News in World Issues

The Effects of the Ukraine Invasion on Africa

Africa, like the whole world, woke up on February 24, 2022, to the news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a clear violation of international law and the UN Charter. Faced with the same reality, the international community reacted in different ways. While the U.S. and its Western allies activated a series of economic and diplomatic measures against Russia and set up a support system for Ukraine, the Global South has shown rather diverse and more circumspect attitudes. 

2022: A Watershed Year For Kazakhstan?

 2022: A Watershed Year For Kazakhstan? Unrest and a constitutional referendum. The tragic events of January 2022 once again revealed how the republics that emerged from the collapse of the USSR are still a long way from stability. Kazakhstan is not an exception, just one more example. There are, however, big differences in the way the ruling elites react to protests, ranging from attempts to consolidate power through repression to introducing some reforms, even if these can sometimes be a fig leaf masking a tight grip on power.

Vatican tells COP27 that climate action 'can no longer be postponed'

 Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has told world leaders at COP27 that “concrete decisions” to tackle the climate crisis “can no longer be postponed”. Representing the Vatican at the United Nations’ climate conference in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, He told around 200 countries negotiating next steps on cutting the emissions that cause global warming that “we cannot ignore” the link between the climate crisis and lack of access to food and water. 

Towards The Next Global Financial Crisis?

Economists failed to predict global inflation. In most industrialized countries it has now reached eight percent on an annual basis and promises to be with us for the next few months, and perhaps even the next few years. To the extent that most Western societies chose, 40 years ago, to prioritize the fight against inflation over any other policy consideration, a large number of Western central banks now feel compelled to imitate the anti-inflationary monetary policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve. During the course of 2022 they have increased their benchmark interest rates to levels not seen for several decades.

Peace is a Narrow Path

Urgent action needed to avoid climate disaster says bishop

Bishop John Arnold, environmental lead for the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said on the eve of COP27 opening in Egypt, said: “It is vital that steps are taken to limit global temperatures.” He was speaking as a YouGov poll commissioned by Cafod shows nearly six out of ten Catholics feel the government has done too little to tackle climate change in the last year. Just 20 per cent of Catholics and 24 per cent of Christians believe the government is committed to its net zero target and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.

Only connect –why churches and people must come together and heed the call of Creation

Never again to martial law

 The Philippines can proudly claim its contribution to the inclusion of progressive language, such as “independence and self-determination” in the UN Charter, then frowned on by some permanent members of the Security Council. Sadly, however, in the last five decades, the Philippines has witnessed gross and systematic violations of human rights and glaring impunity that never escaped global scrutiny.

Bishops publish updated environment text

The bishops of England and Wales have released a new edition of their teaching document on the environment, 20 years after it was first published. The Call of Creation, issued on 4 October, the feast of St Francis of Assisi, calls for a “profound interior conversion” to address the ecological crisis, and the development of “a Christian spirituality of ecology” to form individuals and society.

Francis’ Journey to Kazakhstan, ‘Country of Encounter’

A Prayer in Silence took place in the Conference Hall of the Independence Palace, opening the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions (September 14-15). Since its inception in 2003, the event has taken as its model the Day of Prayer for World Peace, convened in 2002 by St. John Paul II in Assisi, to reaffirm the positive contribution of religious traditions to dialogue and concord among peoples.

Pope in Kazakhstan makes impassioned plea for world peace

On 15 September at the two-day 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan, Pope Francis used his concluding address to the 100 delegations from 60 countries to make a profound and impassioned plea for world peace. Acknowledging, without naming Ukraine, that he was speaking against a background of “the utter folly of war”, he told the attendees that the motto for his visit, “Messengers of Unity and Peace” was deliberately in the plural because “all of us are on a common journey”.

Asia's suffering millions can count on King Charles III

Britain’s King Charles III will be more constrained in what he can say, now that he is monarch. Under Britain’s constitutional arrangements, the sovereign must stay above party politics and generally avoid political comment. During his more than six decades as Prince of Wales, he indicated there are certain issues about which he is deeply passionate. The environment is one, and he was prophetic in his warnings about climate change. Religious freedom, inter-faith dialogue, human rights and humanitarian causes are among the others.

The British Monarchy – What will King Charles III stand for?

How fortunate were the British people to have as their figurehead a person of such dignity and grace, humility and faith, as Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Indeed, she redefined the concept of majesty to emphasise its essentially effortless nature. Part of the mystique of royalty, majesty has nothing to boast of nor need it do so; but worn lightly, as she wore it, it elevated her without diminishing the dignity of others. It is a spiritual charism, a reminder that in the theology of kingship the person so anointed, however unworthily, stands in the place of Christ himself.

Five Hundred Years of Philippine Christianity: Living Heritage and Social Project

Five hundred years ago Christianity arrived in the Philippines. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) began celebrations with a Mass on April 17, 2021, to mark the first Easter Sunday on native soil. The Covid-19 pandemic pushed a key moment for the Church in the Philippines, the International Mission Congress, ahead to April 2022, while other events moved online for accessibility.

Pope's call to Zelenskyy marks change of tack

The Vatican’s diplomacy with regard to Ukraine took a new turn last week after Pope Francis on Friday spoke by telephone to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Mr Zelenskyy said in a tweet that he told Francis that Ukraine needs the support of “world spiritual leaders who should convey to the world the truth about acts of horror committed by the aggressor in Ukraine”.

Seven Pictures of the Invasion of Ukraine

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is thus the latest tragic piece of a bloody puzzle. The poor people are the ones who pay the price, as always. After the Angelus of February 27, 2022, the pope said: “Those who make war forget humanity. They do not start from the people; they do not look at the concrete life of the people, but put partisan interests and power before everything.” 

Russia 'violating all norms of war' says Ukraine archbishop

Ukraine’s Greek Catholic archbishop has accused Russian forces of violating all norms of war, stating that they have destroyed one of the country’s most historic religious sites. “This attack shows nothing is sacred for the Russian occupiers - the whole of Ukrainian territory is a target for Russian rockets, and no town or village can feel safe”, said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halich, whose church combines the eastern rite with loyalty to Rome.

Francis, a pope who saves the creation

As we see ecological disasters caused by climate change, we must heed Pope Francis’s call to save the planet. Pope Francis, who took the name of the Italian saint, has vowed to defend the rights of the poor and the creation. His 2015 encyclical, Laudato si’, was both a wake-up call and an inspiration to Christians and the world to save plants and animals from extinction.

Save Myanmar from absolute hell

 Myanmar has known many, many dark chapters in its history, especially over the past 18 months since the latest coup d’etat. But the execution of four pro-democracy activists — the first judicial executions in more than three decades — plunges the country into even greater darkness.

'Pro-life' is 'pro-women', says Archbishop of Armagh

The head of the Irish Church has warned that the desperate situations of women with a crisis pregnancy, who feel isolated, neglected and alone in their distress, “do not go away no matter how widely available abortion is made”.