The Vatican plans to set up an ‘observatory’ to investigate apparitions of the Virgin Mary. A scholar of global Christianity explains why this is a major shift in how apparitions are authenticated.
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Articles on Vatican
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Investigating supernatural claims is a delicate task for the church, and Catholic leaders rarely label them as authentic.
Marco Bellochio’s series is the latest interpretation of a murder that continues to haunt Italy.
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.
Pope Francis’ papacy is anchored on what he calls a “revolution of tenderness”.
‘I see the church as a field hospital,’ Pope Francis once said – not a place where superficial solutions will do much good.
He will have a joyful welcome but a difficult task - to challenge negative values while enabling a more African Catholic church.
African Catholics are growing in number. They are also reinventing and reinterpreting Christianity.
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.
From the earliest years of Christianity, some people have been recognised as having lived exceptionally holy lives.
A scholar of philosophy and foreign policy explains why Cardinal Zen poses a threat to the Chinese Communist Party as a competing source of political authority.
Popes’ roles have changed over time. Some periods produced plenty of saintly popes, while others are notorious for the opposite.
As a theologian who studies church apologies for historical wrongs, I understand why the Pope was moved to speak this week, but I hope this was not his definitive apology.
To qualify as a Catholic ‘saint,’ someone must have two miracles credited to them. But how does the church define a miracle in the first place?
Joe Biden may be only the country’s second Catholic president, but a long line of U.S. leaders have met with popes over the years.
Pope Francis formally opened a two-year process called a “synod on synodality” for the Catholic Church on Oct. 10.
A French report on the scale of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy is the latest revelation in the crisis, but its roots go back decades – or more. Here are a few of our many related articles.
Biden is not the first public figure to whom the Catholic Church wants to deny Communion. Over the centuries, the Church has often come under criticism for either denying or giving Communion.
A debate over whether President Biden’s views on abortion disqualify him from taking Communion serves to expose a rift between US bishops and the pope, and is a threat to the church itself.
Communion is the central act of Catholic worship. So why are some US bishops trying to stop President Joe Biden – a devout Catholic – from partaking?
Top contributors
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Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
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Instructor and Associate Director, Case Western Reserve University
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Professor of Public Theology and Director of The Bernardin Center, Catholic Theological Union
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Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University, Villanova University
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Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
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Research Professor, World Christianity and African Studies, DePaul University
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Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
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President, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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Professor of Theology, Australian Catholic University
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Associate Professor, Adelaide Law School, University of Adelaide
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Timothy W. Jones is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Professor in History, La Trobe University
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Professor of Evidence Law, University of Sydney
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Director of the Yarra Institute for Religion and Social Policy, University of Divinity
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Lecturer in Ethics & Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Australia
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Associate Professor of Religious History, University of Reading
