The United Nations has reported a record-breaking 120 million people are currently living forcibly displaced by war, violence and persecution. Revealed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on 13 June, this alarming figure underscores a growing global crisis. The UNHCR attributed the surge in displacement to ongoing conflicts in regions such as Read more
Sudan’s Catholic leaders are hopeful the country’s almost five-year civil war is at an end. A ceasefire has been declared by South Sudan officials and rebel leaders. While Bishop Barani Hiiboro, president of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishop’s Conference, welcomed the ceasefire he says: “if it is to mean anything for the suffering Read more
Conditions in South Sudan are appalling. United Nations (UN) officials have expressed concern about the fate of the South Sudanese people. The mandate for the UN peacekeeping mission in the country is set to expire. Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the UN Security Council the South Sudanese people “have simply suffered far too much for far too Read more
Pope Francis will visit Sri Lanka’s war torn north next January, amid accusations of ill treatment of people there by the nation’s Sinhalese majority. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, said Pope Francis will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, 260 kms north of the capital. This is in the heart of Read more
Jesuthasan Rojananth, a 23-year-old Catholic Tamil from Mannar, heard that the security situation in Sri Lanka had improved for ethnic Tamils. So when he had problems renewing his student visa in Malaysia earlier this year, he decided to return to his home country. He’d been away from Sri Lanka since February of 2010, when he Read more
The Sept. 30 decision by Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar of San Salvador, El Salvador, to close its human rights office, Tutela Legal, has produced an outpouring of protest from organisations and individuals in many countries concerned with the protection of rights. They recognize Tutela Legal as a particularly valiant part of their movement that played a Read more
Pope Francis on Sunday called for a solution to the civil war in Syria as he admitted being disturbed by “terrible images” of atrocities in the country. The pope told people gathered in St. Peter’s Square that Syrian and rebel forces must put down their arms. He urged the international community to “put all its Read more
Priests in Syria are choosing to stay with their people despite the death of a monk who was killed by Islamist rebels involved in the country’s civil war. Father Francois Mourad died at the Franciscan monastery of Saint Anthony of Padua, near the Turkish border, while trying to defend nuns and local Christians who had Read more
Sudan’s Catholic bishops have issued a formal warning about the threat of a return to full-scale civil war and appealed for urgent food and medicine, stating that thousands of people are being terrorised by aerial bombardment.
Referring to spreading violence in different regions in central and eastern Sudan, and newly created South Sudan, the bishops’ statement urges the international community to intervene to stop the fighting.
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