Global warming and the El Niño phenomenon are “partly to blame” for the spread of the mosquitoes that transmit the illness. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Zika virus a public emergency of international significance, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. Brazil reported its first case in May 2015, and since then […]

According to the report “Crushed but not Defeated”, published by Open Doors, the international Christian persecution charity, Christians in northern Nigeria face persistent violence. The publication reports that between 9,000 to 11,500 Christians have been killed in the area over the last few decades; at least 1.3 million Christians are currently internally displaced or have been forced

She alternates her violet-coloured sari with her black judicial gown; her daily prayer is followed by skillful oratory in the courtroom. Sister Theresa Joyce is a nun from the Congregation of St Anne’s Sisters, a diocesan order of Madras in southern India, but she is also a criminal defence lawyer. For ten years now, she

A recent Human Rights Watch report has denounced the exploitation of thousands of children working in Tanzanian gold mines. The report focuses on the Geita, Shinyanga and Mbeya provinces, not far from the Lake Victoria region and close to the Zambian and Malawi borders. The sun has not yet risen when Haji and Mosi, aged

A Holy See delegation has visited Al-Azhar University, the prestigious Sunni Islam centre of learning in Cairo, after a number years of strained relationships between the University and the Vatican. The delegation also extended an invitation to the University’s Grand Imam to meet with the Pope. Sheikh Ahmed al Tayyeb, Grand Imam of al-Azhar University,

During his visit to Mexico, Pope Francis met prisoners in Ciudad Juarez – an occasion which was particularly important to him. To mark the visit, he said: “The problem of security is not resolved only by incarcerating; rather, it calls us to intervene by confronting the structural and cultural causes of insecurity that impact the

During last week’s Papal Visit to Mexico, Pope Francis shared his wisdom with those who had gathered to receive him: “Today the Lord continues to call you, he continues to draw you to him. He invites you to build a shrine. A shrine called ‘Nation’”. A celebration of the Papal Visit attended by 50,000 young people

A second deadline for forming a transitional government in South Sudan passed without President Kiir and his political rival Machar reaching an agreement. International mediators fear the country could become a failed state. Two years into South Sudan’s civil war, a transitional government was expected to end the conflict that has to date killed tens