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Articles on Vatican

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The shrine at Lourdes, France, where the Virgin Mary is venerated as ‘Our Lady of Lourdes,’ following several apparitions reported in 1858. LandFoto/iStock / Getty Images Plus

Vatican centralizes investigations on claims of Virgin Mary apparitions – but local Catholics have always had a say

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.
Last week, Pope Francis repudiated a 500-year-old-decree justifying colonialism. This image is from last summer: at Lac Ste. Anne, Alta., in Canada. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

The Vatican just renounced a 500-year-old doctrine that justified colonial land theft … Now what? — Podcast

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.
Gerald Antoine, Northwest Territories regional chief and Assembly of First Nations lead delegate to Rome, is flanked by Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, left, and Cassidy Caron, Métis National Council president, in St.Peter’s Square in Rome, after their meeting with Pope Francis on April 1. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis’s apology for residential schools doesn’t acknowledge institutional responsibility

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.
Pope John Paul I, who was pope for about a month before his death, has moved one step closer to sainthood. AP Photo/Claudio Luffoli

What’s a ‘miracle’? Here’s how the Catholic Church decides

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?
People pray for the victims of child sex abuse during a special service at a Catholic church outside Paris on Oct. 5, 2021. A new French report estimates that more than 200,000 children were abused by clergy since 1950. AP Photo/Michel Euler

The Catholic Church sex abuse crisis: 4 essential reads

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.
When Pope John Paul II was beatified, Zimbabwe’s ruler, Robert Mugabe, was in attendance and given Communion. Franco Origlia/Getty Images

Controversy over Communion in the Catholic Church goes back some 2,000 years

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.

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