FaithWorld

(Catholics attend the beatification ceremony of Opus Dei Bishop Alvaro del Portillo in Madrid September 27, 2014. Thousands of Opus Dei followers from around the world attended the open air beatification mass of the former Opus Dei leader. REUTERS/Susana Vera) (Fiona Maharg-Bravo is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

By Fiona Maharg-Bravo in Madrid

On Sept. 27, over 200,000 people gathered outside Madrid for the beatification of Alvaro del Portillo, a Spanish priest who led Opus Dei 20 years ago. It was a rare public gathering in the homeland of a Catholic organisation which typically shuns publicity. The service was attended by Spain’s Minister of the Interior and the Economy Minister. High-powered sponsors helped foot the bill. Conspiracy theorists sometimes suggest that Opus Dei is a secret powerhouse inside the economy.

It is easy to speculate, since members rarely declare their status publicly. Globally, membership of the personal prelature, the group’s status inside the Roman Catholic Church, has grown from 60,000 to 90,000 members since 1975. A third of the total is in Spain, where numbers are stable.

Beyond the members, Opus Dei, which means “work of God,” has an indeterminate number of supporters, who participate in Opus activities or send their children to schools connected with “the work,” as its members call it.

(Asia Bibi sits next to Punjab Province Governor Salman Taseer as he talks to media after visiting her inside the jail in Sheikhupura, Punjab Province November 20, 2010. Taseer was assassinated two months later by his own security guard  for defending her. REUTERS/Asad Karim)

A Pakistani court upheld the death penalty on Thursday against a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, her lawyer said, in a case that drew global headlines after two prominent politicians who tried to help her were assassinated.

In 2010, Asia Bibi, a mother of four, became the first woman to be sentenced to death under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law.

(A costumed character from the film “Book of Life” walks the red carpet in Los Angeles, California October 12, 2014. REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian)

Growing up in the Mexican border town of Tijuana, animator Jorge Gutierrez waited to see his people appear in Hollywood’s animated fare.

“I never saw myself or my family or my friends up on the screen in animation,” Gutierrez said. “I kept waiting for the Latina princess to show up, and she never did.”

(U.S. Court of Appeals building in San Francisco, 4 May 2008/Sanfranman59)

A California atheist convicted of drug possession who was found in violation of his parole and sent back to prison after he objected to a treatment program centered on belief in a higher power has won a nearly $2 million legal settlement, his attorney said on Wednesday.

Barry Hazle Jr., 46, had sued parole officials accusing them of breaching the constitutional separation of church and state, and won the payout after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found last year he was entitled to compensation for time he was unjustly held in prison.

Months of negotiations by his lawyers resulted in a settlement of $1 million from the state and $925,000 from Westcare, a company hired by parole officials to provide drug treatment for convicts. Hazle dropped his suit this week because of the settlement.

(The Sistine Chapel, as former Pope Benedict XVI met with artists on November 21, 2009. Picture taken with fish-eye lens. REUTERS/Osservatore Romano)

The Vatican will restrict the number of visitors to the Sistine Chapel to 6 million a year to protect Michelangelo’s delicate frescoes from damage caused by ever-growing crowds of tourists, an official said on Thursday.

Visitors to the chapel – where popes are elected in secret conclaves – can reach 20,000 a day in summer, with up to 2,000 people inside at a time.

(Bishops and cardinals attend a synod of bishops at the Vatican October 6, 2014. REUTERS/Max Rossi)

The Vatican made key changes to an English translation of passages about homosexuality in a divisive document on Thursday, watering down a message that had been seen as a major shift in its tone on gay people.

The alterations pointed to continued tensions between conservatives and progressive bishops at the closed-door assembly, known as a synod, which is discussing family issues such as homosexuality, divorce and birth control.

It is easy to look to religion for an explanation of why young men -- and some women -- become radicalized. But it is psychology, not theology, that offers the best tools for understanding radicalization -- and how best to undo it.

The appeal of Islamic State rests on individuals’ quest for what psychologists call “personal significance,” which the militant group’s extremist propaganda cleverly exploits. The quest for significance is the desire to matter, to be respected, to be somebody in one's own eyes and in the eyes of others.

A person’s sense of significance may be lost for many reasons, such as a personal failure or a stigma that comes from transgressing the norms of one's society. We are reminded of this when we examine the backgrounds of female suicide-bombers in Israel. The first female suicide-bomber in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was divorced by her husband after she was found to be infertile. Another would-be bomber had been disfigured by burns, believed to have been caused by her family, after she had an affair. These women suffered from personal stigma and went on to volunteer for suicidal missions against the Israelis.

(A Uighur man looks on as a truck carrying paramilitary policemen travel along a street in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region May 23, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer)

A mastermind of violence in China’s Xinjiang region in which almost 100 people were killed sought to establish an Islamic state, official media said on Wednesday, reinforcing government warnings about an Islamist threat.

A court in the far western region sentenced 12 people to death on Monday for an attack in Xinjiang’s southern Yarkant county on July 28, in which the government said 59 “terrorists” were gunned down by security forces, while 37 civilians were killed.

(A protester holds up a picture of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr during a rally at the coastal town of Qatif, against Sheikh Nimr’s arrest July 8, 2012. REUTERS/Stringer)

A Saudi judge sentenced to death a prominent cleric on Wednesday who has called for greater rights for the kingdom’s Shi’ites, the cleric’s brother said, two years after his arrest prompted deadly protests in the oil-producing east of the country.

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was detained in July 2012 following demonstrations that erupted in February 2011 in Qatif district, home to many of the Sunni-ruled country’s Shi’ite minority.

(Palestinians from Gaza pray in front of the Dome of the Rock  in Jerusalem’s Old City October 5, 2014. REUTERS/Ammar Awad)

Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters and shut down access to Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound on Monday in a deepening dispute over access to the area, the third holiest shrine in Islam which is also revered by Jews.

The site in Jerusalem’s walled Old City has seen a marked increase in unrest in recent days as Orthodox Jews have pushed for easier access to visit the area, which they revere as the site of two destroyed biblical temples.