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’. […]
A Comboni Missionary Is The New Bishop Of Tarma, Peru
The Holy Father has nominated a Comboni Father, Luis Alberto Barrera Pacheco, as Bishop of Tarma, Peru. Until his appointment, Father Luis Alberto has been provincial superior of the Comboni Missionaries province of Peru-Chile as well as vice-president of the Conference of Religious Major Superiors in Peru. Father Luis Alberto is 50 years old and […]
Ghana: Church Action Against Land Grabbing
Land grabbing literally means taking land by force. The phenomenon is spreading like an oil slick across not only Ghana but also all of Africa. “A huge portion of land has been regularly expropriated for years, and previous crops, chiefly food crops, now produce biofuels,” according to Mgr. John Kwofie, Bishop of Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana’s fourth […]
The “Good Shepherd Peace Centre” in South Sudan
The Good Shepherd Peace Centre was opened on October 15th in Kit, in the Archdiocese of Juba, by the Apostolic Nuncio to South Sudan, Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo. He was assisted by His Exc. Mgr. Paolino Lukudu Loro, Archbishop of Juba, three other Bishops, an Apostolic administrator, and a large number of Diocesan and Religious […]
Comboni Missionaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: “Our concern over the worsening social tensions”
Worried about the events taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries, Father Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie, and the Superior General of the Comboni Missionary Sisters, Sister Luigia Coccia, have written a letter on behalf of their organisations, expressing solidarity with the people and the Church. The letter […]
Ethiopia: State of Emergency
Ethiopia’s state of emergency has seen restrictions on social media and religious and political speech, as well as street curfews and travel bans. The Ethiopian government has imposed the longest blanket ban on mobile internet services in the capital Addis Ababa since protests began a year ago. In addition, access to messaging platforms like WhatsApp […]
Brazil: The Green Movement for the Amazon
A Bishop fighting against the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. A hospital ship named in honour of Pope Francis to reach the remote areas along the rivers Amazon, Trobetas, Nhamundá, and Tapajós, where the indigenous people live. This is their story. Thousands of trees are cut down every minute during the day, and transported to […]
“Ending global hunger is certainly possible”
According to the 2016 Global Hunger Index, hunger levels in developing countries have fallen by 29 percent since 2000, but efforts to curb hunger must be accelerated in order to meet the international target to eradicate it by 2030. Hunger levels are “alarming” in seven countries, with the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad and Zambia […]