Observers say the pope’s visit comes at a sensitive moment in Equatorial Guinea, as growing economic pressures and long-standing governance concerns continue to shape daily life for many citizens.
South Africa
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
The deadly impact of the end of U.S.A.I.D. and Pepfar in southern Africa
Improvements in health care in Eswatini have relied for years on Pepper and the generosity of the American people. During the height of the H.I.V./AIDS pandemic, Eswatini’s population plummeted, and life expectancy dropped from 61 in 1988 to 44 by 2003.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Pope Leo warned about fake news. President Trump just showed us a worst-case scenario.
President Trump offered a vibrant demonstration of the kind of worst-case scenario Pope Leo may have had in mind about the collapse of critical thinking.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Trump claims white Afrikaners are victims of persecution. Christian leaders in South Africa say no.
President Donald Trump said that he would hold South Africa accountable for rights violations against white Afrikaners, a group of people he described as “innocent disfavored minority farmers.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Destitute South Africans and migrants risk their lives in illegal mines—and are exploited by criminal gangs
In the small town of Stilfontein, some 90 miles from the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, hundreds, possibly thousands, of illegal miners have been underground in an abandoned mine shaft for more than a month.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Mozambique struggles to manage post-election unrest and a deadly insurgency
After another disputed election, street protests wrack Mozambique. while a northern province, Cabo Delgado, endures a deadly Islamist insurrection.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
South African women feel left off the agenda at the synod—and they’re frustrated with Pope Francis.
One South African theologian described “a deep sense of disillusionment that the church, on the one hand, is saying we need to be a synodal listening church, and has yet again taken the diaconate for women off the table.”
Posted inDispatches, Faith
South African bishop on ordination: No to women, yes to married men.
“If women are doing practically everything that a deacon is doing … [why] do we want to draw women into clericalism when we are having so many problems with it?”
Posted inOf Many Things, Politics & Society
What Americans can learn from South Africa’s example of messy and imperfect compromise
When public servants when they show us a glimpse of something that points the way toward “more perfect union,” we ought to pay close and grateful attention.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Upcoming South Africa elections could be most important since the end of apartheid
Polls abound, and the political ground keeps shifting, but one thing is sure: South Africa is likely to experience a significant political realignment on May 29.