What can we take away from the pandemic?
While the coronavirus pandemic is having devastating effects, what we can take from it is the love, concern and care shown by the dedicated caregivers, nurses and medical workers. It is phenomenal. The goodness and love of millions of humans has come shining through. There are neighbourhood help movements growing online. In Canada, an online […]
The Syrian Conflict
The brutal conflict in Syria is entering its tenth year with disastrous consequences for millions of civilians. Here are nine of those consequences. 1 – 2020 has seen the largest mass displacement in the history of the conflict The latest escalation of violence in Idlib has displaced more than 960,000 people since December, half of […]
Renewable Energy: Our Only Future
The Paris Agreement was signed by 175 parties on the first day it opened for signature in 2016. The agreement represents the first time the world has come together to address the serious issue of climate change. It accelerates and intensifies the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. Working together, we […]
Nigeria: At least 70 priests and religious people kidnapped or killed in last five years
About 20 clergymen including at least eight Catholic Priests/Seminarians were killed in the past five year and more than 50 abducted or kidnapped. This is what a report by Nigerian NGO, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) writes. The report says that available statistics have shown that between 11,500 and 12,000 […]
Reflection: Spirituality in a time of Coronavirus
Churches around the world have had to cancel Sunday services because of the coronavirus. In the Vatican, services for Holy Week, the most sacred time of the liturgical year, will exclude the faithful. The cancelling of church and sporting events has convinced most Americans that something significant is happening. After all, there is nothing more […]
Pope invites young people to take a risk and change the world
It’s two years until the next World Youth Day, which will take place in the city of Lisbon in 2022. In that intervening time, Pope Francis is inviting young people to reflect on the themes for the diocesan World Youth Days of 2020 and 2021. “Young man, I say to you, arise!” is the 2020 […]
Reflection: The Rise of the Political Extreme Right
An authoritarian tyrant whose name will live in infamy has crushed, oppressed, bombed, executed and gassed women and children, jailed and tortured his opponents and dissidents in Syria. Almost a million of them that remain in Idlib, North Western Syria, are under daily attack and continuous bombardment. Schools, hospitals, clinics and markets are the favourite […]
Care of the Earth
As the world approaches a tipping point in the climate change crisis, many people finally appear to be waking up to the need for radical change. Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, is urging world leaders to come up with action plans, not fancy speeches, to deal with climate change. Students around the […]
Comboni Pact on the Common Home
The Combonis in Brazil, in dialogue with the local Church, are trying to concretise paths of commitment and cooperation to take up the challenges of the Amazonia Synod. The Comboni Missionaries present in Brazil sign ‘the Comboni Pact on the Common Home.’ “This is a personal and collective agreement that takes its inspiration from the […]
World arms exports continued to increase over the last five years, except for Africa
International arms exports increased by 5% between 2015 and 2019 compared to the previous five years, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which also noted that Africa’s arms exports declined during this period. SIPRI has just revealed that the largest exporters of arms during the past five years were […]