Hundreds of half-naked Filipinos marched on narrow roads, whipping their backs until they were bloody in a religious ritual Thursday as the mainly Roman Catholic state observed the Lenten season. Many ...

LONDON -- A man accused of involving two teenage boys in self-flagellation as part of a Muslim religious ritual was convicted of child cruelty yesterday.

In previous articles, I have looked at various psychological aspects of sexually masochistic behavior. However, some masochistic behaviors have religious (rather than sexual) motivations. Many ...

MANILA, April 6 (Reuters) - A group of 20 Catholic devotees walked barefoot for hours in Manila on Thursday while repeatedly striking their backs with bamboo whips to commemorate the passion of Jesus ...

Father Alessandro Coniglio, who presided over the Mass, emphasized to CNA that “the mystery of the blood of Christ is at the heart of Holy Week. On Holy Wednesday, the friars of the Custody of the ...

MABALACAT CITY, Philippines - Catholics in the northern Philippine province of Pampanga, many bare-chested and hooded, practice self-flagellation in the sweltering heat in the week before Easter to ...

Other articles on religious flagellation (such as one by Geoffrey Abbott in the online version of Encyclopaedia Britannica) also claim that self-flagellation is used as a way to drive out evil spirits ...

LONDON -- A man accused of involving two teenage boys in self-flagellation as part of a Muslim religious ritual was convicted of child cruelty yesterday. British prosecutors said it was the first time ...