Death, kidnapping, extortion, and intimidation have become a daily reality for many priests and religious, particularly in Nigeria, Mexico and Haiti. Father John Mark Cheitnum was found dead after he was kidnapped with another priest, Donatus Cleopas, on the afternoon of July 15 as they were on their way to celebrate a mass in the…
“Tribal wars”, “ethnic conflicts”, “racial conflicts”. To explain the reasons for the violence between different communities, identity and cultural oppositions are brought up. But there are always economic reasons and ambitions for power at the basis of any disagreement. The divisions of human groups have no scientific basis. According to the French anthropologist Jean-Loup Amselle,…
With an evident crisis in the availability of widely distributed agricultural production from Ukraine as a consequence of the conflict, India has emerged on the world stage due to the potential consequences of the choice to reduce or stop the export of wheat, first, and then of sugar with a limit on that of rice…
Cybercrime is spreading more and more on the continent, causing damage to businesses and people. The urgent need for local laws and agencies for African cyber security. In hacker jargon, they are called ‘brouters’. They are online scammers who, disguising themselves as images of attractive women, lure people on social networks and dating sites, mostly…
Second only to water, tea is the drink most consumed in the world. Served hot or iced, the infusion favours small cultivators, the economic growth of developing countries, and the health of the people at large. The origins of tea date back more than five thousand years, but its contribution to health, culture, and socio-economic…
Designing the ‘Common House’. Overall pastoral care. The Synod: ‘Live the experience of the pilgrims of Emmaus’. We talk about it with Mons. Patrizio Bonilla, Bishop and Apostolic Vicar of the Galapagos. The archipelago of about 50 volcanic islands is located in the Pacific Ocean 1000 km from the west coast of South America. They…
Deforestation, exploitation of labour, including minors and the use of pesticides. All too often chocolate has a bitter taste. Yet, a multiplicity of experiences is succeeding to make the cocoa supply chain sustainable. ‘The food of the gods’. This is the meaning of the Mayan expression ‘kakaw uhanal’ from which the term ‘cocoa’ derives. According…
A country like India that aspires, at least in Asia, to be the first competitor of the People’s Republic of China and to guarantee stable and sensitive progress for a young population, with an economy that has many difficulties in launching itself, now sees a further slowdown at the conjunction of pandemics with conflicts causing…
On November 4, 2020, a new war began in Ethiopia. Just three years earlier, the country had signed a peace agreement with neighbouring Eritrea that earned Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. The current conflict, which pits the central government against a coalition of its Kililochs (region-states), has caused thousands…
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,…
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…