International

Bishops grapple with Francis' decree that they must first get Vatican approval before recognizing new religious communities of diocesan right

Pope Francis leaves after celebrating a Mass on the feast of Christ the King in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Nov. 22. (CNS/Reuters pool/Vincenzo Pinto)

Rome — Pope Francis has strongly defended his record on naming women to positions of authority at the Vatican, saying in a new book that women do not need to be priests to serve as leaders in the global Catholic Church.

Fr. Blaise Agwon of Nigeria tells Aid to the Church in Need that the conflict is more about resources than religion.

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) recently interviewed Father Blaise Agwon, director of the Center for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace in Jos, the capital of Plateau State in the central belt region of central Nigeria.The Nigerian priest is currently researching conflict and peace management.

Speakers at New York symposium urge greater attention to persecuted in Africa.

An advocate for Christians in the Near East sees the same kind of patterns that threatened them now being repeated in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. 

Saint Josephine Bakhita, Virgin
1869–1947

February 8
Patron Saint of Sudan and human-trafficking survivors

Out of Africa comes a slave, to freely serve the Master of all

Mr. David Young of the United States Charge 'd Affairs Mission in Nigeria paid a courtesy visit to his Lordship Most Rev. Dr Matthew Hassan Kukah in his office in Sokoto.

The Vatican has ordered the suspension of activities of the congregation of Apostles of Jesus, placing the society under a Pontifical Commission of inquiry.

The Catholic Bishops in Africa on Sunday, July 29 officially launched the Golden Jubilee celebration of the establishment of their association known as the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) by unveiling the Jubilee Logo and reciting for the first time the Jubilee prayer.

“As we launch the golden jubilee year of SECAM, there are a lot of troubling situations and conditions of need that characterise the continent of Africa, one of which is the temptation of materialism,” the second Vice President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha (South Africa) said Sunday, July 29 at the launch of SECAM Golden Jubilee in Uganda.

The bishop of a diocese is required to make this visit every five years, as a sign of his communion with the Holy See and in order to report on the condition of his diocese.