Snakes, apples, original sin – What more is there to say?
NEW YORK – If the story of the Garden of Eden is such a common cultural reference point, what more can be said about it? Plenty, at least judging by a new exhibit at the Museum of Biblical Art, which...
View ArticleBarbie as the Virgin Mary? Ken as Jesus? Italian Catholics are not amused
ROME – Barbie has had a number of careers in her 55 years — flight attendant, veterinarian, astronaut, even president. Her latest role, however, is raising eyebrows. Italy’s Catholic bishops are...
View ArticleArt forger once posed as a Jesuit priest to give his work away
WASHINGTON — If you are of the mind that it is better to give than to receive, then this story is for you. It has to do with Mark Landis. He has spent much of his adult life as an art forger. And he...
View ArticleProvocative Argentine exhibit of Barbies is pulled
Barbie has long been an icon, just not a holy one. A provocative art exhibit featuring Barbie fashion dolls as religious figures such as the Virgin Mary and her boyfriend Ken as a crucified Jesus...
View ArticleVatican updates Sistine Chapel to try to preserve the frescoes
VATICAN CITY – The Sistine Chapel has a brighter, cooler new look. The Vatican on Wednesday unveiled a state-of-the art illumination and air conditioning system designed to better show off the chapel’s...
View ArticleExhibit of sacred Catholic art embraces a contemporary vision
LATROBE, Pa. — The late Benedictine Brother Nathan Cochran may have lived as a monk. But he was no recluse. As curator of a Catholic art exhibit, he wanted to showcase examples of religious art as...
View ArticleIrish artist John Dunne on ‘soul art’
Renowned Irish artist John Dunne talks about how the work that flows from the artist has the capacity to touch the soul of the viewer and becomes a spiritual experience.
View ArticleFrom Red Guard propaganda artist to papal portraitist
VATICAN CITY — Artist Shen Jiawei’s paintings of Chinese soldiers during the Cultural Revolution were so popular with Mao’s regime that 250,000 copies of his most famous work were made into propaganda...
View ArticleVatican drops image of bound woman after complaints
ROME — Following complaints, the Vatican’s cultural office has removed an image of a naked female torso bound in ropes that was used to advertise a women’s conference. The Pontifical Council for...
View ArticleMuslim family carves chair for papal Mass
ZAVIDOVICI, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Salem Hajdarovac says he didn’t sleep for a week when he heard his workshop had been granted the honor of carving a special chair that Pope Francis will sit on during...
View ArticleRembrandt’s influence lives on in ‘Lamentation’
Easter Sunday is the day Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most joyous and triumphant event in the Christian year. According to Christian faith, that ascension to eternal life...
View Article‘An Act of God’ adapts tweets to Broadway
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — God has been good to David Javerbaum. God’s Twitter account (well, @TheTweetOfGod, an account created by Javerbaum that posts witticisms in the name of God) has nearly 2 million...
View ArticleKnotty exhibit planned for pope symbolizes life’s challenges
PHILADELPHIA — A knotty exhibit being created for Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Philadelphia will honor the pontiff’s teachings by letting visitors acknowledge the challenges in their daily lives. The...
View ArticlePope joining cast of characters on Philadelphia buildings
Philadelphia boasts a large and colorful cast of characters painted on buildings across the city — and now Pope Francis will join the crowd. Officials announced Thursday that hundreds of residents and...
View ArticleHomeless Jesus statue on display outside Detroit church
DETROIT — A statue of a homeless Jesus sleeping on a park bench has been unveiled in front of a downtown Detroit church that serves as a warming center for the homeless. The bronze sculpture was...
View ArticleCondom portrait of Pope Benedict criticized by archbishop
MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Art Museum has handled dozens of complaints from angry Catholics and others over its plans to display a portrait of Pope Benedict that is made from 17,000 condoms. Milwaukee...
View ArticlePope Francis to see ‘Homeless Jesus’ during US visit
WASHINGTON — When Pope Francis approaches the Catholic Charities building in downtown Washington during his US visit in September, he will encounter a “homeless person” covered in a blanket lying on a...
View ArticleColoring books for grown-ups: Calming — but a spiritual practice?
Alison Gary used to go to church on Sunday mornings, but lately she’s embraced a different ritual: staying home and coloring with her 6-year-old daughter, Emerson. These days “I’m more into having time...
View ArticleFinishing touches on a lifelong dream: Tiny church turns heads in Kansas bank
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Manhattan residents Joe and Patricia Beaudet were devout Catholics who spoke often in their later years of building a miniature church — one with painstaking detail that reflected the...
View ArticleNew Mexico town of Belen in fight to keep Nativity scene
BELEN, NM— For nearly a quarter of a century, a year-round Nativity scene made of metal has rested in the little town of Belen, New Mexico. Now Belen — Spanish for Bethlehem — is fighting to keep the...
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