Middle East – Africa

Antananarivo, Madagascar, Jun 5, 2018 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- During a meeting last month between representatives of the bishops of Africa and Germany discussing integral human development, both groups affirmed their need to continue the work of evangelization.

“As Church, both in Africa and in Germany, the Holy Spirit is opening our eyes to the fact that we still have a lot to do in our mission of evangelization,” read a May 27 statement signed by Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi of Lubango and Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising.

The communique was released following a May 22-27 seminar in Antananarivo, Madagascar, between the German bishops’ conference and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, which are chaired by Cardinal Marx and Archbishop Mbilingi, respectively.

The bishops pointed to poverty, misery, disease, and despair in Africa “caused by human greed and corruption, injustices of all kinds and violence and fratricidal wars,” and in Europe, a “dearth of spiritual values, excessive materialism and consumerism, individualism, little or no of respect for the life and rights of the unborn, of the aged and the infirm.”

“All of these evils .. point to the fact that as Church we still have a lot to do in our evangelization mission,” they affirmed.

In addition to proclaiming the gospel, the bishops said evangelization is “the work of deepening our Christian formation and the formation of consciences of our political and socio-economic leaders, as well as the offering of true witness of our faith in Christ.”

“Evangelization should lead all to understand and develop their lives of relationships with God, with their fellow women and men, and with creation,” they wrote. “This work of building relationship demands that we work with all women and men of good will in order to create a new and better world for all to have the chance to develop their talents to the best of their capabilities, and to bring these to serve every body, living and even yet unborn.”

The May seminar was the eighth such meeting between German and African bishops. The tradition began in 1982, and they occur every four to five years. A statement ahead of the event said that they discuss “mutually agreed issues as part of an effort to promote pastoral solidarity between Germany and the African continent, and also to discuss issues relevant to promoting the growth of the church in the two Conferences. The meetings have contributed to the deepening and intensification of the relationship between the local Churches in Africa and the Church in Germany.”

This year’s theme of integral human development was needed because of secularization and globalization, and was inspired by Catholic social teaching of the last 50 years, said the concluding document. It cited the importance of Bl. Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio, Benedict XVI’s Caritas in veritate, and Pope Francis’ Laudato si’.

They reflected that integral human development “must ensure the total well-being of the person, of every person and of every human society,” and said, “we must renew our missionary zeal working for integral human development as an indispensable part of our mandate.”

The seminar resulted in seven resolutions: a renewed commitment to working for a more just world; the need for development “to respect the ecological limitations of our planet earth”; speaking up “for a more just global order especially regarding international trade”; that “the empowerment of all women worldwide and in all fields of society is a necessary pre-condition for the development of every single person”; that evangelization will be tied to integral human development; to advocate development both domestically aind internationally; and to continue “this dialogue and cooperation and communion between the Church in Africa and in Germany”.

The statement concluded, “We are thankful for the fraternal communion and greater understanding with each other and as representatives of our local Churches.”

“At this meeting in Antananarivo, we have become more aware of the unique wealth and unique opportunities that characterize our Church, universal and global. We are a global community and communion of learning, prayer and solidarity, sent to be witnesses of faith, hope and love to the whole world. By so doing, we are serving the integral development of every person and of the whole human person.”

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Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jun 5, 2018 / 12:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A United Nations-led campaign to provide contraception to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh camps fails to show respect for the views of the already vulnerable community, said one human rights g… […]

Aleppo, Syria, Jun 1, 2018 / 12:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The key to ending Syria’s ongoing conflict lies not with the local people, but with the leaders of the international community, said a Syrian-born Franciscan priest this week.

“We kno… […]

Harare, Zimbabwe, May 30, 2018 / 10:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A group devoted to John Bradburne, a lay missionary to what is now Zimbabwe in the 1970s, is raising money to fund an investigation into his life and virtues, in view of opening his cause for beatification.

The group, led by Bradburne’s neice, Celia Brigstocke, hopes to raise GBP 20,000 ($26,600) for the investigation.

Bradburne was born in 1921 in England, the son of an Anglican clergyman. He served in the British army in World War II, and he converted to Catholicism in 1947 after staying with the Benedictines of Buckfast Abbey.

He wished to become a monk at Buckfast, but had not been long enough in the Church, and he became a wanderer throughout Europe and the Middle East. He was a prolific poet. He stayed at other Benedictine abbeys, with Carthusians, the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, tried living as a hermit on Dartmoor in England, and became a Third Order Franciscan in 1956.

Through a Jesuit friend in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), Bradburne came to serve at the Mutemwa Leper Settlement, spending the last 10 years of his life there.

Southern Rhodesia declared independence in 1965, and the Rhodesian Bush War was fought from 1964 to 1979 among the white minority government; the Marxist Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army; and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).

As ZANU forces approached Mutemwa, Bradburne was urged to leave, but he insisted on remaining. He was kidnapped, and murdered Sept. 5, 1979.

He had confided in a Franciscan priest that his wishes were to serve leprosy patients, to die a martyr, and to be buried in the habit of St. Francis.

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Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of the Congo, May 25, 2018 / 01:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Catholic priest has contracted the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo amid a continuing outbreak that began in the nation earlier this month.

The prie… […]

Abuja, Nigeria, May 24, 2018 / 12:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholics from across Nigeria participated in peaceful protests on Tuesday, calling for greater government protection following a recent attack at a Catholic Church that left 19 dead.

Thousand… […]

Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of the Congo, May 22, 2018 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After 26 confirmed deaths have been attributed to the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Catholic Relief Services has been working to combat the deadly … […]

Abuja, Nigeria, May 16, 2018 / 05:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Nigeria’s Catholic bishops have called on each of the nation’s dioceses to organize peaceful processions May 22 in solidarity with the funeral for two priests and 17 others killed in an attack by Fulani herdsmen on a parish church.

The herdsmen stormed a daily Mass at Saint Ignatius Church on the morning of April 24, killing Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha, along with others in the congregation.

Last Sunday’s Mass announcements throughout Nigeria encouraged Catholics and all “men and women of goodwill” to join in these upcoming rosary processions and prayer rallies around the country.

The state governor of Benue, where the attack took place, has also declared May 22 as a work holiday to honor those who died, according to Nigeria’s PM News.

Last year, nomadic Fulani herdsmen killed more than 140 Christians in central Nigeria’s Benue state, a World Watch report by Open Doors found.

Nigeria’s bishops have been vocal critics of President Muhammadu Buhari’s response to the violent attacks by nomadic herdsmen.

In a statement issued in response to the April 24 attack, the Nigerian bishops’ conference called on Buhari to step down because “he has failed in his primary duty of protecting the lives of the Nigerian citizens.”

“How can the Federal Government stand back while its security agencies deliberately turn a blind eye to the cries and wails of helpless and armless citizens who remain sitting ducks in their homes, highway and now, even in their sacred places of worship?” the bishops continued.

The northern Fulani herdsmen have been moving south due to the desertification of the soil in northern Nigeria, and have violently clashed with the farmers in the region, as the cattle have overtaken some farmed fields.

Some, including the bishops, have asserted that terrorist groups are embedded among the nomadic herdsmen.

The bishops met with Buhari Feb. 8, urging him to address the deadly violence, as well as the kidnappings in Nigeria.

“Herdsmen may be under pressure to save their livestock and economy, but this is never to be done at the expense of other people’s lives and means of livelihood,” the bishops told Buhari.

The bishops concluded, “As the voice of the voiceless, we shall therefore continue to highlight the plight of our people.”

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Washington D.C., May 14, 2018 / 02:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A report calling for access to contraception and abortion in the developing world is an example of ideological colonization and cultural arrogance, warned a family author and scholar.

“By what moral right do Westerners send the message that the world would be a better place with fewer Africans in it?” said Mary Eberstadt, senior research fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute.

“Such campaigns are going to look as ugly in history’s rearview mirror as the twentieth-century eugenics movement does today,” she told CNA.

Eberstadt was responding to the newly-released Guttmacher-Lancet Commission report, which declared a need for universal access to contraception and birth control within the next 12 years, particularly in the developing world.

The Commission believes that these goals are “consistent with,” yet broader than, the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The findings were published last week in the medical journal The Lancet.

They discussed “sexual and reproductive health and rights” (SRHR), a term defined by the report to mean gender-based violence, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, abortion, contraception, infertility, reproductive cancers, and maternal and newborn health.

In addition to the developing world, populations that were identified as having “distinct needs” in this area included adolescents, sex workers, intravenous drug users, immigrants, and refugees.

Failure to embrace the goals outlined by the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission’s agenda have harmed women and put lives at risk, the report claims.

“There is compelling evidence that countries or governments that do not prioritise SRHR have disproportionately poor health indicators. For example, those countries with restrictive abortion laws contributed most to the global burden of 25 million unsafe abortions.”

There is an “urgent need to change the narrative” on these issues, said one of the included commentaries in the report, particularly highlighting the poorer parts of Africa and in southeast Asia.

The Commission found that the cost of promoting abortion and contraception to the developing world would come out to about nine dollars per person, per year, which they claim will “save lives.”

However, Eberstadt objected to the idea that Westerners have the moral standing to promote contraception and abortion in developing nations.

She warned that the rhetoric of the report will not age gracefully and will one day be likened to eugenics campaigns.

“The spectacle of pale elites from increasingly barren societies trying to reduce the fertility of darker people in other societies is intrinsically grotesque,” she said.

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Makurdi, Nigeria, May 7, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In the wake of an attack that left two priests and 17 worshippers dead, Nigerian clergy are condemning the passivity of government security forces and pleading for more aid in defense against t… […]