled westward to escape the fighting. Many have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/21/ukraine-lviv-western-infrastructure-refugees/">sought shelter</a> in Ukraine’s westernmost city, Lviv, a historic center of the <a href="https://ugcc.ua/en/church/about/">Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church</a>, which has been providing essential services with the help of <a href="https://www.caritas.eu/caritas-ukraine/">international Catholic charity networks</a>. A major center of Greek Catholic life, the Archdiocese of Lviv has <a href="https://ugcc.lviv.ua/arhyyeparhiya/">306 parishes, over 400 priests</a>, a <a href="https://ugcc.lviv.ua/seminariya/">seminary</a> and a <a href="https://ucu.edu.ua/en/">university</a>.</p>
<p>Since its creation in the 16th century, this church has been an important cultural and intellectual resource for Ukrainian identity. Most <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/14/split-between-ukrainian-russian-churches-shows-political-importance-of-orthodox-christianity/">Ukrainians regard themselves as Orthodox</a>, not Catholic. But with anywhere from <a href="https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/sites/default/files/documents/eastcatholic-stat17.pdf">4.5 million</a> to <a href="https://ugcc.ua/en/church/history/the-church-today/">6.5 million members</a>, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the third-largest church in Ukraine, representing about 10% to 15% of the Ukrainian population.</p>
<p>Despite its relatively small size, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has, in the words of historian <a href="https://as.vanderbilt.edu/german-russian-studies/bio/kathryn-david/">Kathryn David</a>, “<a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/breach?utm_source=Main+Reader+List&utm_campaign=4a791df1e1">played an outsized role … in the creation of the Ukrainian nation</a>.”</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://search.asu.edu/profile/185">professor of religious studies</a> who has spent three decades exploring the social and political role of religion in Eastern Europe, I am fascinated by the growing influence of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine.</p>
<h2>A Catholic Church in an Orthodox country</h2>
<p>As its name suggests, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has a complex heritage. It is a Ukrainian church consisting of Ukrainian parishioners and headquartered in the <a href="https://museum.khpg.org/1163977854">Ukrainian capital of Kyiv</a>. </p>
<p>The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is also Catholic. It recognizes the authority of the pope as the legitimate leader of all Christians. The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, currently <a href="https://ugcc.ua/en/head/biography/">Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk</a>, is elected by a council of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church bishops and confirmed by the pope. Catholic devotion to the Virgin Mary has also played an important role in Ukrainian Greek Catholic spiritual life, as anthropologists <a href="https://www.eth.mpg.de/3334112/book_071">Vlad Neamescu</a> and <a href="https://ceupress.com/book/negotiating-marian-apparitions-0">Agnieszka Halemba</a> have shown. </p>
<p>At the same time, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is Greek – which refers not to Greek ethnicity or language, but to the Greek Orthodox faith inherited from the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire.</p>
<p>Ukrainian Greek Catholics follow the customs, laws and liturgy <a href="https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/ukraine-ukrainian-greek-catholic-liturgy-envisions-heaven-earth">derived from the Orthodox Church</a>. Notably, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/world/europe/23ukraine.html">Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish priests are married and have families</a>, unlike most Catholic priests.</p>
<h2>History of the church</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508440/original/file-20230206-21-feegr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An Orthodox Church building with ornate domes set against a backdrop of blue sky and white clouds." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508440/original/file-20230206-21-feegr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508440/original/file-20230206-21-feegr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508440/original/file-20230206-21-feegr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508440/original/file-20230206-21-feegr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508440/original/file-20230206-21-feegr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508440/original/file-20230206-21-feegr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508440/original/file-20230206-21-feegr.jpeg?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">Cathedral of Saint George in Lviv, which is part of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sobor_Sv_Yura_Lviv.JPG">Fed4ev via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church traces its origins back to the baptism of Grand Prince <a href="http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CV%5CO%5CVolodymyrtheGreat.htm">Volodymyr of Kyiv</a> in the 10th century. Missionaries from the Byzantine Empire brought <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25776328">the Christian faith to Kyiv</a> at a time when the Orthodox churches of the East and Roman Catholics in the West were still in communion with one another.</p>
<p>Just a few decades after Volodymyr’s conversion, however, the Orthodox and Catholic churches split in what historians have called the <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/great-schism">Great Schism</a>. The two churches separated over ritual and political questions, including <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zk8bcj6/revision/6#:%7E:text=The%20Pope%20is%20the%20leader,why%20they%20accept%20his%20authority.">the authority of the pope</a>. <a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=4319">Catholics</a> insisted that the pope had authority over the entire world. By contrast, <a href="http://ww1.antiochian.org/node/17076">Orthodox Christians</a> considered him to have direct authority over only his own diocese of Rome.</p>
<p>At the time of the split, most Christians living on the territory of present-day Ukraine sided with the Orthodox Church. But by the end of the 16th century, the Catholic rulers of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Poland/The-Commonwealth">Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth</a> controlled this territory. Fearful that they would simply be absorbed into the Roman Catholic Church, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qdf75.12">several Orthodox bishops agreed to join the Catholic Church</a> under the condition that they be allowed to keep their Orthodox divine liturgy, rites, laws and customs. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Union-of-Brest-Litovsk">Council of Brest in 1596</a> solemnized this agreement. On the one hand, the Orthodox bishops and their spiritual flock agreed to become Catholic. They recognized the pope as the <a href="https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/vicar-of-christ">vicar of Christ</a> and the true leader of all Christians. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Clement-VIII-pope">pope</a> agreed that these new converts would form a <a href="https://case.edu/ech/articles/b/byzantine-rite-catholics">special independent community within the Catholic Church</a>. They would continue to follow Orthodox Church rituals, rules and practices. They would worship in <a href="https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/ocsol">Slavonic</a>, not Latin. They would venerate icons – holy paintings of saints – rather than statues. They would observe the <a href="https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=803049">Orthodox calendar</a> of feasts and fasts rather than the calendar used in the West. And their parish priests would marry and raise families, unlike most other Catholic priests, who must remain <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_cclergy_doc_01011993_chisto_en.html">celibate</a>. In this way, the Council of Brest created what is now called the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.</p>
<h2>Taking up the Ukrainian national cause</h2>
<p>In the late 18th century, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Partitions-of-Poland">Poland ceased to exist as a nation</a>. Its <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036852">territory was completely divided</a> among its neighbors: Russia, Prussia and Austria. Russia, which took most of the area where Greek Catholics lived, suppressed the Greek Catholic Church. The Orthodox czars <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780875804071/the-western-front-of-the-eastern-church/">regarded Greek Catholics and their union with Rome as a security threat</a>. </p>
<p>By contrast, the Catholic Habsburg rulers of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036205">Austria supported and subsidized the Greek Catholics</a>. As a result, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church flourished in the Austrian-controlled province of Galicia, which is now in western Ukraine. The capital of Galicia, the city of Lemberg – <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-central-european-miracle-why-the-city-of-lviv-is-so-important-for-ukraine-179332">now known as Lviv –</a> became the most important center of Ukrainian Greek Catholic life and culture. </p>
<p>Under the leadership of <a href="http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CS%5CH%5CSheptytskyAndrei.htm">Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky</a>, who headed the church from 1901 until his death in 1944, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church became an “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Churches_In_between/L2B3ui8h0zYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=ukrainian%20national%20cause">instrument of the Ukrainian national cause</a>,” in the words of historian <a href="https://www.history.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/paul-robert-magocsi">Paul Robert Magocsi</a>. Both as a churchman and politician, Sheptytsky actively promoted Ukrainian autonomy and independence.</p>
<p>On the eve of World War II, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church had <a href="https://museum.khpg.org/1163977854">4,400 parishes, 127 monasteries and a theological academy</a>.</p>
<h2>Persecution in the Soviet Union</h2>
<p>During World War II, the officially atheist <a href="https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1939-2/soviet-territorial-annexations/">USSR annexed the territory that is now western Ukraine</a>, where most Greek Catholics lived.</p>
<p>From 1946 to 1989, Soviet authorities repressed the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which existed as an illegal underground organization in the USSR. The head of the church, <a href="http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CS%5CL%5CSlipyYosyf.htm">Josyf Slipyi</a>, spent 18 years in Soviet prison camps before being deported in 1963. </p>
<p>Only in 1989, thanks to the liberalizing reforms of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mikhail-Gorbachev">General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev</a>, did the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church emerge from the underground in the USSR and regain its legal status.</p>
<h2>Ukrainian Greek Catholics in independent Ukraine</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/Independent-Ukraine">In 1991, Ukraine declared its independence</a>. Although a minority Catholic Church in a predominantly Orthodox country, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has become an <a href="https://balticworlds.com/ukrainian-greek-catholic-church-as-an-agent-of-the-social-life-in-ukraine/">increasingly significant national institution</a>.</p>
<p>With its long history of support for <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036976">Ukrainian culture and identity</a>, its historical ties to Grand Prince Volodymyr and its links to both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, the church offers an attractive religious alternative for Ukrainians seeking to join a national church.</p>
<p>Through its humanitarian work and its international contacts, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has also provided effective responses to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/world/europe/ukraine.html">Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014</a> and its <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/2022-review-why-has-vladimir-putins-ukraine-invasion-gone-so-badly-wrong/">full-scale invasion in 2022</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://ucu.edu.ua/en/">Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv</a> has mobilized international support for <a href="https://ucu.edu.ua/en/news/suspilno-oriyentovane-navchannya-dlya-vidbudovy-ukrayiny/">its educational programs to rebuild Ukraine</a>. Ukrainian <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-11/pope-francis-sviatoslav-shevchuk-ukraine-greek-church.html">Greek Catholic contacts with Rome</a>, the <a href="https://www.comece.eu/high-level-meeting-of-eu-and-religious-leaders-comece-shares-perspectives-on-the-impacts-of-the-war-in-ukraine/">European Union</a> and <a href="https://ukrarcheparchy.us/appeals/statement-of-the-ukrainian-catholic-bishops-of-the-us-in-response-to-the-attempted-russian-annexation-of-four-regions-of-ukraine">North America</a> have facilitated its charitable work during the war.</p>
<p>In the face of <a href="https://osce.usmission.gov/the-russian-federations-ongoing-aggression-against-ukraine-39/">Russia’s persistent aggressive attacks on Ukraine</a>, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, I believe, will continue to play a vital role in caring for those who have been forced to flee from their homes because of the ongoing war.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198655/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Eugene Clay has received funding from the International Research and Exchanges Board, the Social Science Research Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Humanities Center.</span></em></p>The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has a history going back to the 16th century, when some Orthodox bishops and their followers agreed to become Catholic.J. Eugene Clay, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1976332023-01-16T13:45:14Z2023-01-16T13:45:14ZPope Francis’ visit to Africa comes at a defining moment for the Catholic church<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504210/original/file-20230112-53024-f2g4xr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis in Nairobi, Kenya, during his first papal visit to the African continent in 2015. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nichole Sobecki/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>During his <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/202212020298.html">planned visit</a> to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan in February 2023, Pope Francis intends to be in dialogue with African Catholics – but also to listen to political leaders and young Africans. </p>
<p>This visit comes at a defining moment in what is regarded as a fairly progressive papacy.</p>
<p>Pope Francis has convened a worldwide consultation on the future of the Catholic church. This consultation, called a <a href="https://www.synod.va/en/what-is-the-synod-21-24/about.html">synodal process</a>, began in 2021 and will conclude in 2024. </p>
<p>It is the most ambitious dialogue ever undertaken on bringing changes in Catholic beliefs and practices since the Second Vatican Council’s reforms in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/10/10/162573716/why-is-vatican-ii-so-important#:%7E:text=AP-,Pope%20Paul%20VI%20hands%20Orthodox%20Metropolitan%20Meliton%20of%20Heliopolis%20a,Orthodox%20churches%20nine%20centuries%20before">1965</a>. It is exciting for reform-minded Catholics, but distressing for conservative Catholics. </p>
<p>The ongoing synodal process has exposed the fault lines in modern Catholicism on the issues of women, celibacy, sexuality, marriage, clericalism and hierarchism. How Pope Francis – who marks a decade of his papacy this year – manages these increasingly divisive issues will, in my judgement, largely define his legacy. </p>
<p><a href="https://works.bepress.com/stanchuilo/">My research</a> has focused on how African Catholics can bring about a <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/as-pope-francis-visits-af_b_8633590">consensus approach</a> in managing these contested issues.</p>
<p>The big questions for me are how another papal visit to Africa at this point will address the challenges and opportunities that Africans are identifying through the synodal process – and how this plays into the state of Catholicism in Africa.</p>
<h2>The influence of African Catholicism</h2>
<p>The Catholic church is witnessing its fastest growth in Africa (recent statistics show <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/global-christianity/#:%7E:text=April%2030%2C%202022&text=Following%20recent%20trends%2C%20the%20Catholic,growth%20in%20Europe%20(0.3%25)">2.1%</a> growth between 2019 and 2020). Out of a global population of <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250362/number-of-catholics-in-asia-and-africa-continues-to-rise">1.36 billion Catholics</a>, 236 million are African (20% of the total).</p>
<p>African Catholics are not simply growing in number. They are reinventing and reinterpreting Christianity. They are infusing it with new language and spiritual vibrancy through unique ways of worshipping God. </p>
<p>Given its expansion, the Catholic church in Africa is well placed to be a central driver of social, political and spiritual life. In many settings, the church provides a community of hope where the fabric of society is weak because of war, humanitarian disasters and disease. </p>
<p>The DRC, for instance, has the highest number of Catholic health facilities in Africa at <a href="https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=cZ51EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT649&lpg=PT649&dq=the+Democratic+Republic+of+Congo+(DRC)+has+the+highest+number+of+Catholic+health+facilities+in+Africa+at+2,185&source=bl&ots=c6A8EdULGF&sig=ACfU3U0WBNUa2VbKVLfl4xQMRkmVMeaH2g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwigo7Te88P8AhV1WqQEHchBCSEQ6AF6BAgqEAM#v=onepage&q=the%20Democratic%20Republic%20of%20Congo%20(DRC)%20has%20the%20highest%20number%20of%20Catholic%20health%20facilities%20in%20Africa%20at%202%2C185&f=false">2,185</a>. It is followed by Kenya with 1,092 and Nigeria with 524 facilities. Additionally, bishops have mobilised peaceful protests against violence in the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/4/dr-congo-thousands-of-churchgoers-protest-rebel-violence">DRC</a> and <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/africa/news/2020-03/nigeria-bishops-protest-march-against-extremism.html">Nigeria</a>. </p>
<p>Another major feature of Catholicism on the continent is that it is witnessing a “youth bulge”. Central to Pope Francis’ advocacy for Africa is his appeal that churches, religious groups and governments show solidarity with young people. He calls them “the church of now”. </p>
<p>The pope expressed this most recently in <a href="https://www.aciafrica.org/news/6990/engage-your-history-keep-your-roots-intact-pope-francis-to-african-catholic-students">November 2022</a> during a synodal consultation with African youth. He denounced the exploitation of Africa by external forces and its destruction by wars, ideologies of violence and policies that rob young people of their future. </p>
<h2>Why DRC and South Sudan?</h2>
<p>Pope Francis comes to Africa as part of the synodal consultation. He takes the message of a humble and merciful church to some of the most challenging parts of Africa: the <a href="https://theconversation.com/conflict-in-the-drc-5-articles-that-explain-whats-gone-wrong-195332">DRC</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-sudan-root-causes-of-ongoing-conflict-remain-untouched-133542">South Sudan</a>. </p>
<p>These two countries illustrate the impact of neo-liberal capitalism and the effects of slavery, colonialism and imperialism. Together, they have unleashed the most destructive economic, social and political upheaval in modern African history. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/conflict-in-the-drc-5-articles-that-explain-whats-gone-wrong-195332">Conflict in the DRC: 5 articles that explain what's gone wrong</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Pope Francis is coming to listen especially to the poor, to young people and to women who have been violated in conflicts. He also hopes to address the hidden wounds of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-sex-abuse-crisis-4-essential-reads-169442">clerical sexual abuse</a> in the church.</p>
<p>Pope Francis will see how war, dictatorship and ecological disasters have denied ordinary people access to land, labour and lodging. These are the “three Ls” he <a href="https://cjd.org/2015/09/08/sacred-rights-land-lodging-and-labor/">proposes</a> as vital in giving agency to the poor. </p>
<h2>Some opposition</h2>
<p>Pope Francis will no doubt receive a warm welcome during his visit. Most African Catholics embrace his message of a poor and merciful church because it speaks to their challenges. </p>
<p>But there are many African Catholics, particularly high-ranking church leaders, who are yet to embrace this reform agenda. The previous two popes encouraged a centralising tendency, which promoted unquestioning loyalty to Rome by African bishops. As a result, these bishops resisted attempts by African theologians to modernise and Africanise Catholic beliefs and practices to meet local needs and circumstances. </p>
<p>This has led to some African bishops being uncomfortable with Pope Francis’ <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html">progressive agenda</a> on liberation theology, openness to gay Catholics, condemnation of clerical privilege and power, and inclusion of women in mainstream leadership. </p>
<p>Rather than being a strong church that looks like Africa, some of the Catholic dioceses on the continent have embraced medieval traditions – like Roman rituals and Latin – that alienate ordinary African Catholics, especially young people. </p>
<h2>Africa’s future role</h2>
<p>Pope Francis has often <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2022/november/documents/20221119-cuamm.html">spoken</a> of giving Africa a voice in the church and in the world. </p>
<p>Many African Catholics wonder how this will happen when, for the first time in more than 30 years, there is just one African holding an important executive function at the Vatican. This is Archbishop Protase Rugambwa of Tanzania, the secretary of the <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-06/dicastery-evangelization-vatican-praedicate-evangelium.html">Dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples</a>, a department at the Vatican’s central offices. </p>
<p>Many African Catholics hope that Pope Francis will announce some African appointments to the Vatican during his February 2023 visit. </p>
<p>They also are hoping he will create a pontifical commission for Africa, similar to the <a href="http://www.americalatina.va/content/americalatina/es.html">Latin American commission</a> created in 1958. This will be a significant way of giving African Catholics a voice in the church of Rome. </p>
<p>Pope Francis hasn’t fully recovered from the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/knee-problem-forces-pope-francis-cancel-july-africa-trip-2022-06-10/">health challenges</a> that led to the cancellation of the trip last July. But he is making this trip because <a href="https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2015/11/29/news/pope-opens-holy-door-today-bangui-is-the-spiritual-capital-of-the-world-1.35211106/">he believes</a> that Africa matters. </p>
<p>Through the sessions that the pope will conduct with Africans, especially young people, it’s hoped that the Catholic church in Africa can help address the causes of war and suffering in the DRC and South Sudan, and the obstacles to reforming the church in Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197633/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>African Catholics are growing in number. They are also reinventing and reinterpreting Christianity.Stan Chu Ilo, Research Professor , World Christianity and African Studies, DePaul UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1976132023-01-11T01:50:18Z2023-01-11T01:50:18ZGeorge Pell: a ‘political bruiser’ whose church legacy will be overshadowed by child abuse allegations<p>Former senior Vatican figure George Pell has died in Rome from <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-11/cardinal-george-pell-dies-vatican-aged-81/101843096">complications</a> following hip surgery. He was 81.</p>
<p>Pell, often described as a conservative Catholic, was jailed for <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/what-cardinal-george-pell-hated-most-about-his-time-in-prison/news-story/1ec0d4d2112e1d7af745189b397e1be5">13 months</a> for child sexual abuse in Australia in 2019 but maintained his innocence and was acquitted the following year.</p>
<p>Once a top official in charge of reforming the Vatican finances, and also Australia’s highest-ranked Catholic figure, Pell leaves behind a complex legacy.</p>
<p>His death will be sad for the Catholics who held him in high regard but less so for the many critics he attracted in Australia and elsewhere over the course of his career. </p>
<p>It’s hard to believe he will not be remembered most vividly for the trial in 2019 and 2020, when he was accused and then convicted of several counts of sexual abuse of children within the St Patrick’s Cathedral complex itself. His conviction was later overturned.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-george-pell-won-in-the-high-court-on-a-legal-technicality-133156">How George Pell won in the High Court on a legal technicality</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Heavily criticised</h2>
<p>Though his conviction was overturned by the High Court, there are many in Australian society who still felt Pell didn’t do enough when he was Archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney to act against abuse by priests in the dioceses he controlled.</p>
<p>He was heavily <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/pell-knew-in-1982-that-ridsdale-was-moved-to-save-church-from-scandal-20200507-p54qr9.html">criticised</a> by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. When its report was released after Pell’s conviction was quashed in 2020, it condemned him for his failures to take action against abusive priests – particularly against serial paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.</p>
<p>One thing I think Pell’s own court case highlighted is a particular absurdity about legal reporting in Australia, in that everyone outside Australia knew he had been convicted but no one in Australia could report it. </p>
<p>That’s part of his legacy; this case exposed the difficulty in legal reporting. It’s actually quite important.</p>
<h2>A political bruiser</h2>
<p>Pell was, without a doubt, the most powerful Australian ever to rise through the ranks of the Catholic church. He put Australia on the map in the Vatican in a way it had not been at any other time in history.</p>
<p>It’s testament to how well he was regarded as an administrator in the church that even though he was one of the most staunch conservatives of his generation, the comparatively liberal Pope Francis still turned to him to ask him to regain control of Vatican finances. In other words, his talents were recognised even by liberals within the church.</p>
<p>He was an outsider to the nexus of Italian cardinals who usually controlled that aspect of Vatican activity. </p>
<p>When you talk to people who knew him, they say that in private Pell could be quite charming. But his public personality was as a political bruiser who was simply able to sweep aside opposition, which is what allowed him to ascend the hierarchy so quickly.</p>
<p>He was an ideological fellow traveller with Pope Benedict in many ways, but their style and personality couldn’t have been more different. Benedict was the softly spoken professor type, whereas Pell learned how to do politics in the boxing ring and on the footy field. That shaped his response to any given problem. </p>
<h2>Before and after the court cases</h2>
<p>Pell came from Ballarat, and had, in many ways, a difficult childhood where he wasn’t always physically well. </p>
<p>But he came through it and channelled a lot of his energy into physical pursuits. He <a href="https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/richmond-removes-cardinal-george-pell-as-club-vice-patron-following-child-sex-crime-conviction/news-story/b7fa3681fb5d80c11d44a3346a78a2a7">signed</a> for Richmond Football Club in 1959 and was on the verge of becoming a professional player. Yet he decided instead to give it all up to go into the seminary. I don’t think anyone but he could explain exactly why he made that choice.</p>
<p>His talent to cut to the heart of the problem and impose his solution is what got him noticed by his superiors in Australia and the Vatican and helped his rise though the ranks.</p>
<p>After the court case, Pell quietly returned to Rome, where he has been living in semi-retirement since. He’s only made a handful of public statements and he also published some writing he did during his time in prison.</p>
<p>In Easter last year he urged the Vatican to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/cardinal-george-pell-and-the-status-of-gay-catholics/13809320">intervene</a> to stop German priests who were advocating that homosexuality might be OK. </p>
<p>All in all, Pell had an important impact on making Australia central to the church but that will be overshadowed by the accusation he didn’t do enough to stop abuse by priests and by his own court cases. </p>
<p>This period will no doubt be triggering for survivors and it’s important to remember that. Many adults in the Catholic church and other institutions failed children in a lot of ways and it’s important we remember survivors of abuse and the profound effect public discussion of this case will have on them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-have-media-outlets-been-fined-more-than-1-million-for-their-pell-reporting-162173">Why have media outlets been fined more than $1 million for their Pell reporting?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Miles Pattenden has previously received research funding from the British Academy, the European Commission, and the Government of Spain.
</span></em></p>Pell, often described as a conservative Catholic, was jailed for child sexual abuse in Australia in 2019 but maintained his innocence and was acquitted the following year.Miles Pattenden, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1919242023-01-04T06:09:53Z2023-01-04T06:09:53ZNorthern Ireland reconciliation bill highlights complicated role of Catholic Church during the Troubles<p>It has now been more than two decades since the signing of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-belfast-agreement">Good Friday agreement</a> in 1998, formally ending the Troubles in Northern Ireland. But the most recent attempt by the British government to “deal with the past” – <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3160">the legacy and reconciliation bill</a> – is itself provoking conflict. </p>
<p>The bill, currently going through the House of Lords, seeks to “promote reconciliation” by establishing an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery. It plans to limit criminal investigations, legal proceedings, inquests and police complaints, extend the prisoner release scheme, and provide for experiences to be recorded and preserved and for events to be studied and memorialised.</p>
<p>Victims’ groups, Northern Irish political parties, the Irish government, and Americans and Europeans involved in the peace process are all against the bill in its current form, especially the effective amnesty for unresolved Troubles killings. Nonetheless, the bill is still widely expected to become law early next year. What will the Catholic Church do if it does?</p>
<h2>Conflict, religion and politics</h2>
<p>Northern Ireland endured almost three decades of the deadly <a href="https://emu.edu/now/peacebuilder/2009/02/a-brief-history-of-the-troubles/">Troubles</a>, which many outside of the country believed was caused by religion. Throughout the conflict, the British government regularly met with religious leaders to ask their opinions on policy initiatives and to gauge the mood of the people.</p>
<p>British Catholics and Protestants alike wrote to Catholic bishops demanding action to end the violence. But when their efforts failed, it was thought a lack of application on the bishops’ part rather than a lack of influence was to blame. However, even a rare public intervention from the Pope was not enough.</p>
<p>John Paul II’s much-celebrated <a href="https://www.irishpost.com/life-style/on-this-day-in-1979-more-than-a-million-irish-people-greeted-pope-john-paul-ii-in-dublin-193994">three-day visit</a> to the Republic of Ireland in September 1979 included addressing a 250,000-strong crowd 30 miles from the border at Drogheda. But his appeal for “all men and women engaged in violence” to “return to the ways of peace” fell on deaf ears.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ryLwmb-15dc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Attempts to stop the <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/maggie-scull-republicans-and-historians-remain-divided-over-hunger-strikes-1.2470176">1981 Maze Prison hunger strike</a> through meetings with the queen and the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, were unsuccessful. The sending of a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07907184.2015.1084292?tab=permissions&scroll=top">papal envoy</a> to speak with lead hunger striker <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ira-militant-bobby-sands-dies">Bobby Sands</a> and British government officials, also ended in failure.</p>
<p>Catholic bishops faced regular questions from the British press asking why IRA members had not been excommunicated. Officially excluding someone from participation in the sacraments and services of the Christian church is not common practice in the modern era.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="The cover of a book showing a cartoon of a bishop and some Northern Ireland paramilitaries holding their guns in the shape of a cross." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-catholic-church-and-the-northern-ireland-troubles-1968-1998-9780198843214?cc=gb&lang=en&">OUP</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the blatantly sectarian cartoon on the cover image of my <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-catholic-church-and-the-northern-ireland-troubles-1968-1998-9780192871398?lang=en&cc=gb&fbclid=IwAR2Gcamdf5b7UlF-TIaFnmzdcPGRgp_KjMMfsZ1AU2N4YZQ4K_Jo3tqVLao">book</a>, The Catholic Church and the Northern Ireland Troubles 1968-98, demonstrates, there were those in the British press who perpetuated the idea that republicanism and Catholicism were willing bedfellows. But the church knew that excommunicating IRA members could isolate sections of the Catholic community who felt the republican paramilitaries provided protection from perceived corrupt police and British Army forces.</p>
<p>Those who conflated the conflict with religion viewed the lack of excommunication of republican paramilitaries as the church’s compliance and support for violence. This reluctance to tackle the excommunication issue led to missed opportunities for unity.</p>
<p>Hopes for interfaith cooperation were dashed by other issues, too: chiefly the Church’s insistence on <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-60241606">segregated education</a> for Catholics, and the 1970 Vatican apostolic letter <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19700331_matrimonia-mixta.html"><em>Matrimonia Mixta</em></a> which emphasises that children born of “mixed” Catholic and Protestant marriages should be raised Catholic.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0708/1151996-northern-ireland-paramilitary-funerals-troubles-bobby-storey-provisional-ira/">IRA paramilitary funerals</a> were another dilemma for the Catholic Church. Irish priests who ministered and conducted these ceremonies were regularly accused of condoning, if not actively supporting, violence. Differing Catholic and Protestant church practices and theologies around death, funerals, and the afterlife exacerbated inter-community tensions. </p>
<p>For Catholics, the dead would be judged when they met their maker and not by those on earth. Therefore it was difficult for the Irish Catholic Church to deny IRA members a funeral and requiem mass. In the late 1980s, Bishop Edward Daly of Derry attempted to ban the bodies of republican paramilitaries being present at their requiem mass but quickly had to reverse his decision when republican mourners brought the coffins to the cathedral and were granted entry. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-FU1yYVdL1c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>A carrot and stick approach emerged among the Catholic clergy. Some priests acted as mediators between the Provisional IRA and the British government, resulting in the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261972045_'Everyone_Trying'_the_IRA_Ceasefire_1975_A_Missed_Opportunity_for_Peace">1974-75 ceasefire</a>. Priests were supposed to embody neutrality and had historically adjudicated between different Irish groups.</p>
<p>During the late 1980s and early 1990s, priests like Father Alec Reid and Father Gerry Reynolds provided rooms in the Clonard Monastery for Sinn Féin’s <a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Adams">Gerry Adams</a> and the SDLP’s <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1998/hume/facts/">John Hume</a> to meet privately. At the same time, priests like Father Denis Faul publicly denounced the IRA’s violence. However, <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/clerical-child-abuse-an-irish-timeline-1.880042">revelations of clerical child abuse</a> in the 1990s shattered the moral authority of the Catholic Church and drastically reduced institutional church involvement in the peace process.</p>
<h2>Reconciling or deepening divisions?</h2>
<p>Depending on the final shape of the Reconciliation and Information Recovery bill, will the Catholic Church back the oral history projects? Will it support researchers writing thematic reports? Will it be inspired to open its own archives? Or will it boycott the bill in solidarity with victims’ groups?</p>
<p>Archbishop Eamon Martin, the Roman Catholic primate of all Ireland, along with the queen, took part in a <a href="https://www.thejournal.ie/ni-event-amagh-5580013-Oct2021/">service of reflection and hope</a> in Armagh in 2021 alongside Protestant church leaders to mark the centenary of partition and the creation of Northern Ireland. But the <a href="https://president.ie/en/the-president/michael-d-higgins">president of Ireland</a>, Michael D. Higgins, <a href="https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2021/09/16/news/service-of-hope-to-be-held-to-reflect-on-events-of-1921-in-ireland-2449424/">declined the invitation</a>, saying he was “not in a position to attend”.</p>
<p>While this may indicate a willingness for the Catholic Church to be a part of the legacy process, Archbishop Martin and another Church of Ireland archbishop, John McDowell, jointly warned the bill would “<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2022/11/22/primates-of-all-ireland-say-legacy-bill-will-deepen-divisions-in-northern-ireland/">deepen divisions</a>” in the north.</p>
<p>Should the bill go forward in its current form, Church leadership will either have to back the British government or push against it, a doubtless tricky position for an institution declining in influence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Scull received funding from the Irish Research Council as a postdoctoral fellow between 2018-2020.</span></em></p>In a fraught and complex situation the Catholic Church sought to mediate the conflict where it could, but drew much ire and criticism for not doing enough.Margaret Scull, Adjunct Professor of History, Syracuse UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1930662022-12-14T13:12:10Z2022-12-14T13:12:10ZThe 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 UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1944092022-11-18T14:47:03Z2022-11-18T14:47:03ZHow medieval Catholic traditions of thanksgiving prayers and feasting shaped the Protestant celebration of Plymouth’s pilgrims<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496070/original/file-20221118-9929-kjhzwj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C13%2C933%2C669&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Catholic hymn, "Te Deum" -- which says, “You, God, we praise” -- has been used for centuries in Catholic worship for thanksgiving.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Te_deum_in_the_cathedral_of_Notre_Dame%2C_Iconotheca_Valvasoriana.jpg/1024px-Te_deum_in_the_cathedral_of_Notre_Dame%2C_Iconotheca_Valvasoriana.jpg">Iconotheca Valvasoriana Author Jean Marot via Wikimedia Commons.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Abraham Lincoln <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-proclaims-official-thanksgiving-holiday">instituted the celebration of Thanksgiving</a> as a national holiday in 1863 after the Union victory at the battle of Gettysburg, during the American Civil War. It was not a new idea – in 1789, President George Washington had proposed a yearly presidential proclamation of each annual Thanksgiving holiday, but President Thomas Jefferson <a href="https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.org/2015/11/25/did-thomas-jefferson-hate-thanksgiving/">refused to issue one after he was elected</a>, as he considered it a religious event. Later presidents followed his example, and the holiday was effectively discontinued on the national level until Lincoln’s declaration.</p>
<p>Today, Thanksgiving Day has come to be celebrated every year on the <a href="https://www.almanac.com/thanksgiving-day">fourth Thursday of November</a>. As a <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">specialist in Catholic history and worship</a>, I am aware that behind the history and legend of the first Thanksgiving lies a rich story that illuminates the medieval Christian roots of the holiday. </p>
<h2>Medieval Catholic liturgy</h2>
<p>Since the beginning of Christianity, <a href="https://www.usccb.org/eucharist">the Eucharist</a>, also called <a href="https://anglicancompass.com/what-do-anglicans-believe-about-holy-communion/">Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper</a>, has been the primary worship service for Christians all over the world. The name itself comes from the ancient Greek word for thanksgiving, “eucharistia,” although in part of the New Testament it is also called “the breaking of bread.” </p>
<p>The service came to be called the Mass in Western Europe, derived from the Latin dismissal rite at the conclusion of the ceremony: <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08253a.htm">Ite missa est</a> – “Go, it is the dismissal.” The term is still used by Roman Catholics today.</p>
<p>One of the most important medieval Catholic rituals, the Eucharist involves a special blessing, called a consecration, of bread and wine. This consecration is rooted in what Jesus Christ did during the ritual meal he shared with his apostles before his arrest and crucifixion – <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22%3A+7-20&version=NRSVCE">the Last Supper</a>. The ritual as a whole is a thanksgiving to God for the offer of salvation from sin in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. From at least the fourth century, Christians were <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/sunday-10766">expected to attend Mass every Sunday</a>, with a few exceptions, and to rest from work.</p>
<p>But Catholics expressed thanksgiving in other ways, too. One hymn’s first line, “<a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/prayers/the-te-deum.html">Te deum</a>” – which says, “You, God, we praise” – <a href="https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/te-deum-laudamus">has been used for centuries</a> in Catholic worship, frequently on occasions calling for celebration and thanksgiving. </p>
<p>Legend has it that the text was composed by St. Ambrose, a famous theologian and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-some-roman-catholic-saints-called-doctors-of-the-church-175912">Doctor of the Church</a>. It is sometimes referred to as the “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-A4kueWL4g">Ambrosian hymn</a>” in medieval sources. </p>
<p>An early reference to the hymn is in a sixth-century book, “The Rule of St. Benedict,” a collection of regulations for monks and nuns. It is listed as <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50040/50040-h/50040-h.htm#chapter-12">one of the prayers</a> to be recited or sung at Matins, their daily morning communal prayer service.</p>
<p>The Te Deum was often followed by another short hymn: “<a href="https://hymnology.hymnsam.co.uk/n/non-nobis-domine">Non nobis Domine</a>.” Taken from the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+115&version=NRSVCE">first line of Psalm 115</a>, “Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name give glory,” it is another brief expression of thanksgiving to God for whatever event was being celebrated.</p>
<p>Catholics sang the Te Deum as a private or public way to offer thanks to God in a number of situations for centuries. King Philip II of Spain, a devout Catholic, ordered it sung after hearing of the victory of a Catholic fleet against the Ottoman Turks at sea off the shore of Greece. This <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/head-head/how-important-was-battle-lepanto">Battle of Lepanto</a> in 1571 stopped a Muslim advance into Catholic Europe.</p>
<h2>Historical English thanksgiving</h2>
<p>Medieval England was a Catholic country, and the public religious rituals celebrated in churches were much the same as those celebrated in Rome and the rest of Catholic Europe, with some local differences. Many of these rituals involved the theme of giving thanks. </p>
<p>In addition, the practice of blessing people, animals or crops was also an important part of medieval Catholic liturgy. Many of these blessing prayers included the theme of thanksgiving as well. One set of blessing prayers dealt with the <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02749a.htm">blessing of ordinary bread</a>. </p>
<p>Across Catholic Europe, bread might be blessed on certain feast days, but in the British Isles, a special ceremony would take place on August 1, when the first of the wheat crop was harvested. This date was called <a href="https://www.almanac.com/fact/lammas-day-from-the-old-english-holiday">Lammas Day</a>, from the Anglo-Saxon words for “loaf” and “Mass.” From at least the ninth century on, bread from these first grains would be baked into <a href="https://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-little-history-of-lammas.html">intricate shapes</a> and brought to church for a special blessing.</p>
<p>However, this blessing of the first loaves only marked the beginning of the harvest. It was also customary in England, as well as in other parts of Europe, to <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312195694/wherequeenelizabethsleptandwhatthebutlersaw">hold a public festival</a> when the harvest was done, the “gathering-in” or “harvest home.” Dancing, eating, drinking and <a href="https://www.cpre.org.uk/discover/harvest-traditions-in-england/">other forms of entertainment</a> were featured. This was originally a secular festival, although other festivals of this kind could also be held on other occasions, like weddings.</p>
<p>Public liturgies of thanksgiving could also be proclaimed on other occasions. For example, the English victory over the French at the battle of Agincourt in 1415 was celebrated in London by the mayor and populace with the singing of the Te Deum and the ringing of bells at the city’s churches. Later, a <a href="https://www.westminster-abbey.org/media/4968/agincourt-600-service.pdf">prayer service in Westminster Abbey</a> was held, attended by the mayor and members of the royal family.</p>
<h2>The Church of England</h2>
<p>After King Henry VIII broke away from Rome in 1534, the English sovereign became by law the Head of the Church in England. After his death, a reformed English-language liturgy, compiled in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, was used throughout the country. </p>
<p>Public worship services of thanksgiving were held annually on certain specific occasions, like the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/handel-and-the-english-chapel-royal-9780199550968?cc=us&lang=en&">anniversary of the sovereign’s accession to the throne</a>. As in the medieval period, the sovereign could also proclaim a day of thanksgiving, complete with the <a href="https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/te-deum-laudamus">singing of the Te Deum in Latin</a>, to celebrate other important events, like the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13574175.2017.1317080">birth of a royal heir</a> – in this case, the birth of Prince Edward, the future King Edward VI, to King Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour, in 1537. King James I was the first King of England <a href="https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/files/14264544/Jack._A_Pattern_for_a_Kings_Inauguration_The_Coronation_of_James_I_in_England.pdf">to be crowned in an English-language ceremony</a>.</p>
<h2>Protestant Pilgrims</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495990/original/file-20221117-25-sr5bc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An engraved illustration of the Pilgrim Fathers leaving England." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495990/original/file-20221117-25-sr5bc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495990/original/file-20221117-25-sr5bc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495990/original/file-20221117-25-sr5bc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495990/original/file-20221117-25-sr5bc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495990/original/file-20221117-25-sr5bc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495990/original/file-20221117-25-sr5bc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495990/original/file-20221117-25-sr5bc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&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 Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving in their new home with the traditions they were familiar with.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/pilgrim-fathers-leaving-england-royalty-free-illustration/500074668?phrase=mayflower%20illustration&adppopup=true">TonyBaggett/iStock / via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, not every Christian in England was happy with the Book of Common Prayer, finding it still too influenced by Catholic practice. The Pilgrims were among the English Protestant groups who rejected the Church of England’s more moderate reforms completely and wished to separate from it to form their own church communities – <a href="https://historyofmassachusetts.org/mayflower-pilgrims/">separatists</a> – as opposed to the Puritans, who desired further reforms within the Church of England to “purify” it. </p>
<p>Because of increasing legal persecution of “<a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/nonconformists/#2-who-were-nonconformists-and-what-are-nonconformist-records">non-conformists</a>” – <a href="http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/crossroads/religious-and-confessional-spaces/thomas-hahn-bruckart-dissenters-and-nonconformists-phenomena-of-religious-deviance-between-the-british-isles-and-the-european-continent">those who did not attend or belong to the Church of England</a> – in the early 17th century, they at first left England for a country where they might practice their beliefs freely. In Holland, they settled in the town of Leiden, and lived there for several years. But the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/godinamerica/people/pilgrims.html">Pilgrims faced other problems</a> there – they worked at low-paying jobs and they worried that their children were becoming more Dutch than English. </p>
<p>Eventually, they joined a group of other travelers on a ship called the <a href="https://historyofmassachusetts.org/mayflower-pilgrims/">Mayflower to travel to the New World</a>. There, in 1620, they landed a little farther north than their original destination – Virginia – settling at Plymouth on the coast of what is today Massachusetts in December 1620. </p>
<p>The Pilgrims faced a <a href="http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/plymouth/Maydeaths.html">hard struggle to survive</a> that first winter and many died. But after a good harvest the next year, they celebrated. They may not have sung a Catholic or Anglican Te Deum or danced in the street, but they held a Thanksgiving in their own way following the customs they had grown up with in England: <a href="https://pilgrimhall.org/giving_thanks.htm">with prayer and feasting</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194409/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>The Pilgrims who started the first Thanksgiving tradition after they landed in Plymouth were following the customs they had grown up with, originating in medieval times.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1936982022-11-08T13:42:01Z2022-11-08T13:42:01ZHalloween without kids and Christmas without Christ take hold in Asia, with uniquely local twists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493881/original/file-20221107-22-bg8cmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C0%2C8034%2C5316&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Halloween in Korea is celebrated primarily by young adults.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SouthKoreaDailyLife/4a1d6fa24440434493f725930ce09c01/photo?Query=halloween%20south%20korea&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=241&currentItemNo=214">AP Photo/Lee Jin-man</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Halloween is supposed to be fun, a night to put on costumes and publicly celebrate with friends and strangers. Its traditional past as a festival for the dead lives on mainly in spooky decorations and scary movies.</p>
<p>But Halloween horror became all too real this year when a sudden stampede swept through the crowds celebrating the festivities in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/29/world/asia/itaewon-halloween-south-korea.html">trendy neighborhood</a> of Itaewon in Seoul, South Korea, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/10/29/world/korea-halloween-stampede-itaewon">leaving more than 150 people dead</a> and nearly as many injured. </p>
<p>Virtually nonexistent in Korea a decade ago, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/31/1132670315/itaewon-seoul-halloween-stampede">Halloween’s popularity has grown</a> in recent years. In Itaewon, the holiday brings a large foreign-born population together with young, educated, culturally savvy locals, many of whom have spent time abroad. Rather than being a holiday for kids, Halloween in Korea is celebrated primarily by young adults, who enjoy it as a night on the town. </p>
<p>As a scholar who researches <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-has-halloween-become-so-popular-among-adults-104896">Halloween and young adults</a>, I am not surprised by the festival’s popularity in Korea. In a globalizing world, fueled by social media, holidays cross borders, sometimes ending up in very unlikely places. </p>
<h2>Crossing borders</h2>
<p>Halloween has a long history of globe-trotting. Despite the holiday’s being seen as American, its <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-was-halloween-invented-once-a-celtic-pagan-tradition-the-holiday-has-evolved-to-let-kids-and-adults-try-on-new-identities-192379">true origins go back to the Celtic festival of Samhain</a>. When Irish immigrants brought Halloween to America in the mid-19th century, many of their new neighbors initially viewed the mix of ancient rituals and Catholic practices as “un-American.” </p>
<p>With time, however, Halloween gained acceptance, becoming a popular American tradition. But the holiday lost much of its religious and supernatural significance in becoming palatable to a larger population. Mass-produced costumes replaced simple homemade ones, and the range of options exploded from just ghosts and goblins to include favorite characters from movies and television.</p>
<p>This commercialized version of the holiday has continued to expand into the rest of the world. In Korea and Japan, it is most enthusiastically embraced by young adults. Halloween came to Japan via American pop culture in the late 20th century and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03612112.2017.1290189">has exploded in popularity in recent years</a>. Neither a religious festival nor a children’s holiday, Halloween in Japan is a time for adults to dress in creative costumes and go to parties. It is now the second-largest consumer holiday in Japan after Christmas.</p>
<p>Despite Christians being only a small minority in Japan, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10253860500160361">Christmas thrives</a> as an entirely secular holiday, without nativity scenes, but symbolized by reindeer, snowmen and Christmas trees. Like Halloween, Christmas came to Japan through the media and multinational corporations seeking to profit from holiday spending.</p>
<h2>Travel and transformation</h2>
<p>At first glance, this may looks like a perfect example of globalization – of Western commercialism finding new audiences for meaningful traditions. A closer look reveals a more complex picture. </p>
<p>Commercialization pulls holidays from their roots, allowing them to travel the globe. When they land, however, locals transform them into something that works for them. Globalization is met with localization, a process researchers call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9558.00185">glocalization</a>.” </p>
<p>Whatever its origins, Christmas in Japan is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10253860500160361">distinctly Japanese</a>. It complements traditional December gift-giving traditions, as well as drawing on existing cultural norms for how to wrap and present gifts. Additionally, the Japanese have created their own traditions related to the holiday. They celebrate with elaborate and expensive Christmas cakes. For them, Christmas is more like Valentine’s Day, with the focus on romance rather than the family, as it is in the West. Additionally, they celebrate the day on the 24th. By the next day, the Japanese are already putting away their decorations. </p>
<p>Japanese Halloween also has its own <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03612112.2017.1290189">unique characteristics</a>. For example, Japanese costumes are informed by local cultural traditions, both traditional folklore and contemporary pop culture cosplay. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse perform with Santa Claus" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.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">Christmas has taken a uniquely local color in Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/JapanDailyLife/1a4864e8b6d543378d61c4e37f35ddb4/photo?Query=christmas%20japan&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=276&currentItemNo=9">Yoshikazu Tsuno/Pool Photo via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Global holidays are not always welcomed in new contexts. Although many in the West now view <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/24/world/asia/india-christmas.html">Christmas</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/12/why-theres-a-war-on-valentines-day-in-india/">Valentine’s Day</a> as fully secularized and commercial holidays, their historical ties to Christianity can spark strong resistance from religious groups in countries outside the U.S. In India, Hindu conservatives have been opposing the celebration of Christmas. </p>
<p>In Pakistan, religious groups have pushed back against Valentine’s Day celebrations. Some have also rejected it for the <a href="https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2015/02/12/is-there-a-globalization-of-commodified-love/">crass commodification of love</a>. </p>
<h2>Cultural exchanges</h2>
<p>Increasingly, global culture flows in multiple directions. The same night that Koreans dressed up like Americans for Halloween, many Americans put on costumes of their favorite characters from the hit show “<a href="https://variety.com/2022/shopping/news/squid-game-halloween-costume-1235080321/">Squid Game</a>,” a Korean program that has gained widespread popularity in the U.S. </p>
<p>Often holidays travel most smoothly when reduced to primarily commercial expressions, freed from religious beliefs and national context. After all, one doesn’t need to believe in ghosts to wear a Halloween costume, or in Jesus to buy a Christmas gift.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linus Owens 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>Halloween was virtually nonexistent in South Korea until about a decade ago. But commercialization is taking popular holidays to unlikely places across the globe.Linus Owens, Associate Professor of Sociology, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1923792022-10-27T13:43:44Z2022-10-27T13:43:44ZHow was Halloween invented? Once a Celtic pagan tradition, the holiday has evolved to let kids and adults try on new identities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490951/original/file-20221020-25-mv2tjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=82%2C0%2C5443%2C4200&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kindergarten students in 1952 race out of school in Los Angeles, eager to celebrate Halloween.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/halloween-costumes-at-schools-31-october-1952-stephen-gough-news-photo/1048299626?phrase=halloween%20corbis&adppopup=true">Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&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><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>How was Halloween invented? – Tillman, age 9, Asheville, North Carolina</strong> </p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>“It’s alive!” Dr. Frankenstein cried as his creation stirred to life. But the creature had a life of its own, eventually escaping its creator’s control. </p>
<p>Much like Frankenstein’s monster, traditions are also alive, which means they can change over time or get reinvented. Built from a hodgepodge of diverse parts, Halloween is one such tradition that has been continually reinvented since its ancient origins as <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/T/bo46408548.html">a Celtic pagan ceremony</a>. Yet beneath the superhero costumes and bags of candy still beats the heart of the original.</p>
<p>The Celts lived in what’s now Ireland as far back as 500 B.C. They celebrated New Year’s Day on Nov. 1, which they called <a href="https://www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween-santino.html">Samhain</a>. They believed that leading up to the transition to the new year, the door between the worlds of the living and the dead swung open. The souls of the recently dead, previously trapped on Earth, could now pass to the underworld. Since they thought spirits came out after dark, this supernatural activity reached its peak the night before, on Oct. 31.</p>
<p>The Celts invented rituals to protect themselves during this turbulent time. They put on costumes and disguises to fool the spirits. They lit bonfires and stuck candles inside carved turnips – the first jack-o’-lanterns – to scare away any spirits looking for mischief. If all else failed, they carried a pocketful of treats to pay off wayward spirits and send them back <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/halloween-9780195168969?cc=us&lang=en&">on their way to the underworld</a>.</p>
<p>Sound familiar?</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/halloweens-celebration-of-mingling-with-the-dead-has-roots-in-ancient-celtic-celebrations-of-samhain-191300">Although focused on the dead</a>, Samhain was ultimately <a href="https://utpress.org/title/halloween-other-festivals/">for the living</a>, who needed plenty of help of their own when transitioning to the new year. Winter was cold and dark. Food was scarce. Everyone came together for one last bash to break bread, share stories and stand tall against the dead, strengthening community ties at the time they were needed most.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a collection of lit jack-o-lanterns" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490955/original/file-20221020-25-vqzi51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490955/original/file-20221020-25-vqzi51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490955/original/file-20221020-25-vqzi51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490955/original/file-20221020-25-vqzi51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490955/original/file-20221020-25-vqzi51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490955/original/file-20221020-25-vqzi51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490955/original/file-20221020-25-vqzi51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ghouls, goblins and glowing jack-o’-lanterns have been synonymous with Halloween for a long time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pumpkin-festival-news-photo/583647396?phrase=halloween%20corbis&adppopup=true">Erik Freeland/Corbis Historical via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When Catholics arrived in Ireland around A.D. 300, they opened another door between worlds, unleashing considerable conflict. They sought to convert the Celts by changing their pagan rituals into Christian holidays. They rechristened Nov. 1 “All Saints Day,” which today remains a celebration of Catholic saints.</p>
<p>But the locals held on to their old beliefs. They believed the dead still wandered the Earth. So the living still dressed in costumes. This activity still took place the night before. It just had a new name to fit the Catholic calendar: “All Hallows Eve,” which is <a href="https://www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween-santino.html">where we got the name Halloween</a>.</p>
<p>Irish immigrants <a href="https://www.irishpost.com/heritage/how-irish-great-famine-brought-halloween-to-america-161376">brought Halloween to America in the 1800s</a> while escaping the Great Potato Famine. At first, Irish Halloween celebrations were an oddity, viewed suspiciously by other Americans. As such, Halloween wasn’t celebrated much in America at the time.</p>
<p>As the Irish integrated into American society, Halloween was reinvented again, this time as an all-American celebration. It became a holiday primarily for kids. Its religious overtones faded, with supernatural saints and sinners being replaced by generic ghosts and goblins. Carved turnips gave way to the <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-history-of-jack-o-lantern">pumpkins</a> now emblematic of the holiday. Though trick-or-treating resembles ancient traditions like guising, where costumed children went door to door for gifts, <a href="https://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/jack-santino-five-myths-about-halloween/article_6fe79e19-d106-52cc-a895-4a3a72d09c93.html">it’s actually an American invention</a>, created to entice kids away from rowdy holiday pranks toward more wholesome activities. </p>
<p>Halloween has become a tradition many new immigrants adopt along their journey toward American-ness and is increasingly <a href="https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-4438-0153-9">being exported around the world</a>, with locals reinventing it in new ways to adapt it to their own culture.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="postcard of a witch and black cat riding a broomstick" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490960/original/file-20221020-11-kabqww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490960/original/file-20221020-11-kabqww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490960/original/file-20221020-11-kabqww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490960/original/file-20221020-11-kabqww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490960/original/file-20221020-11-kabqww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490960/original/file-20221020-11-kabqww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490960/original/file-20221020-11-kabqww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Halloween postcard circa 1910.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/postcard-from-circa-1910-news-photo/595267210?phrase=halloween%20corbis&adppopup=true">Trolley Dodger/Corbis Historical via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s so special about Halloween is that it turns the world upside down. The dead walk the Earth. Rules are meant to be broken. And kids exercise a lot of power. They decide what costume to wear. They make demands on others by asking for candy. “Trick or treat” is their battle cry. They do things they’d never get away with any other time, but on Halloween, they get to act like adults, trying it on to see how it fits.</p>
<p>Because Halloween allows kids more independence, it’s possible to mark significant life stages through holiday firsts. First Halloween. First Halloween without a parent. First Halloween that’s no longer cool. First Halloween as a parent. </p>
<p>Growing up used to mean growing out of Halloween. But today, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/10/24/halloween-adults-costumes-elvira-mistress-of-the-dark/1593177/">young adults</a> seem even more committed to Halloween than kids. </p>
<p>What changed: adults or Halloween? Both. </p>
<p>Caught between childhood and adulthood, today’s young adults find Halloween a perfect match to their struggles to find themselves and make their way in the world. Their participation has reinvented Halloween again, now bigger, more elaborate and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/halloween-prices-cost-more-expensive-pumpkin-candy-costumes-1754635">more expensive</a>. Yet in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-has-halloween-become-so-popular-among-adults-104896">becoming an adult celebration</a>, it comes full circle to return to its roots as a holiday celebrated mainly by adults. </p>
<p>Halloween is a living tradition. You wear a costume every year, but you’d never wear the same one. You’ve changed since last year, and your costume reflects that. Halloween is no different. Each year, it’s the same celebration, but it’s also something totally new. In what ways are you already reinventing the Halloween of the future today?</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192379/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linus Owens 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>From its origins as a Celtic pagan ceremony to its celebration of all things gruesome and ghoulish today, Halloween has been reinvented over the centuries.Linus Owens, Associate Professor of Sociology, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1924852022-10-27T12:28:06Z2022-10-27T12:28:06ZWhat is the rosary? Why a set of beads and prayers are central to Catholic faith<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491771/original/file-20221025-232-3ead84.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C5%2C1979%2C1485&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rosaries are meant for praying anywhere and anytime.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/rosary-hanging-in-car-during-sunset-royalty-free-image/1140080568?phrase=Anderson%20Mouzinho&adppopup=true">Anderson Mouzinho/EyeEm via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s one of the most famous moments in modern Catholicism: the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. The Virgin Mary allegedly appeared to three Portuguese children in 1917, when much of the world was engulfed in World War I. Over a series of six appearances, Mary <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/blog/fatima-s-sister-lucia-explains-why-the-daily-rosary-is-a-must">emphasized to these young shepherds</a> that to bring peace, they should pray the rosary every day.</p>
<p>Devotion to the rosary already had a centuries-old history, and the Marian apparition at Fatima only deepened it. So what is a rosary, and why is it so important to many Catholics?</p>
<h2>Centuries of meaning</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://udayton.edu/directory/libraries/harriskayla.php">an archivist and associate professor</a> for the University of Dayton’s <a href="https://udayton.edu/marianlibrary/index.php">Marian Library</a>, I curate a collection of artifacts that illustrate many forms of popular devotion to the Virgin Mary, including nearly 900 unique rosaries. Each one tells a story of the people who owned them and how rosaries have evolved.</p>
<p>The word “rosary” refers to a set of prayers in the Catholic Church as well as a physical object. While <a href="https://www.usccb.org/how-to-pray-the-rosary">praying the rosary</a>, Catholics use a set of beads or knots to count and keep track of the prayers. Prayer beads as physical counting tools are quite common in several religions, including Islam, Hinduism, <a href="https://tricycle.org/magazine/mala-beads-history/">Buddhism</a> and Jainism.</p>
<p>The exact origins of the rosary are debated. Many theologians believe it was at least popularized by <a href="https://aleteia.org/2020/08/08/did-st-dominic-invent-the-rosary/">St. Dominic de Guzman</a>, a Spanish mystic and priest who allegedly received a vision in 1208 of the Virgin Mary in which she presented him with the rosary.</p>
<p>The Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on Oct. 7 each year – previously known as the <a href="https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/o/our-lady-of-victory.php">Feast of Our Lady of Victory</a> to commemorate a Christian victory in a <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252503/the-holy-rosary-a-spiritual-weapon-that-lights-hearts-on-fire">naval battle</a> in 1571. Soon after, Pope Gregory XIII <a href="https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/o/our-lady-of-victory.php">changed the title</a> of the holy day, and now the entire month of October is dedicated to the rosary.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo taken from above a table shows a person's hands holding an open Bible, with a rosary nearby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491465/original/file-20221024-17411-m3zoq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491465/original/file-20221024-17411-m3zoq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491465/original/file-20221024-17411-m3zoq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491465/original/file-20221024-17411-m3zoq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491465/original/file-20221024-17411-m3zoq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491465/original/file-20221024-17411-m3zoq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491465/original/file-20221024-17411-m3zoq1.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">Rosaries have been used for centuries, but their exact origins are unclear.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/bible-and-rosary-royalty-free-image/538137956?phrase=rosaries&adppopup=true">Pascal Deloche/Stone via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>One prayer per bead</h2>
<p>To pray the rosary, a person will begin by holding the crucifix, make <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sign-of-the-cross">a sign of the cross</a> over their chest and recite the <a href="https://www.usccb.org/prayers/apostles-creed">Apostles’ Creed</a>, which lays out the basics of Christian faith – such as that Jesus is the son of God and rose from the dead.</p>
<p>Generally, a rosary will contain five groups of 10 beads each, known as a decade. When touching each of these beads, the user will recite a <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/prayers/the-hail-mary.html">Hail Mary prayer</a>. At the completion of each decade is a slightly larger bead, which is a cue to recite the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lords-Prayer">Lord’s Prayer</a> – another of the most important prayers in Christianity – and to meditate on one of the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/special/rosary/documents/misteri_en.html">20 mysteries</a>, significant events in the life of Jesus and Mary. </p>
<p>The decade is completed by saying the <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/prayers/glory-be-to-the-father.html">Glory Be to the Father prayer</a>, and after completing all five decades, the user recites the <a href="https://www.usccb.org/prayers/hail-holy-queen-salve-regina">Hail, Holy Queen prayer</a> to Mary. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops outlines <a href="https://www.usccb.org/how-to-pray-the-rosary">detailed instructions</a>, including a diagram showing the different parts of the rosary and the accompanying prayers.</p>
<p>The rosary can be recited alone, or in groups. Some Catholics <a href="https://rosarycenter.org/how-to-pray-the-rosary">pray the rosary daily</a>, and many recite it to thank God or to ask for intercession, such as healing or protection for a loved one. </p>
<h2>Shells and seeds</h2>
<p>The Marian Library’s collection demonstrates how the rosary as an object can be very personal and also engage different senses as people pray. Some are very fragrant, such as those made from peach pits. Some are souvenirs brought back from particular shrines, such as ones from the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, which contain <a href="https://www.lourdes-france.com/en/day-pilgrims/the-water/">drops of holy water from its spring</a>. Other rosaries glow in the dark or are made from birthstones. Many have significance to a particular region, such as <a href="https://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/Job'sTearsRosaries.html">rosaries made from a grain called Job’s tears</a>, which are popular in Cajun regions of Louisiana. </p>
<p>There are rosaries of natural materials such as seeds, olive pits or even seashells – <a href="https://udayton.edu/blogs/marianlibrary/2018-08-31-guadalcanal-rosary.php">including one</a> crafted out of cowrie shells and paper clips. A National Guard chaplain stationed in Guadalcanal, site of a key <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/solomon-islands-campaign-guadalcanal">series of battles</a> between U.S. and Japanese troops, mailed it to his sister, a nun, in 1943 with the message “pray for me.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A string of beads made of cowrie shells, with a cross on one end" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491773/original/file-20221025-20664-eyhnws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491773/original/file-20221025-20664-eyhnws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491773/original/file-20221025-20664-eyhnws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491773/original/file-20221025-20664-eyhnws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491773/original/file-20221025-20664-eyhnws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491773/original/file-20221025-20664-eyhnws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491773/original/file-20221025-20664-eyhnws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=687&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 sent to Ohio from Guadalcanal during World War II.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ryan O'Grady/The Marian Library, University of Dayton</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then there is a <a href="https://scalar.usc.edu/works/mary-and-borders/borderlands-and-the-blessed-virgin-images-from-the-marian-library?path=introduction">photograph of a colorful pile of plastic rosaries</a> – these ones taken from Latin American migrants and others seeking asylum at the southern U.S. border. While working as a janitor at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility, <a href="https://www.tomkiefer.com/about">Tom Kiefer</a> used photography to <a href="https://factcheck.afp.com/photo-rosaries-confiscated-us-mexico-border-was-taken-2015">document migrants’ personal items</a> deemed nonessential and confiscated or thrown into the trash.</p>
<h2>Today and tomorrow</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A flat piece of metal that works as a rosary, placed next to a yellowed sheet explaining how to use the Traveler's Rosary." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491473/original/file-20221024-17346-umq4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491473/original/file-20221024-17346-umq4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491473/original/file-20221024-17346-umq4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491473/original/file-20221024-17346-umq4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491473/original/file-20221024-17346-umq4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491473/original/file-20221024-17346-umq4pt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491473/original/file-20221024-17346-umq4pt.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Traveler’s Rosary from the Father John T. Arsenault Rosary Collection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Marian Library, University of Dayton</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several new rosary inventions in the 21st century attempt to make praying the rosary convenient for even the busiest person. The Traveler’s Rosary, designed by the Archdiocese of New York, is made of a flat piece of metal with raised beads. It also comes with a case that commuters can use to hold a transportation ticket. <a href="https://udayton.warpwire.com/w/jcEEAA/">The Recording Rosary</a> is also meant to make praying more convenient: The beads are placed on a dial, and a small arrow points to the proper place, so the person praying can resume where they left off after an interruption. The rosary also emits a subtle sound at the completion of each decade.</p>
<p>The rosary itself, and the practice of praying it, continues to evolve today. In 2019 a church group launched the “<a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-10/click-pray-rosary-smart-digital-device-world-peace.html">Click to Pray eRosary</a>”: a wearable device that connects with a free phone app to help users learn to pray the rosary. The developers explain that the device is “aimed at the peripheral frontiers of the digital world where the young people dwell.” </p>
<p>Whether made out of glass beads with holy water or of fragrant dried rose petals pressed into beads, the rosary reflects the myriad ways Catholics can practice their devotion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kayla Harris 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>Rosaries are meant to be used wherever, whenever – and each one tells a story.Kayla Harris, Librarian/Archivist at the Marian Library and Associate Professor, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1905092022-09-26T12:30:21Z2022-09-26T12:30:21ZReligion is shaping Brazil’s presidential election – but its evangelicals aren’t the same as America’s<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485771/original/file-20220921-23-c08j0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C11%2C3958%2C2646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pastor Silas Malafaia, second from left, prays alongside President Jair Bolsonaro, far left, at the Assembly of God Victory in Christ Church in Rio de Janeiro.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BrazilBolsonaro/84f1a83da90b4bf8a0f544cf37b7936b/photo?Query=brazil%20pray&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=495&currentItemNo=7">AP Photo/Bruna Prado</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With one week to go before Brazil’s presidential election, the two front-runners are battling for the religious vote.</p>
<p>Last month, first lady Michelle Bolsonaro told an evangelical church service that the presidential palace had been “<a href="https://jc.ne10.uol.com.br/colunas/jamildo/2022/08/15059184-video-michelle-bolsonaro-fala-sobre-expulsao-no-planalto-em-culto-evangelico-entenda.html">consecrated to demons</a>” under previous presidential administrations – a gibe against former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, and his center-left Workers’ Party.</p>
<p>Lula is running again in this year’s election, whose first round is Oct. 2, 2022, and has joined the fray. In his official campaign kickoff in August 2022, for instance, he alleged that the right-wing current president, Jair Bolsonaro, is “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/16/lula-bolsonaro-brazil-possessed-by-devil-election">possessed by the devil</a>.” </p>
<p>Lula has been heavily favored to win the election and retake the office he held from 2003 to 2010. In polls, he currently runs <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/lula-maintains-large-lead-over-bolsonaro-ahead-brazil-election-poll-2022-09-20/">about 15 percentage points</a> ahead of Bolsonaro. </p>
<p>Religious voters are an important part of the story. Bolsonaro – whom international media dubbed the “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-brazil-bdc70648e5814d25b549d1c252910006">Trump of the Tropics</a>” for his persona as a conservative firebrand, his <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/14/bolsonaro-brazil-trump-anti-democracy-elections/">anti-democratic streak</a>, and his ability to attract a Christian base – garnered <a href="https://epocanegocios.globo.com/Brasil/noticia/2022/05/como-pensam-evangelicas-que-podem-definir-eleicao-para-presidente.html">70% of evangelical support in the 2018 election</a>. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religion-and-brazilian-democracy/D9B7921525E8C676CFE11AEDC5C4102D">Scholars, including me, argue</a> that without the evangelical vote, he would have narrowly lost.</p>
<p>However, as <a href="https://www.pols.iastate.edu/directory/amy-erica-smith/">a political scientist</a> who has written a book about <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religion-and-brazilian-democracy/D9B7921525E8C676CFE11AEDC5C4102D">religious politics in Brazil</a>, I see these comparisons between the U.S. and Brazil as also glossing over key differences. Yes, Bolsonaro and Trump are very similar in how they use religion. Yet the ways evangelical communities work and how religion shapes politics is different in each country – and my own research suggests that conservative Christians will not be as consistent a base for Bolsonaro as they are for Trump and the Republican Party.</p>
<h2>Who’s who</h2>
<p>One key difference is the language used: who “evangelicals” are in the first place. </p>
<p>In Latin America, traditionally a Catholic stronghold, the Spanish and Portuguese term “evangelico” is applied to nearly all non-Catholic Christians, including Protestant denominations that are usually classified as “mainline” or even “progressive” in the U.S. Estimates indicate that <a href="https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2020/01/13/50percent-dos-brasileiros-sao-catolicos-31percent-evangelicos-e-10percent-nao-tem-religiao-diz-datafolha.ghtml">around a third of Brazilians identify as evangelical today</a>, up from just a few percentage points in 1970. In the same period, the percentage of Catholics has fallen <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/07/18/brazils-changing-religious-landscape/">from over 90%</a> to right about half.</p>
<p>By contrast, in the U.S. the term “evangelical” is reserved for theologically conservative Protestant groups, as well as Christians who have had a “born-again” experience of religious awakening. Americans also increasingly apply the term “evangelical” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/opinion/evangelical-republican.html">in a political sense</a>, to refer to predominantly white political conservatives who are affiliated with Protestant churches.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Several women in red T-shirts with pictures of Jesus dance and sing at a rally." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.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">Evangelicals pray and dance during a campaign rally for former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 9, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BrazilElections/486bc16881b846d6a1edc79d749f2c97/photo?Query=brazil%20pray&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=495&currentItemNo=8">AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, the group of people termed “evangelicals” is much more diverse in Latin America than in the United States – and it’s politically quite diverse, too. All this said, many evangelicals in Brazil do have some <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religion-and-brazilian-democracy/D9B7921525E8C676CFE11AEDC5C4102D">tendency to adopt theologically conservative</a> beliefs, such as interpreting the Bible literally.</p>
<h2>Dozens of parties</h2>
<p>A second major difference is the lack of strong partisan affiliation on Brazil’s religious right. Since the 1970s, many Americans are used to associating evangelicalism with the Republican Party. The founding of groups such as Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority helped spur <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1386573">evangelicals to become a strong base for political conservatism</a>.</p>
<p>However, there is no political party in Brazil that can claim such a strong link to evangelicals as a whole. Brazilian politics is <a href="https://doi.org/10.5129/001041521X15941508069585">famously fragmented</a>, especially on the right, and there are dozens of parties in Congress at any given time. Many parties – mostly conservative ones – court evangelicals, but none have shored up strong loyalty across the wide spectrum of evangelical denominations and churches. </p>
<p>Jair Bolsonaro personifies this weak partisanship. Bolsonaro ran for the presidency in 2018 under the Social Liberal Party, but then left the party to attempt to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50507996">form his own party</a> in 2019 after taking office. Those efforts ultimately failed, and he joined the Liberal Party <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/30/brazil-bolsonaro-officially-joins-centre-right-liberal-party">in late 2021</a>. </p>
<p>Evangelicals may support Jair Bolsonaro, but polls have shown they have little loyalty to whatever party he is affiliated with at the moment. As a result, the president cannot count on his voters to also elect his political allies. Ultimately, this very weak partisanship in the electorate weakens presidents, since they have to negotiate with <a href="https://brazilian.report/power/2018/11/13/brazilian-congress-fragmented/">a highly fragmented Congress</a>. </p>
<h2>Key issues</h2>
<p>A third difference between evangelicals in Brazil and the U.S. relates to their views on political issues. Like their counterparts in the U.S., religious conservatives in Brazil feel very strongly about issues related to sex and gender. In a striking parallel to recent controversies in U.S. public schools, Brazilian <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/05/12/i-became-scared-was-their-goal/efforts-ban-gender-and-sexuality-education-brazil">evangelicals mobilized politically over the past decade</a> to oppose efforts to teach children and teenagers tolerance on LGBTQ issues.</p>
<p>However, Brazilian evangelicals are much less conservative than their American counterparts on many other issues. This is particularly the case for topics on which U.S. evangelicals often follow cues from the Republican Party. For instance, my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12656">research shows</a> that Brazilian evangelicals from a wide range of denominations are highly supportive of environmental action such as preventing deforestation. </p>
<p>Many Brazilian evangelicals have historically tended to come from poor areas and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3875688#metadata_info_tab_contents">communities of color</a>, leading them to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religion-and-brazilian-democracy/D9B7921525E8C676CFE11AEDC5C4102D">support issues</a> such as welfare policy and affirmative action. About <a href="https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2020/01/13/50percent-dos-brasileiros-sao-catolicos-31percent-evangelicos-e-10percent-nao-tem-religiao-diz-datafolha.ghtml">1 in 3</a> Brazilian evangelicals identifies as white, versus <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/september/1-in-3-american-evangelicals-person-of-color-prri-atlas.html">2 in 3</a> in the U.S.</p>
<p>As a result, they are likely to be attracted to President Bolsonaro for his conservative stances on gender and sexuality. However, they may penalize him for his <a href="https://apnews.com/article/jair-bolsonaro-science-caribbean-forests-brazil-580acb5091b553a5a0b5b7028c818b7a">very weak record of environmental protection</a> as well as what is generally recognized as poor performance <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2021/11/13/president-jair-bolsonaro-is-bad-for-brazils-economy">on the economy</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/bolsonaro-faces-crimes-against-humanity-charge-over-covid-19-mishandling-5-essential-reads-170332">COVID-19</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in a pink shirt and straw hat walks by three large campaign posters on a wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.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">Electoral merchandise with images of former President Lula are displayed on a street in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 20, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BrazilElections/1b36d069b3bf41dcbc134f7a02f9d76d/photo?Query=brazil%20elections&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=5204&currentItemNo=14">AP Photo/Eraldo Peres</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tea leaves</h2>
<p>What does this mean for the upcoming presidential election? Bolsonaro is again attracting evangelicals, though not yet as strongly as in 2018. New evidence indicates that <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2022/09/campanha-eleitoral-e-minoria-barulhenta-nos-cultos-evangelicos.shtml?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsfolha">only about a quarter</a> of evangelical churches are getting involved in the campaign so far this year – a substantially lower share <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168021990204">than what my co-authors and I documented in 2018</a>.</p>
<p>However, particular churches are still taking a strong stance. Brazil’s most politically engaged Pentecostal church, <a href="https://polarjournal.org/2021/08/31/far-right-messianism-and-urban-religious-reassembling-in-brazil/">the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God</a>, is urging its followers to begin a monthlong “fast” from secular news sources. This will presumably increase the political influence of church leaders, including the church’s head, Bishop Edir Macedo, who is an ardent Bolsonaro supporter.</p>
<p>Like their U.S. counterparts, Brazilian evangelicals tend to be highly religious and believe that <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2022/09/datafolha-56-dizem-que-politica-e-valores-religiosos-devem-andar-juntos.shtml?utm_source=newsletter&%E2%80%A6">religion should influence politics</a>. What that means in 2022, however, is harder to divine than ever. After Bolsonaro’s four years in office, evangelicals may well judge him by his track record, not just by his promises – which could be both a blessing and a curse for him.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190509/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Erica Smith currently receives funding from an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, as well as a Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Professorship at Iowa State University. Research reported in this article was previously funded by a Fulbright Fellowship, a Luce/ACLS Fellowship in Religion, Journalism, and International Affairs, a Wilson Center Fellowship, and a Seed Grant from the Global Religion Research Initiative. She sits on the Research Council of Instituto Civis, as well as the editorial boards of a number of journals, including the Journal of Democracy. She also sits on the Ames Community School Board in Ames, Iowa, USA.</span></em></p>Trump and Bolsonaro use religion in similar ways, but there are key differences between the two countries’ evangelical communities – and politics.Amy Erica Smith, Associate Professor of Political Science as well as Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Professor, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1906232022-09-20T12:40:06Z2022-09-20T12:40:06ZWhy Pope Francis chose to highlight religious freedom during his visit to Kazakhstan<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485142/original/file-20220916-21-lnaulc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C36%2C8106%2C5314&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis on his three-day trip to Kazakhstan in September 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/KazakhstanPope/e1a68ef5904943aa991b720d08f27266/photo?Query=Kazakhstan%20Pope&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=548&currentItemNo=62">AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pope Francis spent three days in Kazakhstan, starting Sept. 13, 2022, to attend the Seventh <a href="https://religions-congress.org/en/news/infografika/136">Congress of World and Traditional Religions</a>. The pope met with religious leaders, called for increased religious freedom and <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2022/september/documents/20220914-kazakhstan-congresso.html">condemned religious justifications for war and violence</a>. </p>
<p>The pope’s appeal for peace in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan was especially significant in light of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-pope-francis-china-kazakhstan-a73b592396e8220479588f562bdda031">Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine</a>, which he called “senseless.” </p>
<p>Most Christians in Kazakhstan <a href="https://ucs.nd.edu/learn/kazakhstan/">belong to the Russian Orthodox Church</a>, whose leader, <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/03/08/moscow-patriarch-stokes-orthodox-tensions-with-war-remarks/">Patriarch Kirill, has justified the Russian invasion as a moral crusade</a>. Francis had hoped to meet with Kirill, who chose <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-patriarch-no-meeting-pope/32019662.html">not to attend the congress</a>. In Kirill’s absence, Francis addressed his remarks to the Russian Orthodox delegation.</p>
<p>As a scholar who has spent over <a href="https://asu.academia.edu/EugeneClay">30 years studying Christianity</a> in the former Soviet Union, I’ve followed the pope’s visit with keen interest. He has chosen to highlight the causes of peace and religious freedom – matters of particular concern to Kazakhstan’s Catholic minority.</p>
<h2>Christianity in Kazakhstan</h2>
<p>Although Kazakhstan is predominantly Muslim, over 4 million Kazakhstanis profess Christianity. This represents <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/kazakhstan/">over a quarter of the country’s total population of 19 million</a>. Over 80% of Kazakhstan’s Christians are ethnic Russians.</p>
<p>Christian missionaries brought their gospel to Central Asia as early as the third century after Christ. By the seventh century, Christians had established important centers along the Silk Road, the trading routes from China to Constantinople.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Church-of-the-East">Assyrian Church of the East</a>, a branch of Christianity that developed in the <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Sasanian_Empire/">Persian Empire</a>, had a significant presence on the territory of Kazakhstan <a href="https://astanatimes.com/2016/09/evidence-of-ancient-assyrian-church-discovered-in-kazakhstan/">well into the 12th century</a>.</p>
<p>After the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40379005">Muslim conquest of Central Asia</a> in the seventh and eighth centuries, Christianity slowly lost influence and began a long decline. In the 14th century, Franciscan missionaries from Italy <a href="https://catholic-kazakhstan.org/hronika/">briefly created a diocese</a> in today’s southeastern Kazakhstan.</p>
<h2>The Russian conquest</h2>
<p>In the 17th century, Russia began its expansion into Siberia and the northern Kazakh steppes. Cossack soldiers, who belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church, <a href="https://e-history.kz/en/news/show/7165/">established military outposts</a>, where they also practiced their faith. In addition, the “<a href="https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-russian-old-believers-cling-to-faith-amid-uncertain-future">Old Believers</a>” – religious dissenters who broke with the official Orthodox church over ritual questions – fled to Siberia and northern Kazakhstan to escape persecution. Old Believers continue to maintain their communities in eastern Kazakhstan’s Altay Mountains.</p>
<p>The Russian conquest of Central Asia in 1860s and 1870s further increased the numbers of Christian settlers in the region. In 1871, the Russian Orthodox Church <a href="https://e-history.kz/en/e-resources/show/13460/">established the Diocese of Turkestan</a>, which included much of today’s Kazakhstan. The diocesan center was the town of Vernyi, which is now called Almaty and is Kazakhstan’s largest city. </p>
<p>The Russian Orthodox Church also tried, with limited success, to convert the nomadic Kazakhs, who practiced Islam. In 1881, it created a special missionary society <a href="https://www.pravenc.ru/text/1840155.html">to preach the gospel to the Kazakhs</a>. The mission translated the Bible and some liturgical texts into Kazakh. Despite these efforts, most Kazakhs remained Muslim.</p>
<p>Seeking new farmland, German Mennonites and Russian evangelical Christians settled in Kazakhstan in the <a href="http://baptist.kz/history-union/">late 19th and early 20th centuries</a>. These colonists established a Protestant presence in this increasingly diverse territory.</p>
<h2>Religion in Soviet Kazakhstan</h2>
<p>The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, which overthrew the imperial government, ushered in a period of severe <a href="https://e-history.kz/en/news/show/7164/">anti-religious persecution</a>. Most churches and mosques were closed by 1939. The Soviet authorities also forced the <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Silent_Steppe/R0xpAAAAMAAJ?hl=en">Kazakh nomads to settle in collective farms</a>, destroying their traditional way of life.</p>
<p>Kazakhstan became the site of a chain of collective labor camps housing political prisoners. In campaigns of ethnic cleansing, the Soviet government <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/235168">deported thousands</a> of Poles and Germans to Kazakhstan in the 1930s and 1940s. Most of Kazakhstan’s small community of Catholics, which numbers about 125,000, descends from these deportees.</p>
<h2>Religious persecution today</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hundreds of people seated in rows in an open ground in Nur-Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.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">People attend a Mass presided over by Pope Francis at the Expo Grounds in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 14, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/KazakhstanPope/a9d493adf65e436a871f48d746717e27/photo?Query=pope%20Kazakhstan&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=322&currentItemNo=118">AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan/Independent-Kazakhstan">Kazakhstan became an independent country</a>. According to the <a href="https://ghdx.healthdata.org/record/kazakhstan-census-2009">latest census, conducted in 2009</a>, about 70% of the population professes Islam. Christianity, at 26%, is the second-largest religion.</p>
<p>Pope Francis specifically called for Kazakhstan to increase religious liberty, which he described as a <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2022/september/documents/20220914-kazakhstan-congresso.html">“basic, primary and inalienable right</a>.” The <a href="https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2753">human rights organization Forum 18</a> reported that in the calendar year 2021, Kazakhstani authorities convicted at least 114 people and five organizations for exercising their religious faith without state permission. Such convictions usually result in heavy fines. For example, <a href="https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2753">police raided the worship service of an unregistered Baptist congregation</a> in the town of Oral in January 2021. Church leaders each had to pay one month’s average wage for the violation. </p>
<p>Despite their significant numbers, Christians – especially those in smaller denominations – have experienced persecution. In <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2011-10-17/kazakhstan-new-law-on-religion-enacted">2011, Kazakhstan adopted a law on religion</a> that instituted a laborious process of registration for religious organizations. According to the U.S. Office of International Religious Freedom, Kazakhstani authorities <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/kazakhstan/">arrest and imprison people for their religious beliefs</a>. For example, in 2019 <a href="https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2521">three pastors of Almaty’s New Life Pentecostal Church </a> were each sentenced to prison terms ranging from four to five years for their religious activities. </p>
<p>For their part, Kazakhstan’s leaders have been more concerned about ensuring the security and stability of the state than advancing individual religious liberty. They have preferred to favor what they consider to be <a href="https://eurasianet.org/examining-kazakhstans-religious-contradiction">traditional world religions</a> such as <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/kazakhstan/">Hanafi Sunni Islam, the Russian Orthodox Church, Catholicism, Lutheranism and Judaism</a>. To this end, in 2003 the president of Kazakhstan created the <a href="https://religions-congress.org/en/news/uchastniki-I">Congress of World and Traditional Religions</a>.</p>
<p>Pope Francis chose this venue to voice his concerns about the controversial topics of peace and of religious freedom. Time will tell whether or not his appeals have any success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190623/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Eugene Clay receives funding from Social Science Research Council, the International Research and Exchanges Board, the National Endowment for the Humanities.</span></em></p>Christianity is the second-largest religion in Kazakhstan, with 26% of the population practicing the faith. But many Christians, especially in the smaller denominations, have experienced persecution.J. Eugene Clay, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1904922022-09-16T12:17:56Z2022-09-16T12:17:56ZQueen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne at a time of deep religious divisions and worked to bring tolerance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484357/original/file-20220913-4826-8wgrqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1941%2C1339&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In her efforts to build a new relationship with the Catholic Church, Queen Elizabeth II had interactions with several pontiffs. She is seen here with Pope John Paul II. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BritainQueensReignPhotoGallery/bc023d4fdcf446b1a44081e39bf7facd/photo?Query=queen%20Pope%20John%20Paul%20II&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=48&currentItemNo=20">AP Photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Pool, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thousands of Christian cathedrals and churches <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/13/1104560863/queen-elizabeth-ii-is-the-second-longest-reigning-monarch-in-history">rang their bells</a> for an hour at noon the day after Queen Elizabeth II died in honor of the 96-year-old monarch and her 70 years of service as queen of the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>The ringing of church bells across the country on the death of the monarch is a custom dating back to the early 13th century in Great Britain. As an <a href="https://college.holycross.edu//faculty/jpierce/">expert in medieval liturgy</a> and longtime participant in official <a href="https://www.usccb.org/committees/ecumenical-interreligious-affairs/interreligious">dialogue between</a> the Episcopal Church – a member of the community of global Anglican churches – and the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, the sound had a special poignance for me, and I thought of the queen’s lifelong commitment to British religious life. </p>
<p>Based on her Christian faith, the Queen encouraged dialogue and tolerance among different Christian churches and with other religions as well. This is especially true of the two oldest faiths in Great Britain: Catholicism and Judaism. </p>
<p>But to appreciate the significance of her efforts, it is necessary to understand the complicated history of these religions in the United Kingdom. </p>
<h2>‘Defender of the Faith’</h2>
<p>For centuries, English monarchs reigned as king or queen of England. But since the 16th century, they have also <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/06/03/elizabeth-iis-70-years-as-head-of-the-church-of-england/">held the titles</a> Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. </p>
<p>King Henry VIII received the title <a href="https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2020/07/defender-of-the-faith.html">Defender of the Faith</a> from Pope Leo X, then head of the Catholic Church, in 1521 after the king published a rebuttal of the ideas of Martin Luther, whose reforms launched the Protestant Reformation. Henry retained this title even after later breaking from the authority of the pope, titling himself Head of the Church in England. </p>
<p>With the exception of his Catholic successor – his daughter Mary I – all British monarchs have retained this title.</p>
<p>In the 17th century, some of the kings of England became personally sympathetic toward Catholicism. This was so unpopular that in 1689, <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/religion/overview/catholicsnonconformists-/#">Parliament passed a Bill of Rights</a>, forbidding Catholics from ascending to the throne; it remains in force today. Until the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-32073399">sovereigns were forbidden</a> to even marry Catholics.</p>
<p>After the 1707 passage of the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/heritage/articlesofunion.pdf">Articles of Union</a>, these kings and queens reigned over an expanded realm consisting of England, Scotland and Ireland – the United Kingdom – but retained leadership only of the Church of England, the Anglican Church.</p>
<p>Most Irish were Catholic, while the <a href="https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/about-us/our-structure">Church of Scotland was Presbyterian</a>. This Protestant church eliminated the ancient office of bishop and placed leadership in the hands of ordinary pastors, called presbyters or elders. </p>
<p>In the Articles of Union, the British monarch <a href="https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/about-us/church-law/church-constitution#article1">guaranteed the rights of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland</a>, and every monarch since has sworn an oath to uphold them upon ascending to the throne.</p>
<p>No such protection was guaranteed to any other church or religion.</p>
<h2>Continuing problems in Catholic Ireland</h2>
<p>In 1649, King Charles I, who favored Catholicism, was <a href="https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/british-civil-wars">deposed and executed by Parliament</a> after a bloody civil war. The <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/40084/chapter-abstract/341041967?redirectedFrom=fulltext">invasion of Catholic Ireland</a> by Oliver Cromwell, a former member of Parliament, followed soon after, resulting in brutal massacres. Although the English monarchy was <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/430/chapter-abstract/135223697?redirectedFrom=fulltext">restored in England and Ireland</a> in 1660, restrictions on Catholics in Ireland and Britain continued long after. </p>
<p>The freedoms of non-Anglican groups, including Jews, continued to be curtailed through <a href="http://moses.law.umn.edu/irishlaws/intro.html">penal laws</a> until the 19th century. Tensions between Catholic Irish and Anglican British continued <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74373-4_4">even after the laws were repealed</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2010.01.016">They worsened</a> when the Irish economy and population were devastated by the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliamentandireland/overview/the-great-famine/">Irish Potato Famine</a>, beginning in 1845, and Parliament was slow to respond.</p>
<h2>Judaism in England</h2>
<p>For two centuries, small communities of Jews in Britain lived quietly, protected by the British monarchy. They faced growing hostility in the 13th century due to the Crusades, religious wars to capture the Holy Land from its Muslim rulers, when Christian attitudes toward “foreign” religions hardened. </p>
<p>Since only <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2854044">Jews were allowed to lend money and collect interest</a> – Christians considered this a sin – nobles in debt began to accuse Jewish lenders of “usury,” charging exorbitant interest on loans. They pressured the crown to take action, and in 1290, King Edward I <a href="https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/::ognode-637356::/files/download-resource-printable-pdf-5">expelled all Jews from the kingdom</a>. They were not allowed to return until the 17th century by law. </p>
<p>Under Cromwell, Jews were unofficially allowed to return to England. Some were already residents there, including <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Jews_of_Britain_1656_to_2000/RNyvgPAuvhAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA26&printsec=frontcover">New Christians</a> – Spanish Jews who had at least superficially converted to Christianity to avoid expulsion from Spain after 1492. Gradually, other groups of openly Jewish refugees were unofficially <a href="https://victorianweb.org/religion/judaism/gossman2.html">allowed to resettle in England</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of young people waving while aboard a ship." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young Jewish refugees arrive in Harwich, England, from Germany, on Dec. 2, 1937.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PersecutedJewsInEngland1937/251d7cb657524bacb21b401978c990c9/photo?Query=jews%20england&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=28&currentItemNo=22">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Jewish immigration increased throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, restrictions were lifted and Jewish business <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29778906">became an important part of</a> the British economy. <a href="https://theconversation.com/bevis-marks-britains-oldest-synagogue-is-central-to-londons-history-heres-why-it-needs-protecting-170326">Synagogues were constructed</a> in London and <a href="https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/leeds/articles/leeds-vic3.htm">other major British cities</a> at this time, and worship was openly permitted. <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/21-22/49/enacted">The Jews Relief Act of 1858</a> granted Jews the right to serve in Parliament. Despite this, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-judaism/jews-of-great-britain-16501815/627C706CD6DF45A84E64140F287DBFD5">antisemitism remained a strong part</a> of British social and cultural life.</p>
<h2>The queen and the past</h2>
<p>In the early decades of the 20th century, British monarchs <a href="https://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/visiting-the-pope-the-monarchs-private-visit">began to adopt a more tolerant attitude</a>. The Queen’s great-grandfather, King Edward VII, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/british-history-after-1450/monarchy-and-british-nation-1780-present?format=PB">took some important first steps</a>. But Queen Elizabeth II made dialogue with non-Anglican Christian churches and non-Christian religious communities <a href="https://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/whats-on/news/statement-on-her-majesty-queen-elizabeth-ii-1">a priority during her reign</a>, <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/united-kingdom/#:%7E:text=Census%20figures%20from%202011%2C%20the,percent%20Jewish%3B%20and%200.4%20Buddhist">recognizing the increasing reality of Great Britain</a>, especially England, as a multifaith nation. </p>
<p>In 1951, two years before Queen Elizabeth II took the throne, she met privately with Pope Pius XII – almost 400 years after Queen Elizabeth I was <a href="https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/PapalBull1570_M/index.htm">officially excommunicated</a> by Pope Pius V for taking the title Supreme Head of the Church of England. </p>
<p>Queen Elizabeth II had a private audience with Pope John XXIII 10 years later – only the second reigning monarch of the U.K. to visit with any pope. </p>
<p>Her efforts to build a new relationship with the Catholic Church included ongoing interactions with the popes. An official state visit with Pope John Paul II followed in 1980, and that <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2020-05/john-paul-s-1982-visit-to-britain-an-extraordinary-event.html">pope made a pastoral visit to Great Britain</a> two years later — the first time any pope had ever traveled there. </p>
<p>Another private audience with John Paul II followed in 2000, and in 2010 the queen <a href="https://www.christiantoday.com/article/catholic.church.seeks.to.clarify.purpose.of.popes.visit/26105.htm">met with Pope Benedict XVI</a> during his official state visit to the U.K. In 2014, she met with Pope Francis at the Vatican, a meeting commemorating 100 years of <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252238/queen-elizabeth-met-five-popes-in-her-lifetime">renewed diplomatic relations</a> between the two sovereign states.</p>
<p>Violent resistance and tension continued in the independent Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom’s Northern Ireland over independence until the <a href="https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/accord/northern-ireland-good-friday-agreement">Good Friday peace accords</a> were approved by both sides in 1998. In 2011, the queen became the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-13420053">first reigning monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland</a>, a signal of support of the republic’s <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2022-09-09/an-historic-visit-reflections-on-queens-2011-trip-to-the-republic-of-ireland">independence</a> and what has been called one of the “<a href="https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2022-09-09/an-historic-visit-reflections-on-queens-2011-trip-to-the-republic-of-ireland">most significant</a>” acts of her long reign. </p>
<p>The Jewish community in Britain <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/queen-elizabeths-long-complex-relationship-with-the-british-jewish-community/">has also been supported</a> by the queen. Although she herself never visited Israel, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-716696">several other members of the royal family did</a>. </p>
<p>The queen also received visits from several presidents of Israel. Several times, she participated in Holocaust commemorations and visited memorials, including <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/queen-elizabeth-to-travel-to-nazi-concentration-camp/">a 2015 trip to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp</a>, 70 years after it was liberated by the Allies. And in 2022, the Church of England issued <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/church-of-england-on-christian-jewish-relations">an apology for its contribution to the expulsion of Jews</a> from England in the 13th century.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip bending down to pay homage and lay a wreath at the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen on June 26, 2015." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Elizabeth II participated in Holocaust commemorations and visited the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GermanyBritain/614ea48062434aab9398e7e622f24e51/photo?Query=queen%20visit%20concentration%20camps&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=42&currentItemNo=34">Julian Stratenschulte/Pool Photo via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2012, Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, called the queen the “<a href="https://www.rabbisacks.org/archive/the-queen-is-defender-of-all-britains-faiths/">Defender of all Britain’s Faiths</a>,” writing that, “No one does interfaith better than the Royal Family, and it begins with the Queen herself.”</p>
<h2>The king and the future</h2>
<p>Indeed, the former Prince of Wales suggested in 2015 that the title Defender of the Faith be understood more broadly, as simply “<a href="https://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/will-prince-wales-be-defender-faith-or-defender-faith">Defender of Faith</a>.” He stressed that he wanted to be seen as a defender of religious rights in general, not just the Anglican faith.</p>
<p>And when his accession was proclaimed on Sept. 10, 2022, King Charles III took the long-standing oath to preserve the rights of the Church of Scotland using the same wording that his predecessors have since the 16th century – <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/09/10/king-charles-iii-proclamation-oath-accession-council-vpx.cnn">as Defender of the Faith</a>. </p>
<p>There is little doubt that during his reign, King Charles III will continue to build on the foundation of toleration and dialogue laid down firmly by his mother. Modern Britain is a nation of many faiths, and a contemporary monarch will need to ensure that each of them is vigorously defended and warmly celebrated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190492/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I was a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the US for several years, as a Roman Catholic member appointed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.</span></em></p>Queen Elizabeth II encouraged tolerance in a multifaith United Kingdom. To appreciate the significance of her efforts, it is important to understand the country’s complicated religious history.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1859362022-07-01T12:16:38Z2022-07-01T12:16:38ZMany anti-abortion activists before Roe were liberals who were inspired by 20th-century Catholic social teaching<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471951/original/file-20220630-16-une4wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C2964%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A 1973 photo shows an estimated 5,000 people, women and men, marching around the Minnesota Capitol building protesting the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MINNEAPOLISANTIABORTIONRALLY/4483f8b574e4da11af9f0014c2589dfb/photo?Query=Minnesota%20Capitol%20building%201973&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf">Supreme Court decision</a> reversing Roe v. Wade’s protection for abortion rights was a predictably partisan ruling. All of the justices appointed by Republican presidents voted to uphold the Mississippi law restricting abortion, while all three appointed by Democratic presidents dissented. </p>
<p>In keeping with this partisan trend, the <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/06/24/abortion-laws-by-state/">states that are currently restricting abortion</a> are in the Republican strongholds of the South, Midwest, Great Plains and Mountain West. <a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/state-actions-to-protect-and-expand-access-to-abortion-services/">Those that are protecting abortion access</a> are Democratic and are heavily concentrated in the Northeast and the West Coast. </p>
<p>But that was not the case at the time of the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973. Both before and immediately after the Roe v. Wade decision, many prominent Republicans, such as <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/betty-ford-activist-first-lady">first lady Betty Ford</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/12/archives/rockefeller-signing-abortion-bill-credits-womens-groups.html">New York Gov. and later Vice President Nelson Rockefeller</a>, supported abortion rights. At the same time, some liberal Democrats spoke out against abortion rights, including <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-mtblog-2009-08-kennedy_abortion_catholic-story.html">Sen. Edward M. Kennedy</a>, vice presidential candidate <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/21790/sargent-shriver-remembered-for-public-service-and-pro-life-stand">Sargent Shriver</a> and his wife <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/opinion/31douthat.html">Eunice Kennedy Shriver</a>, as well as civil rights activist <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1988/05/21/jacksons-reversal-on-abortion/dd9e1637-020d-447b-9329-95ec67e41fd5/">Jesse Jackson</a>.</p>
<p>The anti-abortion movement was <a href="https://currentpub.com/2021/05/24/texas-and-massachusetts-a-tale-of-two-states/">strongest in the heavily Catholic, reliably Democratic states of the Northeast</a>, and its supporters believed that their campaign for the rights of the unborn accorded well with the liberal principles of the Democratic Party. </p>
<p>When I researched the early history of the anti-abortion movement for my book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/defenders-of-the-unborn-9780199391646?cc=us&lang=en&">Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement before Roe v. Wade</a>,” one surprising finding was that the pre-Roe anti-abortion movement was filled with liberal Democrats who had supported the federal anti-poverty initiatives associated with President <a href="https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/franklin-delano-roosevelt-and-the-new-deal/">Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal</a> in the 1930s and <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/presidents/lyndonbjohnson">President Lyndon Johnson’s social programs in the 1960s</a>. They wanted to couple abortion restrictions with additional efforts to fight poverty and expand government-funded health care. </p>
<h2>Catholic and Democrat</h2>
<p>Most of the pre-Roe anti-abortion activists in the United States were inspired by <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html">20th-century Catholic social teaching</a> that connected the right to life for the unborn with a larger ethic of concern for the less fortunate. Like the <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/10/13/explainer-history-catholic-vote-united-states-republican-democrat">majority of Catholic voters</a> at the time, many were Democrats, and they hoped that a party that championed the poor would likewise be interested in protecting fetal life. </p>
<p>Many of them, in keeping with the teachings of their church, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7286166/">held conservative views on issues of sex and reproduction</a>. They also, in keeping with <a href="https://www.usccb.org/upload/economic_justice_for_all.pdf">Catholic social teaching</a>, believed that the state had a responsibility to care for the poorest of its citizens and therefore supported liberal Democratic economic initiatives. </p>
<p>Many of these abortion opponents, including the liberal Republican <a href="https://www.archbalt.org/pro-life-anti-war-hatfield-had-high-regard-for-and-from-catholics/">Sen. Mark Hatfield</a>, an evangelical Baptist, and the Lutheran minister <a href="https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2019/01/48442/">Richard John Neuhaus</a>, who later converted to Catholicism, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/190234924/">opposed the Vietnam War</a>, which they believed was a violation of the right to life, just as abortion was. </p>
<p>They did not want to condemn women who resorted to abortion, but instead hoped to offer them social assistance that would help them avoid that choice. “It’s not so much that the woman rejects the child as that society rejects the pregnant woman,” <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/184640443/?terms=%22edythe%20thompson%22&match=1">Edythe Thompson</a>, a member of the student organization Save Our Unwanted Life, which characterized itself as “<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/6/2/451/htm">an extremely liberal group</a>,” declared in 1971. </p>
<h2>Shift to the political right</h2>
<p>After Roe, the anti-abortion movement’s defense of fetal rights came into conflict with the feminist movement’s insistence that <a href="https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2022/02/23/abortion-a-womans-civil-right-feb-16-1969/">abortion rights were nonnegotiable women’s rights</a>. Abortion opponents often argued that abortion harmed women emotionally and physically and gave an excuse to men to abandon their responsibilities as fathers. As the anti-abortion self-described feminist <a href="https://thelifeinstitute.net/learning-centre/abortion-facts/issues/equality-for-women#">Juli Loesch</a> phrased it in the 1980s, legalized abortion meant that “a man can use a woman, vacuum her out and she’s ready to be used again.” </p>
<p>But the women’s rights movement <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/09/1062791724/activist-gloria-steinem-reflects-on-abortion-rights-as-they-hang-in-the-balance">did not accept this argument</a>, and after the mid-1970s, an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/12/congress-abortion-moderates-crossover/">increasing number of liberal Democrats</a> did not either. The Democratic Party endorsed abortion rights in its <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1976-democratic-party-platform">1976 platform</a> and strengthened this endorsement <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1988-democratic-party-platform">in the 1980s</a>. </p>
<p>Although anti-abortion activists began their movement with a strong belief in an expanded social welfare state, their search for allies in their quest to protect fetal life through public law led them into an <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/461985/pdf">alliance with conservative Republicans</a> who did not support an expanded social safety net. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471706/original/file-20220629-20-nlvrw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Ronald Reagan, wearing a black tie and black jacket, speaking to an audience." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471706/original/file-20220629-20-nlvrw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471706/original/file-20220629-20-nlvrw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471706/original/file-20220629-20-nlvrw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471706/original/file-20220629-20-nlvrw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471706/original/file-20220629-20-nlvrw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471706/original/file-20220629-20-nlvrw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471706/original/file-20220629-20-nlvrw2.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">President Ronald Reagan addressing a Conservative Political Action Conference on March 3, 1984, in Washington, D.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ReaganAtConservativeConference/26d336aaf1f04492a3ccc85e2eee214b/photo?Query=reagan%20abortion&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=8&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Scott Stewart</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ronald Reagan’s support for a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/07/us/reagan-says-ban-on-abortion-may-not-be-needed.html">proposed anti-abortion constitutional amendment</a> that would have banned abortion nationwide won plaudits from anti-abortion activists across the political spectrum. </p>
<p>Although Cardinal Joseph Bernardin – the archbishop of Chicago – and other political liberals in the anti-abortion movement <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/07/nyregion/excerpts-from-cardinal-bernardin-s-appeal-for-a-consistent-ehtic-of-life.html">criticized the Reagan administration’s nuclear arms buildup</a>, politically conservative opponents of abortion generally did not. The nation’s largest anti-abortion organization, the National Right to Life Committee, used its political action committee to <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300260144/dollars-for-life/">raise money</a> for any candidates who would vote to restrict abortion and said nothing about the Reagan administration’s stance on nuclear arms, because its leaders believed that the fastest route to reverse Roe v. Wade was to work with all politicians who opposed abortion rights. In practice, this meant that most of the candidates the organization supported were Republicans, especially after the early 1990s. </p>
<p>With only a few exceptions, anti-abortion activists largely abandoned the goal of expanding maternal and prenatal health care or treated this as a distant secondary priority to their main task of legally restricting abortion. </p>
<p>As late as 1995, the National Right to Life Committee <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK230343/">expressed concern</a> that a conservative welfare reform that both President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress supported would increase the abortion rate by restricting social assistance to low-income unmarried women who had additional children. By the 21st century, however, concerns about social welfare cuts were no longer on its agenda as it became increasingly <a href="https://time.com/6190861/roe-v-wade-supreme-court-politicized-abortion/">focused on shifting the Supreme Court to the right</a> to overturn Roe v. Wade. </p>
<p>The movement of large numbers of <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/6/2/451">Southern white evangelicals</a> into the anti-abortion movement also encouraged this conservative turn. Unlike many Northern Catholics, Southern white evangelicals had a deep antipathy to the social welfare state, and when they <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/south-abortion-pro-life-protestants-catholics/629779/">became anti-abortion activists in the 1980s</a>, their political efforts focused almost entirely on abortion restrictions, not anti-poverty initiatives. </p>
<h2>The anti-abortion movement’s politics today</h2>
<p>By the time the Supreme Court reversed Roe, the anti-abortion movement had become so thoroughly allied with conservative Republican politics that it was difficult to imagine a time when liberal Democrats who supported an expanded welfare state were leaders in the movement. </p>
<p>But some abortion opponents are already <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/july-august/dalrymple-end-roe-v-wade-abortion-adoption-foster.html">realizing the limits of a strategy</a> that is narrowly focused on fighting abortion only through legal restrictions. They are <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/06/07/why-believe-better-family-policies-will-reduce-abortions-well-theres-the-data/">calling for renewed efforts to secure family leave policies</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/06/anti-abortion-movement-dobbs-roe-overturned/661393/">economic assistance for low-income pregnant women</a>. </p>
<p>If some abortion opponents focus on this goal now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, it will not be a new approach for the movement. Rather, it will be a revival of the original ethos that the founders of the movement proposed more than half a century ago, before Roe v. Wade was even issued.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185936/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel K. Williams received a research fellowship from the James Madison Program at Princeton University in 2011-12.</span></em></p>A historian explains why the pre-Roe anti-abortion movement was filled with liberal Democrats who opposed the Vietnam War and supported the expansion of the welfare state.Daniel K. Williams, Professor of History, University of West GeorgiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.