Africa

In a special Mass celebrated for the Congolese community in Rome, Pope Francis urged citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to let go of hatred and resentment over current violence and past wrongs, and to choose peace instead.

The church will let justice take its course after the High Court in Malawi sentenced a priest to 30 years in prison for the murder of a man with albinism, said Archbishop George Desmond Tambala, president of the Malawian bishops' conference.

St. Francis Xavier Church in Ondo, where at least 40 worshippers were slain by terrorists June 5 during Pentecost Mass, will reopen by the fall.

Although he postponed his own trip to Congo and South Sudan, Pope Francis has asked Cardinal Pietro Parolin, his secretary of state, to visit the two countries July 1-8, the Vatican press office said.

The past seven days were among the deadliest for Catholic priests and religious in recent years, with one violent murder every 33 hours.

African bishops meeting in Kenya released a statement on Tuesday calling on world governments to take “urgent and ambitious” action to protect biodiversity.

Gunmen attack a Catholic and Baptist church in Kaduna on Sunday, killing three people, injuring two, and abducting dozens of others.

The Catholics attending Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church on Pentecost did not know how much it would cost to participate in the suffering of Jesus, said Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo.

Father Andrew Adeniyi Abayomi was in the sacristy of St. Francis Xavier Church after Mass when parishioners began running in different directions.

The Catholic Church in Nigeria has warned the various political parties fielding presidential candidates for the 2023 general elections not to have Muslims as both their presidential candidates and their running mates.

On the same day the United Kingdom planned to start deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, the bishops of England and Wales reiterated their belief that the policy is “shameful.”

Addressing participants at the General Chapter of the Missionaries of Africa, Pope Francis exhorts them to embrace the meaning and strength of their charism, and invites them to be apostles and witnesses through prayer and fraternity.

The Holy See Press Office announces that Pope Francis is postponing his Apostolic Journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, which was originally scheduled for early July.

A leading Catholic bishop in South Africa says the country needs to start looking at migrants “as people who are in need of help.”

Nigerian Cardinal John Onaiyekan reacts to the shooting at a Church in his country on Sunday which killed over 50 people. He decries systemic impunity and the government’s lack of capacity to enforce security, but reiterates the role of interreligious dialogue in paving the way to peaceful coexistence.

As droughts continue to hit countries across the Horn of Africa, a leading Catholic aid agency says 20 million people are facing an acute food shortage.

Condemning the actions of gunmen who attacked a Catholic Church as parishioners gathered for Mass on the feast of Pentecost, Nigeria's Catholic bishops lamented that nowhere is safe in the country after the incident left dozens of people dead.

Pope Francis expresses his condolences for the victims of a terror attack on a Catholic Church in Nigeria’s southwestern Ondo State which killed over 50 people, including several children.

An Italian missionary working in the Central African Republic (CAR) has welcomed the end of capital punishment in the impoverished country.

According to Archbishop Matthew Man-oso Ndagoso of Kaduna, in the 14 years since Boko Haram exploded on the scene in northern Nigeria, “We have been going from one problem to the other, without one being over before the other began.”