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An exorcism course being held in Rome this week has drawn about 250 priests from dozens of countries. There is an increasing demand for exorcisms throughout the world. Topics the course covers include how to identify demonic possession, witchcraft in Africa, how to tell the difference between demonic possession and mental illness, and the rituals Read more
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A Vatican ruling on giving Communion to Protestants is being sought. According to draft guidelines approved by the German Bishops’ Conference in February, Protestant spouses may receive Communion after making a “serious examination of conscience”. The Bishops’ Conference says they must also affirm “the faith of the Catholic Church”, and wish to end “serious spiritual Read more
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The new Chief of Protocol of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State is Msgr. Joseph Murphy. Murphy, who is 49, succeeds Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt. Read more Related Posts:The teens who serve the Pope inside the VaticanVatican communications chief resigns after media botchNew papal diplomat department establishedVatican children’s hospital president guilty
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During the long reign of Pope John Paul II the Vatican’s semi-official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, was regularly derided as the church’s version of Pravda – the propaganda rag that the Communist Party in the former Soviet Union disseminated each day under the banner of “Truth.” The Vatican paper, which had devolved into a receptacle of Read more
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The Vatican admits an image of a letter it sent the media last week did not include the full copy. In the media release, only part of a five-paragraph letter from Emeritus Pope Benedict was visible. The bottom two lines of the first page and all but Benedict’s signature on the second page were obscured. Read more
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China is backing enhanced international collaboration to help fight global organ trafficking. At an organ trafficking summit at the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences this week, Wang Haibo said global collaboration could start with sharing information and developing a coding system. Wang, who is head of the China Organ Transplant Response System, suggested China’s organ Read more
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Forty gay priests and seminarians are implicated in a 1,200-page document claiming they used a male escort. The escort Francesco Mangiacapra gave the documents to Cardinal Cresenzio Sepe of Naples, who passed it on to the Vatican. The document is said to contain social media conversations and photos showing priests and seminarians are actively interested in Read more
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The Vatican has invited hackers to its first-ever hackathon. The four-day coding marathon event began yesterday. The hackathon, called VHacks, has brought together people from all faiths as well as those who have no faith. In this, computer scientists, developers and designers use technology to solve global problems. Read more Related Posts:The pope’s runners debut Read more
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Fashion icons Versace and Vogue have joined forces with the Vatican to showcase the Church’s influence on fashion. Liturgical vestments with intricate patchworks of gold and silver thread embroidery, jewelled mitres and historic papal tiaras (one comprising 18,000 diamonds) have been provided for the exhibition by the Sistine Chapel sacristy. In all, raiment from 15 Read more
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On April 1, 1987, the most popular artists, actors, fashion designers, writers and musicians in America converged on St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Liza Minnelli showed up, along with Calvin Klein, Tom Wolfe and George Plimpton. Yoko Ono arrived a bit early; she was giving a speech. One could have easily mistaken Andy Warhol’s Read more
