The UN’s top human rights official has condemned the Taliban’s repression of Afghan women and girls, calling the situation “outrageous” and warning of its dire consequences for the country’s future. Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the Taliban’s morality laws, which severely limit women’s roles in society, are a form of systematic Read more
The Vatican state newspaper, Osservatore Romano, has come out in favour of gender equality in Afghanistan. On 20 July, the newspaper dedicated its front page to condemning the Taliban’s decree that all Afghanistan’s beauty centres must close down. The beauty centre closure is a complete shutdown. The Taliban decree is likely to negatively affect thousands Read more
It was an unfortunate coincidence of history and geography that most of the world’s energy reserves, in the form of oil and natural gas, were buried under some of the world’s most primitive societies. The Western world’s insatiable appetite to feed its cars and planes with petroleum products enriched these societies without developing them. Their Read more
Increasing the refugee intake is one way the Australian Government could help with the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan, says Archbishop Mark Coleridge. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president says the government should provide at least 20,000 humanitarian places for refugees from Afghanistan in the wake of the current Taliban takeover. In a letter to Read more
Pope Francis called on Sunday for dialogue to end the conflict in Afghanistan so that its people can live in peace, security and reciprocal respect. Francis made the appeal in his noon address as Taliban insurgents entered the capital Kabul and the United States evacuated diplomats from its embassy by helicopter. “I join in the Read more
Afghanistan’s future depends on women. The most active people are women, They are the bearers of a positive vision of the country’s future, says Barnabite Fr. Giuseppe Moretti, who was a missionary in Afghanistan for 25 years. “They are very intelligent and have a more open mentality than men. They try to fight slavery with Read more
Quetta hospital attack was a “senseless and brutal act of violence”. Pope Francis has sent his condolences after the attack on the hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, which killed over 70 people on Monday. The majority of the victims were lawyers who had gathered to mourn the assassination of the president of the Baluchistan Bar Association, Read more
Pope Francis on Sunday condemned two suicide attacks on churches in Pakistan and accused the world of “seeking to hide” the persecution of Christians. Fourteen people were killed and more than 70 were injured when two Taliban suicide bombers attacked the churches in Lahore on Sunday. At his weekly Angelus address, Pope Francis said it Read more
Daniel O’Connor, a Columban priest from New Zealand working in the Diocese of Hyderabad in Pakistan, reports on the aftermath of the Peshawar church bombing two weeks ago. Dan has been Columban priest for 25 years. Last year he ran in the London Marathon “Life will not be the same for their loved ones again, and Read more