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Icons play a major role in the visual culture and spiritual life of Melkite Catholics. They are understood as more than just religious paintings, but as windows to the divine, a means of presenting holiness to the world.

Sant'Egidio is a global community of lay Catholics, numbering perhaps 70,000 people in 73 countries, best known for having brokered the end to Mozambique's civil war; bringing AIDS relief to sub-Saharan Africa; and for its advocacy against the death penalty.

Italy's most popular saint may be 20th-century Capuchin Franciscan, Padre Pio (1887-1968). A controversial and charismatic figure, this peasant-born ascetic had manifestations of the stigmata for decades, and was widely sought as a confessor and intercessor. His cult completely transformed the area around the convent where he lived, making it a major pilgrimage site.

Italy has a long tradition of lay confraternities that organize feasts or carry out specific works of charity. A number of new associations formed in Italy are beginning to spread internationally.

In Chaldean culture, as in many other parts of the Middle East, marriage is seen as a link between two families, not simply two individuals. Wedding ceremonies are small, but the receptions draw wide attendance from the Christian community.

In the wake of internal political oppression in Iraq, the Iran-Iraq war, the Persian Gulf wars, and the subsequent crises in Iraq, Chaldeans have fled the Iraq in large numbers.

The Syriac language is still in use by Chaldean Christians in their liturgy, and in other settings. Chanting plays an important role in the liturgy, which is related to the Syro-Malabar rite in India.

Iraq is rightly perceived as an Islamic country, but the lands of Mesopotamia that it incorporates have been home to a sizable Christian population for millennia. Until recently, more than one million Christians lived there.

Use these resources to learn more about Catholicism in Jamaica.

In the audio lecture posted here, James McCartin, associate professor and director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, discusses the themes in his book, Prayers of the Faithful.