There are all sorts of reasons for celebrating Nelson Mandela in this centenary year of his birth. We recall the way he worked incessantly to overcome racial domination and achieve freedom for both the oppressed and their oppressors. We marvelled at how he could emerge from 27 years in prison without rancour or bitterness, even…
Read moreSome dioceses have had their priests killed and churches destroyed but nevertheless they take in the homeless and the needy. The Episcopal Conference promotes interreligious dialogue and seeks to get internal and international political institutions moving. The testimony of Mons. Juan José Aguirre, Bishop of Bangassou. On 29 November 2015, Pope Francis visited Central Africa…
Read morePolitical Battles Are Creating a Distraction from Main Problems Weakening its Young Democracy Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi wants new elections, promising they would be held in December 2019. The new elections have become necessary after the president announced that his ‘Nidaa Tunis’ (Call of Tunis) Party will break its alliance with the Islamist Ennahda…
Read moreThe issue of the redistribution of the land is splitting South African society and could deeply impact the economy of the country. The government and the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), are pushing in that direction, but they have still to prove that this reform will help the development of their nation. According…
Read moreRefugee teachers create a school for young people in South Sudan. The life of refugees is hard. When they arrived in Moyo (Uganda),in the South Sudanese of Kajukeji, they were many, they were thirsty, it was hot… then it rained and the fields flooded. Many of their belongings were dragged away by floods and roads…
Read moreThis year, the Missionaries of Africa (also known as the White Fathers) celebrate 150 years of their foundation. The society was founded in Algeria on 19 October, 1868, by Cardinal Charles Lavigerie and it focuses on evangelism and education in the African continent. The challenges of the present and the prospects for the future. The…
Read moreContinual growth in commercial exchange between the Asian giant and many African countries. Closeness of ties that can be seen also in the diplomatic field with the opening of eighteen new Indian embassies on the continent. Back in 2002, on 26 May, the Indian minister for Commerce and Industry, Murasoli Maran, launched the programme “Focus…
Read moreA group of young people living in Nairobi who regularly meets at Shalom House has written a letter to Pope Francis on the occasion of the Synod to be held in Rome next October, during which hundreds of bishops will discuss on the theme “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment”. The letter has been…
Read moreBishops and priests threatened with death. Churches profaned. Nevertheless, the Church has become a sign of hope and strength for many. They broke down the door of the presbytery to get in, those six hooded and heavily armed men. They held Father Alfredo Garcia, parish priest of San Cristobal in Managua, at gunpoint while shouting…
Read moreToday, Bangladesh is a country in tumultuous growth, afflicted by many problems that for the small local Church and the missionary presences are so many fields for intervention, both in country areas as well as in the capital Dhaka, a metropolis of 15 million inhabitants, containing in its chaos both problems and potential as well…
Read moreAshulia and the nearby districts of Savar, Tongi and Gazipur on the edge of the metropolitan area of Dhaka, represent the greatest industrial concentration of the country, the heart of the production of textiles, clothes and accessories much of which is destined for the foreign markets of European and US brands. However, they are also…
Read moreThe population of Bangladesh is rapidly approaching 170 million, depending on an area of 147,570 square kilometres, large parts of which are subject for their productivity to seasonal variations in the tides and seasonal flooding. After the first dramatic decades following independence in 1971, the country succeeded in bettering its agriculture and rationalising its resources,…
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When asked how a farmer’s daughter who became a Catholic nun ended up as one of Brazil’s most influential refugee advocates, Sister Rosita Milesi, 79,…
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Vusi was an honest man and a hard worker. He had cleared a large piece of moorland and turned it into a beautiful fertile field. He…
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On 24 November, the Solemnity of Christ the King, on the occasion of World Youth Day in the Particular Churches, in St. Peter's Basilica the traditional…
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