Reflection: Let the children rise up and speak
That is what is now happening across the world and ever since that brave child Greta Thunberg, 16 years old, went on strike from school one Friday to sit in front of the parliament house in Sweden with her sign board calling for students to strike for the climate. Millions of people have joined her […]
Amazonia: “Fear does not apply to us”
In a small town near the heart of the Brazilian Amazon region, two Sisters help support the poor agricultural workers in their struggles for land and better living conditions. In a simple wooden house on an unpaved street in the violent town of Anapu, near the heart of the Brazilian Amazon region, live Sr. Jane […]
World Mission Sunday: “Mission is part of our identity as Christians”
This year World Mission Sunday will be celebrated on 20 October. Under the theme “Baptised and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission in the World.” A synthesis of his message. In his message, Pope Francis writes: “For the month of October 2019, I have asked that the whole Church revive her missionary awareness and commitment […]
Martyr of Amazonia: Emrya Wajãpi
Emrya Wajãpi, leader of the Wajãpi people, was killed on 23rd July in Amapá, a region bordering French Guyana. The killing has been described as the “fruit of hate campaigns perpetrated against Indigenous peoples”. According to witnesses he was stabbed to death by a number of gold miners who entered the protected reserve of the […]
The land with the golden sun
Turning the Sahara Desert into a giant solar farm could power Europe 7,000 times over. But how would we keep the panels clear of sand? If the Sahara desert were a country, it would be fifth biggest in the world – it’s larger than Brazil and only slightly smaller than China and the US, covering […]
Organised crime and poor policy behind Africa’s looming drugs crisis
Africa faces a substantial increase in illegal drug use fuelled by organised crime and ineffective policy. In the next 30 years, sub-Saharan Africa will see the world’s biggest surge in illicit drug users with its share of global drug consumption projected to double. This is according to new research and analysis of Africa’s drug trade, […]
Indigenous peoples are key stakeholders
Though humankind cannot afford to lose the Amazonian forests, deforestation is progressing fast. Research shows that officially recognised indigenous territories serve as protective barriers. National governments must promote this cause. Recent trends of backing away from environmental protection, for example in Brazil, will only cause massive harm at the continental and even global level. For millennia, […]
Synod on the Amazon: Looking far
A special Synod on the Amazon called by Pope Francis to be held in Rome this October. The difficulties and opportunities that this important ecclesial event implies. The first difficulty is that many people, both outside and inside the Church, do not know what a synod is, nor do they know what the Amazon is, nor have they heard that a […]
Martyr of Amazonia: Brother Paul McAuley
He gave his life for the poor of Amazonia. His commitment to guard our “Common Home” was his evangelical mandate. On April 3 last, at Iquitos, in the north-west region of Peru, at the Intercultural Studies Community, some young hostel residents found the lifeless, charred body of Paul McCauley, 71, a British missionary member of […]
Amazon Synod: “We have a life and a history that is sacred”
In the Amazon’s borderlands, ‘you have to be prepared’ for anything. The parish where Sister Maria Emilia Molenda Kuche works stretches along the banks of the Amazon River and far up the Yavari River, an area sparsely populated by Tikuna, Yagua and Kukama Indians. It takes about eight hours to reach the village closest to […]
