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.
International
Posted inThe Weekly Dispatch
What the Middle East needs: Not more bombs, but ‘hard, focused diplomacy’
Lebanon stands to become the hardest-hit collateral casualty of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. After years of economic turmoil, ineffectual governance, refugee crises and a devastating port explosion, this latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah fighters pushes Lebanon closer to collapse or, worse, a return to civil war.
Posted inThe Weekly Dispatch
Archbishop Warda on Iran war: A refuge for Christians in Iraq is now under threat
A painful irony today is that Erbil—once a refuge for displaced Christian families—has become one of the Iraqi cities most frequently exposed to missile and drone attacks as war between U.S.-Israel and Iran continues.
Posted inDispatches
Ten years after her murder, indigenous leader Berta Cáceres remains a beacon of hope in Honduras
“It seems that there are powerful groups who are preventing justice from prevailing,” Bishop Jenry Ruiz said at the celebration of life for Berta Cáceres on March 1.
Posted inThe Weekly Dispatch
A Catholic guide to understanding the war with Iran
The church’s just war tradition has been challenged by contemporary theologians as insufficient and outdated, yet it remains a worthy filter through which to judge the moral defensibility of a turn to war-making.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo urges a halt to ‘spiral of violence’ across Iran and Middle East
Pope Leo prayed that “diplomacy may regain its role and promote the good of the peoples who yearn for a peaceful coexistence founded on justice.”
Posted inDispatches
Q&A: Why did the Vatican pass on Trump’s Board of Peace?
As Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin said, the Holy See insists on the importance of participation by the United Nations in Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
Posted inDispatches
Mexico burns after drug cartel leader is captured and killed
Mexico exploded in violence after special forces killed drug cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, leader of the fearsome Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Its foot soldiers fanned out across 20 states, burning vehicles and buildings in attacks claiming at least 70 lives, including 25 National Guard members.
Posted inThe Weekly Dispatch
Why did the Vatican decline to join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza?
Declining to join the Board of Peace, Vatican officials might point out that true peace can only be achieved through justice and reconciliation, avoiding the peace of the graveyard. How else to describe Gaza these days?
Posted inNews
Pope’s grand tour of Italy over the next few months takes him to Lampedusa and beyond
Pope Leo XIV will visit ground zero of Europe’s migration drama, the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, in May and also minister to Italians poisoned by years of toxic dumping by the mafia.