As many as 295 people were killed in a series of apparently coordinated raids on some 30 villages in Nigeria’s Plateau State that began on Dec. 23 and continued through Christmas Day.

Reaffirming their fidelity to the pope and the Gospel, Catholic bishops in Africa have released a common response to a recent Vatican declaration, saying they “generally prefer” not to offer blessings to same-sex couples.

Global reaction among bishops to the Vatican’s declaration that priests may now bless same-sex couples appears most divergent in some European and African nations.

African theologians have emerged over the last few decades as leading voices in ethics, liberation theology, ecological theology, ecclesiology and more—and their contributions are changing the worldwide church.

Gabon military leaders claimed that electoral malpractice was one of the reasons for the coup, but another surely must be the growing frustration of the general public with a ruling elite who live in luxury while life for average Gabonese, despite its oil riches, remains a struggle.

There are just under 20 million primary-grade girls out of school in sub-Saharan Africa. The Bakhita Partnership for Education is working to change that.