Global military expenditure sees steepest rise since the end of the Cold War
According to new data published recently by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Global military expenditure increased to $2718 billion in 2024, the 10th year of consecutive rises. The world’s 15 largest spenders in 2024 all increased their military expenditure. The global military burden—the share of global gross domestic product (GDP) devoted to military […]
Worldwide Love for Mothers
Mother’s Day is celebrated in 46 out of 195 countries on five continents. The date varies from country to country. Surprisingly, each nation organises special events to celebrate motherhood and to thank the women who generate life, create it and defend it with constant care and support. The origin of Mother’s Day dates back to […]
Discovering Life on the Camino.
Pilgrimage has long been part of the Jubilee experience, and the Jubilee 2025 has the eloquent motto “Pilgrims of Hope”. The Pilgrim’s Way to Santiago de Compostela is one of the most famous in the world. It is visited by thousands of pilgrims every year. Among the many pilgrimage routes that crisscross the globe, the […]
Ethiopia. Our Lady as Covenant of Mercy.
The cathedral of Hawassa in southern Ethiopia is dedicated to Mary, with the name Covenant of Mercy or Kidane Mihiret. Let’s explore the Ethiopian devotion to Mary. In Ethiopia, there are two deeply rooted devotions: the Cross and Mary. Emperor Zera Yakob, who reigned between 1434 and 1468, and who was a great legislator in […]
The Shrine of Our Lady of Togo
Every year, thousands of pilgrims come to pray, meditate and ask for the intercession of the Virgin Mary. The shrine is not only a place of Marian devotion, but also a symbol of unity for the Togolese people. Our Lady of Lake Togo, also known as Mother of Mercy, is a Marian shrine inaugurated in […]
Angola. Mama Muxima, The Mother of the Heart.
Every year, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Conception of Muxima welcomes around two million pilgrims from all over Angola and beyond. They arrive seeking spiritual nourishment, with deep faith in God and confidence in the intercession of Mama Muxima, the patron saint of the Sanctuary. About 130 kilometres separate Luanda from the sanctuary […]
Rwanda. A Spiritual Bonfire on the hearth of Africa.
Nestled in the charming hills of the southern part of Rwanda, we find the only approved Marian apparition site in Africa, ‘’Our Lady of Kibeho’’. Kibeho, meaning ‘’let it be’’ in the Kinyarwanda language, is a small parish in Gikongoro Diocese. Kibeho parish was founded in 1934 in the Nyaruguru district and is dedicated to […]
Popenguine, the ‘Lourdes’ of Senegal
On Pentecost Tuesday, 22 May 1888, a crowd of two hundred faithful arrived at the sanctuary of Popenguine on foot, on horseback and in pirogues to venerate Our Lady of Deliverance for the first time. Over more than a century, this pilgrimage, which now attracts nearly 100,000 people each year, has become one of the […]
Mission Diary. Renewed in the missionary vocation
Father Guillermo Aguiñaga Pantoja shares his experiences with the indigenous people of Sierra Zongolica, in the Veracruz region of eastern Mexico. I wish to share this missionary experience with you, not because it is more important than the others that God has granted me, but because it provided an opportunity to reinvent myself and learn […]
Witnesses of Jubilee. South Korea. Father Vincenzo Bordo, the gift of hope.
Father Vincenzo Bordo, missionary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, has been working for over thirty years serving the poor in the suburbs of Seoul. “The greatest, most beautiful gift we can give is hope.” When he embarked for Seoul in 1990, many wondered what use a missionary could be in South Korea, one of […]
