Italian ambassador killed in Congo remembered for humanitarian work
- Feb 23, 2021
Ghana’s rapid urbanization means Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is shifting resources to hygiene and sanitation, as the number of people without access to toilets increases to over 5 million.
Africa has long lagged behind the United States, Europe and Australia in confronting the problem of priests having sex with children, given the church’s priorities here have focused on fighting poverty, conflict and traffickers who sell children off to war or work.
With the prayers of Pope Francis, a major national dialogue to resolve the crisis that has been rocking Cameroon’s English-speaking regions began on Monday, although separatist rebels refused to attend.
A new report on child abuse in Cameroon shows that over 50 percent of Cameroon’s children have suffered various forms of abuse, with children with disabilities suffering proportionally far worse.
Africa’s top prelate has hit back against the notion that clerical sexual abuse is a purely western problem, saying it happens on his home turf too, though he also pressed for Pope Francis’s newly minted reporting mechanism to be broadened to cover local issues.
A recent pledge of $1 billion by a regional body to tackle the growing jihadist problem in Africa’s Sahel region “will not be enough to stop the crisis,” according to a leading Catholic aid agency.