Extremist and criminal violence is on the rise across Northern Africa from Somalia to Nigeria as local security forces face off against gangs and insurgencies they are often ill-equipped to contain.
International
Posted inArts & Culture, Dispatches
‘The Quiet Girl’ at the Oscars shows the Irish language’s surprising resurgence
Film-making in Ireland has been in the shadow of other cultural successes in literature and music. That may all be about to change. At this year’s Academy Awards, there are three movies with strong Irish connections up for Oscar consideration.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
After Turkey’s devastating earthquakes, can a 2,000-year-old Christian community survive?
Long before the earthquakes in February, the viability of the Christian community in Samandag had been under cultural and economic threat. Many from the city’s minority Christian community had already departed, seeking economic or educational opportunities elsewhere.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
‘Do not forget us’: Catholics in Ukraine mark a year of war
The staff and volunteers of Caritas Ukraine accept a double duty—agents of humanitarian aid but also, with their families, victims and targets of conflict themselves.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Catholic bishops in Nigeria raise up security and common good concerns before presidential elections
Ahead of upcoming general elections on Feb. 25 and March 11, Nigerian Catholics want their next national leaders to address the difficult political and socio-economic issues facing the country.
Posted inFaith, News
Head of Ukrainian Catholic Church reflects on one year of a ‘sacrilegious war’
With the first anniversary of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine just days away, the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church spoke about gratitude and powerlessness in the face of a “blind, absurd, sacrilegious war.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
‘It’s genocide’: Brazil’s Catholic bishops on killing of Indigenous Amazon people
Devastated by malnutrition and preventable diseases like flu, pneumonia, anemia, malaria and diarrhea, the Yanomami people have been called victims of a contemporary genocide by government authorities.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Jesuit Refugee Service: After 12 years of war, Syrians are driven to the limit by earthquake suffering
“These are strong, courageous people of hope,” Daniel Corrou, S.J., the director of Jesuit Refugee Service/Middle East and North Africa, said. But even hope has its limits.
Posted inFaith, News
Four Catholic priests sentenced to 10 years in prison in Nicaragua
Six churchmen and a diocesan communicator were sentenced to 10 years in prison on conspiracy charges as Nicaragua’s increasingly tyrannical regime continues its persecution of the Catholic Church.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis tells young people: ‘You are the seed of a new South Sudan.’
Pope Francis repeated his pressing call for an end to the violence that has forced millions into camps for refugees or the internally displaced in South Sudan.