The 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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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…
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“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,…
Read moreWith 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…
Read moreCybercrime 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…
Read moreSecond 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…
Read moreDesigning 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…
Read moreDeforestation, 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…
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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…
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“What we would like to achieve when we talk about peace. Peace means self-determination. Peace means biological conservation. Peace means revitalization of our culture and…
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At that time Viracocha, the creator God, looked down upon the earth. He saw it was bare, shrouded in impenetrable darkness, for daylight did not yet…
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“Young Africans are playing an active role in bringing social change in the continent. They are contributing daily to the benefit of their communities and nations…
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