Radio ‘Voice of Peace’: The Radio Station of the Nuba People
Radio ‘Voice of Peace’ has managed to capture the attention of the Nuba population and has become an instrument of peace and development enhanced by the Catholic Church in the area. As the plane descends, one can see numerous white spots dotting the monotonous marshy landscape of South Sudan. The Yida refugee camp, which is […]
Benin: Dancing With The Spirits
The desire for protection and justice takes on non-human appearances – the guardian of the night. The Pla, an ethnic group of fishermen, live in Gbecon, which is a small village on the banks of the Mono river in southern Benin. These people are particularly devoted to the worship of Zangbeto, the guardian of the […]
Philippines: Dancing Out Poverty
From the slums of Tondo, Manila, this 18-year-old painstakingly earned her place in the international spotlight as a professional and competitive ballerina. In Tondo, which is the biggest slum in Manila located around one of the largest open-air dumps in the world, the ‘Smokey Mountain’, people go to the dump in search of food or […]
Turkmenistan: A Small Community Moving Forward
The Catholic Church, a small presence in a land which is rich with tradition. Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia. It lies along the arduous ancient route of the Silk Road, which connects Beijing to the Mediterranean Sea and has been the most important channel of transit of both ideas and commerce between […]
Burundi: A Place For Remembering
Many initiatives have been implemented during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. One being the establishment of the ‘Chapel of Mercy and Peace’ in Kamenge, a district of Bujumbura where two years ago, three Xaverian missionary sisters were killed. On the front door of the chapel, written in the Kirundi language, is: Agasengero k’ikigongwe (Chapel of Peace […]
Mariachi: The Soul of Mexican Music
It was declared part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Mariachi is truly Mexican and is its most famous symbol. It is the soul of Mexican music. The songs reach out from generation to generation, to all Mexicans wherever they may be. The musicians dress in typical charro style, usually in black or […]
Love the Earth as Yourself
The world was created by God so that all could have nourishment: “Food is not something to be consumed, but a gift of God to be shared”. A reflection by Enzo Bianchi, Prior of the Monastic Community of Bose, Italy. God created a world in which the living could live and therefore find nourishment. The […]
Pope Francis: “I am ready to visit South Sudan”
Church leaders in South Sudan have urged Pope Francis to visit their war-torn country, alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury. Catholic and Anglican bishops from South Sudan, alongside a Presbyterian moderator, met with Pope Francis in the Vatican and urged him to help peace efforts in their homeland. The Pope called Comboni Archbishop of Juba, Paulino […]
Benin: How much does a funeral cost?
Over the past twenty years and each week from Thursday afternoon until Saturday at dawn, the roads leading to Cotonou in Benin become the stage for deeply felt and increasingly expensive funeral practices. A long procession of cars which follow two police motorcycles with sirens wailing escort a hearse, some cameramen film the parade and […]
Egypt: The Hidden Charm of Graves
The City of the Dead, known also simply as Al-Qarafa (The Cemetery), is what the inhabitants of Cairo call this extreme place on the border between the countryside and the city, between the living and the dead. It is the largest cemetery in Egypt and home to hundreds of thousands of ‘souls in the flesh’. […]