“The emphasis is less on the church itself and more on what the visit represents for the country: a gesture of peace, dialogue and international recognition,” Algeria’s Bishop Diego Sarrió Cucarella said in an interview.
Africa
Posted inDispatches
Catholics hope Pope Leo’s Africa trip will uplift countries suffering from U.S. aid cuts
As Pope Leo XIV visits, Africa’s often interrelated crises of armed conflict, poverty and displacement have been worsened by the withdrawal of development and humanitarian aid by the United States and other donor nations.
Posted inNews
Pope Leo XIV to embark on 10-day Africa tour and trips to Spain and Monaco
The Vatican said peace and care for the poor will be central themes of the African journey, which will also bring him in the footsteps of St. Augustine.
Posted inFaith and Reason
‘Dilexi Te’ and the witness of African women
As an African woman theologian, I read “Dilexi Te” not as an abstract ecclesial document, but as a reflection of the spiritual wisdom and lived theology of African women.
Posted inFaith, News
Nigerian Catholic Church leaders give mixed reaction to US airstrikes
Some Nigerian Catholic Church leaders welcomed U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State group militants, but some church leaders questioned the religious framing for the strikes.
Posted inNews
All children kidnapped from Nigeria Catholic school will be home for Christmas
Catholics in northwestern Nigeria are celebrating just days before Christmas, as the last group of students kidnapped from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri has been freed.
Posted inDispatches
Catholic sisters educate visually impaired children for free in Nigeria
Visually impaired children escape lifelong poverty with the education they receive from Catholic sisters in Lagos, Nigeria.
Posted inShort Take
I’m a Catholic doctor in Sudan. We need international aid—at the grassroots level.
When local leaders are equipped and trusted, the impact of humanitarian aid is immediate, cost-effective and lasting.
Posted inDispatches
Zambia’s farmers face an uncertain future with climate change
In rural Zambia, subsistence farmers face complex questions with no easy answers and very little time. Drought fueled by climate change threatens smallholder farmers and the communities that depend on them for food.
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
Facing—and naming—the existential threat to Christians in Nigeria
Though other factors are surely at play, church leaders in Nigeria insist the attacks are part of a systematic campaign to drive Christians from the region or force their conversion.