Church articles from the past 3 months
On both sides of the border between Ecuador and Peru, there are oil and gas operations. The consequences are disastrous for the environment and for the indigenous peoples who live there. Two Augustinian missionaries living in Iquitos (Peru) talked about the challenges for the church and for the indigenous people. Governments traditionally have partnered with…
Read moreIn Ceará, one of the poorest states of Brazil, and one of the most violent in the world, Sister Francisca Erbenia de Sousa, head of Crateus Diocese, as always, fights alongside the people regarded as the least important in the world: women victims of abuse, the youth, peasants without land to till and fishermen without…
Read moreA Church that is attentive to the situation of the people. Pastoral decisions that may help a community to grow in a ministerial and missionary dimension. We talk about these matters with Mons. Odelir José Magri, the Comboni Bishop of Chapecó in southern Brazil. Four years have passed since Pope Francis appointed him bishop of…
Read moreA tiny group of Christians in a predominantly Moslem environment, determined to forge ties of friendship and dialogue in a society that still bears the wounds of thirty years of civil war. A Comboni Missionary community tells its story. Abéché town is on the doorstep of the desert in eastern Chad. Just l.1% are Christians,…
Read moreDespite the bloody repression of the pro-democracy marches organised by roman catholic organizations and the profanation of churches on the last 31 December, the number of demonstrators was even larger on the 21 following January. And they are increasingly joined by other christians and moslems. At least 12 people were killed by the police and…
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Every year, young students from Madagascar participate in the sports and cultural competitions that take place on the occasion of the National Days of Catholic Education. Inhabitants of Toamasina, the populous port city of eastern Madagascar, formerly known as Tamatave, are not particularly interested in the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. They are much fonder…
Read moreA Comboni missionary describes how his life became more meaningful when he was assigned as parish priest on the outskirts of a town in Peru, at the foot of an active volcano. Mission work has filled my life with meaning, so much so that today I feel fulfilled as a person and as a Christian.…
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The shooting has stopped in Aleppo. The city is totally destroyed. The difficult process of reconstruction. The traumas of the children. The Church is involved helping people. “The children have felt the effects of this absurd war. Every day there is death and destruction before their eyes. They sleep very little at night. They still…
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The celebrations of the three hundredth anniversary of the rediscovery of the statue of Our Lady of Aparecida ended recently. “Mary shows by her silence that the Gospel is proclaimed from the peripheries, the caves and cellars of humanity”. The rediscovery of the statue by the fishermen Domingos Garcia, Joao Alves and Filipe changed lives.…
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The Jesuits in Africa are 1,600, and they work in 34 countries. They are mainly involved in the fields of education, management of natural resources, prevention of AIDS, and assistance to refugees. In addition, they dedicate themselves to the training of the future African leaders. The Jesuit presence in Africa dates back to 1542 when,…
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As the bloody campaign against illegal drugs and crime continues under the present administration, the Catholic Church in the Philippines responds by establishing community-based drug rehabilitation programs, caring for the victims and parents, strengthening the defence and the culture of human rights. Not since the Marcos dictatorship has human life in the Philippines been so…
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Indigenous Africa offers examples of alternative ways to reach peace. It is the way of truth, social forgiveness, and integration. A reflection from Laurenti Magesa, a Tanzanian theologian. Peace does not mean the absence of conflict. Except in fables, recorded history offers no credible examples of societies that led perpetual, totally idyllic, tension-free existences, either…
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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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