Bishops Archives

Catholic Church in Togo calls for term limits as protests continue

The bishops of Togo say they have “a great deal of anxiety due to the repression of demonstrations as well as the incitement to ethnic hatred spread through social networks.” Their statement comes in response to ongoing protests against president Faure Gnassingbé, whose family has ruled the West African nation for 50 years.

Christian children face pressure to convert to Islam in refugee camps in Sudan

South Sudanese children in refugee camps in Sudan were facing “a terrible situation” by being pressured to become Muslim. There are nearly 2 million refugees fleeing South Sudan’s ongoing civil war. The bishops of the country say the killing, torture, and rape of civilians being committed by both the government and rebel forces are war crimes.

Grave of Cameroonian bishop who died under suspicious circumstances desecrated

Local sources have now reported that Bishop Jean Marie Benoît Bala’s grave in Bafia’s San Sebastian Cathedral was desecrated sometime between the night of Aug. 27 and the morning of Aug. 28. Although both the Cameroon government and the international organization Interpol maintain that the bishop drowned in a suicide, the bishops of Cameroon insist that he was murdered.

In Sicily abuse saga, doubt surrounds what a bishop should have done
- Analysis
- September 3, 2017
As more details emerge about a Catholic lay movement in Sicily whose leader and three other top officials have been arrested and charged with sexual abuse of underage minor girls, the questions become: Should more have been done by Church authorities to disown the group, or did local bishops do everything one could reasonably ask?
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South African bishops call for ‘jobs summit’ to tackle unemployment crisis
- Global Church
- September 2, 2017
Bishops in South Africa are calling on the government to do something about the skyrocketing unemployment in the country. The crisis is particularly acute among the youth, over half of whom are out of work. The disappointing recent jobs report means that the poverty situation in South Africa will continue to get worse.
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Guatemala bishops condemn president’s firing of anti-corruption official
- Catholic News Service, Global Church
- August 28, 2017
Bishops in Guatemala have expressed their concern after President Jimmy Morales plunged the nation into a political crisis Aug. 27 by declaring “non grata” a Colombian prosecutor who was the commissioner of an international anti-corruption commission. The commission’s work has led to a series of prominent prosecutions of politicians and ultimately led to the country’s then-President Otto Perez Molina being removed from office in 2015.
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