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Monthly Archives: February 2023

The War in Ukraine Calls for an Increased African Unity.

“How Africans voted on the Ukraine War is an indication of the plurality of views [in the continent]. If the weather forecast is a cold front, it is likely immense pressure will be exerted on African countries to choose sides. We know what follows, and we have been there. Better be united and cautious.” The…

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The USA in Africa. Boots on the ground.

The presence of American soldiers on the field is still strategic. General Michael Langley, the new commander of Africom, has the task of forging military pacts with many African countries and of facing new threats: from jihadist hotbeds to the expansion of Beijing and Moscow’s spheres of influence. Michael Langley is the new general at…

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Lost for Words.

To save biodiversity, we must save human diversity. Many Indigenous languages are ‘dying out’. What is not often discussed, however, is the fact that the languages in question do not just disappear naturally. Rather, their speakers are often wiped out – by outsiders. Even today, where Indigenous people survive, their languages can still be ‘lost’.…

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Her Great Dream.

On the heights of a remote village at the bottom of a valley lived a melancholic girl who had not known her parents, who had died at her birth. Unaware, however, of their end, and thinking of them on the road, she kept hoping that one day she would meet them. In her illusion, the…

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Bolivia. Anata. The Aymara Carnival.

The Anata festival –  Anata in Aymara means game – is of pre-Hispanic tradition. It is a moment of joy or Kusisiña. In the Anata, the relationship between the jaqi (person), nature and divinity is manifested. The Anata celebration is generally held in February, with a movable date, during the rainy season, when the plants…

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Towards the 2023 Synod. Dialogue. The Proposal of a Decalogue.

If ‘dialogue’ means ‘meeting through the word’ (‘dia-logos’), dialogue is necessary to walk together, to live, that is, that style of ‘synodality’ (‘synod’ means ‘journey made together’), with which Pope Francis is calling the Church to face the challenges and promises of our times. To experience an authentic synodal process, the Church must increasingly be…

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Guatemala. A Failed State.

Drug trafficking, corruption, the danger of fraud in the next presidential elections. The Church’s commitment to defending the poor following the example of the martyrs of Quiché. We talk about it with Monsignor Rosolino Bianchetti Boffelli, Bishop of Quiché. It was a day in August 1995. A farmer was working in his field. The hoe…

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Music. Mdou Moctar. The Sounds of the Desert.

From the golden sands of the Sahara Desert to the renowned world of music festivals. Songs of love for his land and his people. One of the most beautiful and intense albums of last year has a title that is already a whole program: Afrique Victime. It bears the signature of Mdou Moctar, aka Mahamadou…

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Postcard from Ghana. The Culture of Sewing.

Sewing and fabrics speak of Ghana, not only for the millions of dollars that the sector generates every year but also for how deeply this tradition is rooted in every corner of the country. Cities like Kpando, where workshops invade the streets, are proof of this. In Kpando, a town of about 28,000 inhabitants located…

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Ghana. Adowa, the Unique Dance Style of the Ashanti.

It is one of the most popular and unique dance styles practiced in Ghana. It belongs to an ethnic group called ‘Ashanti’, which is a part of the Akan community group. The Adowa dance relates to the word Sankofa. Sankofa (sahn-KO-fah [san: ‘to return’] plus [ko: ‘to go’] plus [fa: ‘to look, to seek and…

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Lesotho. The Troubled Waters.

The wealth generated by the abundance of water has not prevented the increasingly vulnerable country from suffering for decades from land degradation. The government, civil society, and rural communities, with the technical and financial support of the international community, is trying to tackle the problem. Lesotho is known as the Kingdom of Heaven. Two thirds…

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Mexico. A Sound that Calls for a Missionary Commitment.

The Comboni magazine ‘Esquila Misional’ celebrates 70 years of life. At the service of the people and of the Mexican church open to the world. It was a mild Thursday afternoon of January 22, 1948, when the first five Comboni missionaries landed at the Tijuana airport in Baja California. Waiting for them was Msgr. Felipe…

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Advocacy

Sister Rosita. Four Decades of Refugee Advocacy.

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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Baobab

Kalulu and the Great Spirit of the Forest.

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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Youth & Mission

Towards World Youth Day 2027 in Seoul with the courage…

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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