The new Latin American generations are following the invitation of Pope Francis to “be proud of the history of their peoples”. Two examples of sustainable development from the Bolivian Amazon. Listening to the young indigenous descendants opens the heart and renews hope. In fact, they embody in their life the well-known “honour your father and…
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The ancestral Andean Amazonian wisdom is transmitted through songs, mythological stories, and the narratives of the wise men and women, whose message is the importance of generating, preserving, and caring for life in its entirety. The Ayahuasca ritual in the Peruvian Amazon and the preparation process of the aspiring Amazonian shaman. The name ayahuasca is…
Read moreIn the beginning, the Maasai did not have any cattle. One day God called Maasinta, who was the first Maasai and said to him: “I want you to make a large enclosure, and when you have done so, come back and inform me.” Maasinta went and did as he was instructed, and came back to…
Read moreFrom the diocese of Pando in the Bolivian Amazon region, Monsignor Eugenio Coter explains the horizons that the synodal journey is opening up to the Church. “The synodal path is not a motorway. It is like one of the great rivers of the Amazon that I sail on when I go to visit the communities.…
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Carajàs is considered the largest open cast iron mine in the world, in the heart of the Brazilian eastern Amazon. After more than twenty years of battles, the first families of Piquiá de Baixo, a suburb of Açailandia, in the state of Maranhã will be able to settle in a new territory, safe from toxic…
Read moreIt is a multipurpose medicinal plant and can be used, in particular, to treat pneumonia, asthma, arthritis, chronic ulcer, sore throat, and fever. An essential oil is obtained from the leaves which is used for various purposes. Steganotaenia araliacea (Family Apiaceae/Umbelliferae), commonly referred to as the carrot tree, is a small, aromatic, deciduous tree growing…
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Drums play an important role in the life of African people. Traditionally, drums represent the soul of the community. They are used for celebrating ceremonial events and rituals within the community. Here are some popular African drums. The Karyenda comes from Burundi and used to be the main symbol of the country. It also…
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About thirty members of the Comboni Family (Lay, Secular, Religious, men and women, from Africa, America and Europe), met from July 27 to August 3, 2022, in Belém, capital of Pará, Brazil, on the occasion of the X Pan-Amazonian Social Forum (X FOSPA) and the Comboni Meeting on Integral Ecology. Here the Letter they sent…
Read moreThe latest census of India, that of 2011, indicates that 79.9 per cent of Indians identify themselves as Hindu, 14.2 per cent as Muslims and 2.3 per cent as Christians (about 30 million, divided almost equally between Catholics and those belonging to other Churches or denominations). However, while Muslims and Christians seek in their identity…
Read more“The world calls me Ustad, the teacher, but I personally feel I am a Shagird, a disciple of music”. This is how Naseeruddin Ustad Saami, one of the most significant personalities in Pakistan and musical Sufism, defined himself. His songs and his music are infinitely distant from what is heard in the West; so much…
Read moreUnlike most countries with a medium or high level of development, India has a population that is still growing rapidly and for the most part young, with an average age of 27.8 years, ten less than its neighbour and rival, the People’s Republic of China. Consequently, choices must be primarily geared to support employment, education,…
Read moreFor thirty years, Yeyo wandered from plantation to plantation in southern Mexico. Undocumented, humiliated, and oppressed, he decides with his brothers to return home. Yeyo grew up looking at the deep scars on his father’s back from carrying bunches of bananas during the hellish tropical days in Chiapas and his mother’s arms scorched from making…
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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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