Benin: “The Man with the Golden Hands”
On the edge of the on the border between Niger and Burkina Faso, the Fatebenefratelli friars have been providing medical services to the people of Atakora plateau. Brother Fiorenzo Priuli, director of the St. Jean de Dieu Hospital spoke to us about his experience as both a missionary and an orthopaedic surgeon. The city of […]
Comboni Brother John Giori, Captain of the Redemptor
“I am a farmer by profession, self-educated for anything else.” With this candid statement, John Giori, a native of Sacco di Rovereto, near Trent in Northern Italy, introduced himself. John decided to enter the Institute founded by Comboni after meeting him in Limone sul Garda. After taking the vows, as one of the first group […]
DR Congo: at the side of the people fighting to live and to resist
The Democratic Republic of Congo continues to be afflicted by most serious political and social tensions, conflicts in some of its regions and endemic poverty despite its infinite riches. This is our topic as we speak with Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Archbishop of Kinshasa. The government of President Felix Tshisekedi which came to power in the […]
Cameroon: Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi, not just ‘passing through’
A fierce opponent of the regime of Paul Biya, he energetically promoted dialogue between the central government and Anglophone separatists. Last November he was the victim of an as yet unexplained kidnapping. They called him Wiyghan, which means ‘one who is passing through’ because his mother had lost her first two children. Born on 15 […]
South Sudan: The tenderness of God
“As missionaries, we try to share as much as possible the life of our people, creating situations of reconciliation and forgiveness.” We live in the village of Nyal, in the county of Painjiar, in South Sudan where one can come only by using the helicopters of the World Food Programme (WFP). We live in a […]
No one is safe until everyone is safe
The coronavirus pandemic has taught us how vulnerable and interdependent we are. The pandemic is global; so must be the solution! Scientists have responded to this challenge by developing in record time vaccines that can help us overcome the pandemic. They were able to achieve this result thanks to the billions of dollars of public […]
Comboni Brother Joshua dei Cas: The Grace of Leprosy
“I think I am the only one in the whole Institute who does not have to think of the work to be done tomorrow! My days are spent in the company of my African brothers; I talk to them of the Goodness of God. The Ndogo language is a bit hard for me, but I […]
Nicaragua: Street Children’s Circus
They are at the traffic lights, juggling their torches and coloured balls and performing acrobatics. The street children have invented a new approach to raising funds by amusing the motorists. It is evening and the traffic flows along the brightly lit street of Managua. At the traffic lights, children both large and small have exchanged […]
Comboni Lay Missionaries: Getting Involved
It is more than 30 years since the Comboni Family has been enriched by the presence of lay people, both single and married who decide to dedicate a period of their lives to work in the mission. Alberto de la Portillas, the general coordinator of the Comboni Lay Missionaries explains what it is about. The […]
Colombia: The Impact of COVID-19 on Spirituality
The coronavirus pandemic is changing how people live and relate to others while deeply influencing Afro-Colombian spirituality. Colombia has one of the largest Afro populations in Latin America. The Afro-Colombians make up 6.68% of the population (49.65 million). The coastal regions of Colombia may have a significant Afro-Colombian population of up to 90% in the […]
