Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon assesses the future in Myanmar one year after a coup turned back a decade of democratic progress, calling for dialogue, the end of violence and the release of political prisoners.
International
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
El Salvador’s president made Bitcoin a national currency. A Jesuit says the project reminds him of ‘the seven deadly sins’
President Bukele enjoys strong popularity at home and in neighboring Central American countries, but his government faces accusations of authoritarianism and corruption.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
It’s not easy being green: Ireland is failing to respond to the climate crisis
Movies set in Ireland rarely omit the trope of the aerial shot of rolling green fields. After all, it is the Emerald Isle. Or is it?
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Podcast: Why Pope Francis thinks cancel culture is a threat to international cooperation
This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell take a look at the pope’s talk to ambassadors and why he thinks cancel culture is a threat to international cooperation.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis critiques ‘cancel culture’ in address to diplomats from around the world
“Multilateral diplomacy is thus called to be truly inclusive,” the pope said, “not canceling but cherishing the differences and sensibilities that have historically marked various peoples.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Covid, contested democracies and other major global stories to watch in 2022
Our Dispatches contributors were kind enough to share some thoughts on what stories are likely to be important in 2022 as we cross off, in some relief, the concluding days of 2021.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Interpreting food to your faith: Holiday culinary traditions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism in Israel and Palestine
Since chef Fadi Kattan was a child getting underfoot in his grandmother’s kitchen, the preparation and communal eating of the burbara pudding has been a pre-Christmas symbol of the coming of the holiday on the Palestinian West Bank.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Patriarch Sabbah: This Christmas, there is ‘no peace on the earth’ in Bethlehem and Jerusalem
Patriarch Sabbah: “When you celebrate Christmas, remember that in Bethlehem, in Jerusalem, life is not a Christmas life. It is not the blessed life of the new redeemed humanity. The song of the Angels is far away.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
A hospital run by Nigerian sisters provides free fistula surgery to women desperate for treatment
Sister Sylvia Ndubuaku: “We are for women the society has rejected. We receive traumatized women with this illness and we perform free surgeries for them.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
As Latin American economies decline, U.S. again becomes destination of hope for migrants
New migrant caravans to the United States are always forming with large contingents of Central Americans, but there is a growing presence of Haitians, Venezuelans and Brazilians among them.