In second meeting amid donation theft row, trust announces reconstituted committee of seers to oversee religious affairs of temple; secretary to be appointed on interim basis until CEO is picked
Asia’s only dedicated exorcism centre – designed to train not only Philippine priests but clergy from across the region – sits just off a busy thoroughfare in Metro Manila. Inside, neatly made-up rooms for visiting priests line warmly lit halls that lead to a chapel where the 400-year-old ritual takes place. Holy relics employed in the proceedings line one wall, another features a one-way mirror that allows family members and novice exorcists to observe. The Michael Centre for Spiritual...
When Uttarakhand’s indigenous Rung community stopped a group from installing a Shivling near Om Parvat, which they consider sacred, the dispute was about far more than an idol. Ishita Mishra finds that the Rungs, who worship Shiva in the form of mountains and rivers of the Himalayas, feared the installation would mark the beginning of a larger transformation, which would erode their centuries-old traditions and turn a sacred natural landscape into a commercial pilgrimage site
The Vatican on Thursday excommunicated six bishops from the ultraconservative Society of St Pius X and said any lay believers who “formally adhere” to the group would suffer the same fate. The Vatican decree comes a day after the traditionalist breakaway group consecrated four new bishops, defying a plea from Pope Leo not to do so. The decree called the ceremony “an act of schismatic nature”. For the Holy See, consecrating bishops without the approval of the pope is a direct act of...