(Silas Isenjia. ACI Africa).
Archdiocese of Gulu in Uganda has urged Christian men still practicing polygamy to emulate St. Matthias Mulumba, one of the Uganda Martyrs who denounced his polygamous life and embraced monogamy after he converted to Christianity.
(Jude Atemanke. ACI Africa).
Catholic communicators in Africa have been urged to “work and protect the image of the Church” as they cover the ongoing Synod on Synodality.
Speaking during a Friday, June 7 webinar, Fr. Rafael Simbine Junior Secretary General of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) reminded communicators of their role to evangelize “amid forces seeking to destroy the Church”.
(Agnes Aineah. ACI Africa).
Catholic priests in West Africa who are meeting in Guinea-Bissau for their general assembly have been urged to propose ways to address ethnic and religious divisions in the region.
In his goodwill message to the 10th Conference of the Regional Union of West African Priests, Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Sierra Leone’s Archdiocese of Freetown expressed regret that many countries in West Africa are experiencing divisions on tribal lines and that some of these divisions are manifest in the Church.
(João Vissesse. ACI Africa).
The Bishops of Cape Verde’s Catholic Dioceses of Santiago and Mindelo who meet at the same Episcopal conference with their peers from Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and Senegal are looking into ways in which they can collaborate to address problems that are specific to their country.
In their inaugural Cape Verdean meeting that was held between May 28-29, Arlindo Cardinal Gomes Furtado of Santiago and Bishop Ildo Fortes of Mindelo agreed on the need to have what they described as “the First National Council of the Bishops of Cape Verde” so as to be meeting as two dioceses.
(Aciafrica. Jude Atemanke).
The Church in Africa, which for many years was considered a missionary territory has evolved and is growing “stronger” compared to the Church in Europe that seems to have “weakened”, the representative of the Holy Father in Kenya has said.
Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, who was preaching during the Episcopal Consecration of Mons. John Kiplimo Lelei as Auxiliary Bishop of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Eldoret highlighted some of the weaknesses of the Church in Europe, which reflect an orientation towards secularism.
(Jude Atemanke. ACI Africa).
Members of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) are shocked to hear reports of a coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the early hours of Pentecost Sunday, May 19.
In a statement shared with ACI Africa Tuesday, May 21, CENCO members say they “strongly” condemn the reported attack as undermining the democratic institutions of the Central African nation.
(Jude Atemanke. ACI Africa).
Les évêques catholiques d’Afrique ont identifié les conflits violents sur le continent comme un défi qui nécessite une solidarité spirituelle.
Dans leur message sur la solennité de la Pentecôte 2024, partagé avec ACI Afrique le lundi 20 mai, les membres du Symposium des Conférences Épiscopales d’Afrique et de Madagascar (SCEAM) exhortent le peuple de Dieu en Afrique à prier pour que les dirigeants du continent reçoivent les différents dons de l’Esprit Saint.
(Jude Atemanke. ACI Africa).
Members of the Episcopal Conference of Madagascar (CEM) have condemned a bill that proposes to have rapists of minors castrated, arguing that such a law goes “against human dignity.”
In a February 23 ruling that cannot be appealed, Madagascar’s High Constitutional Court (HCC) approved the implementation of surgical castration for perpetrators of rape against minors.
(Jude Atemanke. ACI Africa).
Catholic Bishops in Benin have expressed concern about increased reported “cases of murder and suicide” in the West African country, and urged respect for human life.
In a collective statement, members of the Episcopal Conference of Benin (CEB), who concluded their third Ordinary Session for the pastoral year 2023-2024 on Thursday, May 16 say the highlighted societal ills “call for prompt and urgent action.”
“We are concerned about the increase in cases of murder and suicide in our country,” CEB members say.
(Silas Isenjia. ACI Africa).
Members of the Africa Christian Professionals Forum (ACPF) are calling on governments, institutions, and lawmakers across Africa to have in place a legal framework that fosters “accepted family values” on the continent.
(Redaction. ACI Africa).
Fr. Paul Tatu Mothobi, a member the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata (CSS/ Stigmatines) and former Media and Communications Officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), is the latest victim of murder in South Africa.
(João Vissesse. ACI Africa).
Christians have to keep alive the zeal to share the Gospel, Bishop Maurício Agostinho Camuto of Angola’s Catholic Diocese of Caxito has said.
(João Vissesse. ACI Africa).
Archbishop Luzizila Kiala of the Catholic Archdiocese of Malanje in Angola has called upon the people of God in his Metropolitan See to speak favourably of the Catholic Church as members, loving her “with pride”.
(ACI Africa Staff).
The people of God in the Horn of Africa nation of Ethiopia are facing multiple crises with far-reaching impacts, Berhaneyesus Demerew Cardinal Souraphiel of the Catholic Archdiocese of Addis Ababa Archdiocese has said.
(Silas Isenjia. ACI Africa).
Karonga, 27 April, 2024 / 8:09 pm (ACI Africa).
Catholic youths in Malawi have been called upon to prioritize Jesus Christ and to respond to His call to a lifelong service of the Gospel message.
The Chairman of the Pastoral Commission of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), Bishop Martin Anwel Mtumbuka made the call in his homily on Good Shepherd Sunday, the annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations 2024 marked on the Fourth Sunday of Easter.
(Agnes Aineah. ACI Africa)
For environmental reporting to be impactful, communicators must rediscover the beauty of nature and bring it out in their work, participants at a workshop for Catholic journalists in Kenya have been told.
In his keynote address at the five-day workshop that ends on Friday, April 26, Archbishop Anthony Muheria who was recently elected Vice Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) urged Catholic communicators to learn from The Canticle of the Creatures, a powerful poem by St. Francis of Assisi that he said brings out the beauty of God’s creation.
(ACI Africa. Silas Isenjia).
The Bishop of Ethiopia’s Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat, which covers the Tigray region has witnessed firsthand the “unspeakable suffering” and even death of the people of God in the embattled region of the Horn of Africa nation.
In a statement that ACI Africa obtained Friday, April 19, Bishop Tesfasellassie Medhin pleads for the implementation of the 2 November 2022 peace agreement in Pretoria, South Africa, in which the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) pledged to “permanently silence the guns and end the two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia”.
(Agnes Aineah. ACI Africa).
In Africa’s tiniest nation of The Gambia, many illegal migrants deported from European countries hang around the country’s cities and major towns, fearing to go to their homes where they are seen as failures after having not made it abroad.
(ACI Africa Staff).
Brazzaville, 18 April, 2024 / 9:00 pm (ACI Africa).
The Catholic Church in the Central African nation of Congo-Brazzaville is facing many challenges, key among them a drop in the number of women choosing Religious Life.
(ACI Africa, Silas Isenjia).
La décision du gouvernement kenyan de revoir à la hausse les frais de permis de travail pour les missionnaires dans ce pays d’Afrique de l’Est dénote une ingratitude envers les sacrifices des personnes qui ont consacré leur vie à faire de la société un endroit agréable, ont déclaré les évêques catholiques du pays.
S’adressant aux journalistes le jeudi 11 avril à Roussel House of Donum Dei Missionary Sisters à Karen, Nairobi, les membres de la Conférence des évêques catholiques du Kenya (KCCB) ont déclaré : “Nous sommes surpris par l’augmentation exorbitante des frais de permis de travail payés par les missionnaires, de KES 15.000 (US$115.00) à KES 150.000 (US$1.153.00)”.