Catholicism 
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10/25/2020
Reading Pope Francis's "Fratelli Tutti" through Carl Sandburg
by Walter G. Moss
The latest encyclical by Pope Francis, calling for recognition of the unity of humanity, echoes the egalitarian humanism of the poet and writer Carl Sandburg.
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SOURCE: The Conversation
10/19/2020
Religious Identity And Supreme Court Justices – A Brief History
by Nomi Stolzenberg
In recent decades, religious influence on the Court has been shaped by conservatives of different faiths, construed as part of a mythical Judeo-Christian tradition, coalescing around a common agenda defined less by affiliation with a religious denomination than with opposition to liberalism and secularism.
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10/18/2020
Does the "Divided Loyalty" Question Still Dog Catholic Politicians?
by D.G. Hart
Joe Biden will likely do what JFK and Al Smith did, namely, fit his faith into the norms of American politics.
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SOURCE: Mother Jones
9/24/2020
It’s Not Anti-Catholic to Ask Amy Coney Barrett About Her Religious Group “People of Praise”
People of Praise evolved in response to the reforms of Vatican II and the spiritual energy of evangelical Protestantism; former adherents say that the control the group exerts over members makes questions about Amy Comey Barrett's membership legitimate.
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SOURCE: The Way of Improvement Leads Home
9/22/2020
Amy Coney Barrett and the “Kingdom of God”
by John Fea
Liberal critics have seized on a quote from the potential Supreme Court Nominee's graduation speech to Notre Dame law students as evidence of a theocratic mindset. A historian of American religion warns the metaphor of the "kingdom of god" is widely used in political rhetoric.
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SOURCE: SFist
6/22/2020
Who Was Junipero Serra, and Why Do Activists Want His Name Stripped From Institutions and His Statues Toppled?
The architect of the Spanish Mission system in California has some defenders among historians, but Native American activists associate his legacy with genocide.
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SOURCE: Contingent
4/25/2020
Queen of Heaven, Empress of Hell
by Vanessa R. Corcoran
Contemporary depictions of Mary tend to be gentle in their holiness, but Christians centuries ago envisioned her as a powerful agent who fought for their salvation.
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6/16/19
The Vatican's Latest Official Document Is An Insult to the LGBTQ Community and History
by Ed Simon
Our understandings of romance, family, sexuality, and gender have been in flux in the past – within the Church no less – and no amount of thundering about “How the Vatican views it now is how it has always been” can change that.
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SOURCE: The Conversation
3/25/19
Why the Vatican needs to open its archives on Pope Pius XII
by Alan Avery-Peck
What do we know about his papacy and the environment in which he was working?
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SOURCE: The Conversation
3/11/19
What lessons can the clergy sex abuse crisis draw from a 4th-century church schism?
by Cavan W. Concannon
Known as the Donatist controversy, it caused a schism that lasted for centuries and offers a parallel for thinking about the impact of these crises on contemporary Christian communities today.
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SOURCE: Time
3/5/19
Pope Francis Says Secret Archives On Holocaust-Era Pope Pius XII Will Be Opened Early
“The church is not afraid of history,” Pope Francis said, announcing the move in a speech to members of the Vatican’s Secret Archives.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
2/20/19
The Catholic Church is bursting with secrets. Investigating one will unravel them all.
by Garry Wills
Secrecy in one clerical area intersects with secrecy in others.
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10-28-17
500 Years Ago Christianity Changed. It Changed Again in the 1960s.
by Patrick Lacroix
How the Reformation looks now.
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SOURCE: New York Times
3-10-14
What It Means to Be Catholic Now
by Peter Manseau
One year after the new pope's ascension, a look at where the Catholic Church stands today.
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SOURCE: Religion and Politics
2-24-13
Daniel Boorstein: A Brief History of Papal Resignations
Daniel Bornstein is Professor of History and Religious Studies and the Stella Koetter Darrow Professor of Catholic Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the vice-president of the American Catholic Historical Association, and will assume the presidency in 2014. He is the author of The Bianchi of 1399: Popular Devotion in Late Medieval Italy and the editor of Medieval Christianity, volume 4 of A People’s History of Christianity.The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, announced for February 28, is an action virtually without precedent. No pope has resigned in modern times. No pope has ever resigned for reasons of failing health. And hardly any pope—only one, really—has ever resigned the papacy voluntarily. Early examples are shrouded in obscurity, but were all obviously constrained in one way or another. Pontian (230-235) is said to have resigned after being exiled: he evidently recognized that he could not function as bishop of Rome while performing slave labor in the mines of Sardinia. Marcellinus (296-304) had the misfortune to be bishop of Rome during the great persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian. He reportedly bent to imperial pressure and offered sacrifice to the pagan gods; and as a consequence, he was either deposed or forced to abdicate.
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SOURCE: CNN
2-13-13
Why the next pope should be African
Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, was asked last week at the celebration of Black History Month in Toronto if he thought that the time was ripe for an African pope. His answer attracted much cheering from the crowd of over 500 Catholics of African descent. He said: "The time for an African pope was ripe even in the time of the Apostolic Fathers in the first century of the church. "I am not saying that I wish to be considered for the papacy, but the fact that the Gospel is to be preached to all peoples, languages, and races means that the highest leadership of the church should be open to anyone from any race, language and nation. I will not be surprised to see an African pope in my lifetime."...
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The Next Pope: What Happens Now?
by Charles Keenan
Basilica of St. Peter. Credit: Wiki Commons.In a surprise announcement this morning, Pope Benedict XVI announced his intention to resign the office of the papacy effective at 8:00 p.m. on February 28. Per the Vatican's official announcement, Benedict declared to the cardinals gathered in consistory that given his advanced age (the pope is 85 years old), he feels he lacks the physical strength to continue fulfilling the duties of the papal office.The announcement took the world, including those at the Vatican, by surprise -- a "bolt of lightning from a clear sky," one cardinal reportedly remarked. Papal resignations are not unprecedented, though they have proven extremely rare. Along with death, resignation is one of the two ways the papal office can be vacated according to canon law. Benedict will be the first pope to resign in nearly six hundred years, making his announcement all the more remarkable.
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2-11-13
Which Other Popes Have Resigned?
by David Austin Walsh
UPDATE, 2-28-13: As of 2:28 pm today, Pope Benedict XVI has stepped down from the papacy.* * * * *In an unexpected announcement today, Pope Benedict XVI stated he is resigning from the papacy as of February 28. Benedict's abdication, reportedly due to ill health, apparently took even the pope's closest advisors by surprise. Indeed, a pope hasn't stepped down from the papacy in over six hundred years, and the few instances when popes have resigned have been for reasons either more political -- or more corrupt -- than health.A look back at the confirmed instances of papal abdication:
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