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By Holly Meyer and David Crary |
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By Holly Meyer and David Crary |
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Dear World of Faith readers, This week we have a look at the grim legacy of mother and baby homes in Ireland, why religion and politics don’t mix in Canada like they do in the U.S., and what Pope Leo XIV has been up to as he nears the 100-day mark of his papacy. |
Historian Catherine Corless at Tuam cemetery in Tuam, Ireland. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison) |
Just a jumble of bones.’ How a baby grave discovery has grown to haunt Ireland |
In the 1970s, two boys in Ireland discovered a pile of bones at a former mother and baby home. The mass grave, which could contain the remains of nearly 800 infants, has led to a national reckoning. Now, an excavation of the site is underway. Catherine Corless, a local historian, uncovered the grim history of the home, where unmarried mothers and their children faced harsh conditions. Survivors and relatives hope the dig leads to proper burials for the lost children. Read more.
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Ireland and the Catholic Church, once central to its identity, are grappling with the legacy of ostracizing unmarried women who they believed committed a mortal sin and separating them from children left at the mercy of a cruel system.
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Mother and baby homes were not unique to Ireland, but the church’s influence magnified the stigma on women and girls who became pregnant outside marriage. The homes opened in the 1920s after Ireland won independence from Britain. Most were run by Catholic nuns.
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A test excavation confirmed in 2017 that skeletons of babies and toddlers were in an old septic tank used by the Tuam home. A subsequent government investigation primarily blamed the children’s fathers and women’s families.
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Trump's religious rhetoric clashes with Canada's secular politics |
Throughout his new term, President Donald Trump has said he was “saved by God” to make America great again. In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney rarely evokes religion in public. As Canada and the U.S. skirmish over Trump’s tariff threats and occasional bullying, the leaders’ rhetoric reflects a striking difference between their nations. Religion plays a far more subdued role in the public sphere in Canada than in the U.S. Read more.
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Trump posed outside a vandalized Episcopal parish house gripping a Bible. He invites pastors to the Oval Office to pray with him. Such religion-themed displays would be unpopular in Canada, where political leaders generally keep quiet about their faith.
The rate of regular church attendance in Canada is far lower than in the U.S. And evangelical Christians have nowhere near the political clout in Canada that they have south of the border.
- The mostly French-speaking province of Quebec provides a distinctive example of Canada’s tilt toward secularism. The Catholic Church was Quebec’s dominant force through most of its history; now the province has one of Canada’s lowest rates of church attendance.
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Pope Leo gets rock star’s welcome at Catholic youth festival |
Pope Leo XIV surprised tens of thousands of young Catholics by showing up unexpectedly at a Holy Year ceremony, receiving a rock star’s welcome in the first big youth event of his pontificate. Leo emerged in St. Peter’s Square in his popemobile after an evening Mass that kicked off the weeklong Jubilee of Youth celebrations. Other topics on his agenda this week: human rights, the Vatican’s financial crisis, and an honor for St. John Henry Newman, an influential 19th century Anglican convert. Read more.
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In a brief off-the-cuff salute and blessing from the altar, Leo told the young pilgrims that they were beacons of light, hope and peace that the world needs today.
Downtown Rome has been swarming with energetic, singing and dancing masses of teenage Catholic scouts, church and Catholic school groups. The numbers are expected to swell to 500,000 by this weekend.
- Leo met with some of the Catholic social media influencers, warning them against neglecting human relationships in their pursuit of clicks and followers.
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