At the Angelus on 28 August Pope Francis invited the international community to support Pakistan where millions have been impacted by severe flooding. Archbishop Joseph Arshad of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, president of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, echoed the appeal the same day. Amjad Gulzar, executive director of Caritas Pakistan, reports that Caritas’ Emergency Response Teams, “have been meeting with government district officers and different organisations and enhancing the coordination mechanism.” In Britain the Disasters Emergency Committee, which includes Cafod, raised £15 million within the first few days of its Pakistan Floods Appeal. From the Sindh Province, which has been largely under water, Columban missionary Fr Liam O’Callaghan reported that “two million acres of cultivated crops have been wiped out and many hundreds of thousands of livestock have been lost.”
Syria has been “attacked, robbed and abandoned half-dead by the roadside”, Pope Francis said last week. However, he added, Syria is “not forgotten and abandoned by Christ and by so many individuals, associations, institutions”. He was speaking as he received the AVSI Foundation at the Vatican on 3 September. AVSI promotes the “Open Hospitals” project, through which three Catholic hospitals in Aleppo and Damascus and four outpatient clinics in more isolated areas continue to operate after 12 years of war. Pope Francis applauded the fact that they are "open to poor sick people without distinction of ethnic and religious affiliation.” The previous day, Cardinal Mario Zenari, the nuncio in Syria, reported that people are losing hope as the Syrian civil war continues. “I’ve seen so many people die; I’ve seen young people die too; now I see hope dying.”
After fighting resumed on 24 August in northern Ethiopia, the nation's bishops have urged all parties to prioritise peace. In an appeal released on 2 September and titled "No More War!" Ethiopia’s bishops called on, "all parties to cede their weapons and return to the peace option, to prioritise dialogue and an option that will end the suffering of our citizens.” Intense fighting has restarted between government forces, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The fighting ended a five-month humanitarian truce that the government announced in May to allow aid to reach millions of needy people in Tigray. The Catholic schoolchildren-feeding charity Mary’s Meals is urging people to take notice of the atrocities unfolding in Ethiopia. A recent update from the charity’s partner in Tigray outlining horrors – including the murder of children and rape as a weapon of war – has led Mary’s Meals’ founder, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, to appeal to the world on their behalf. “The relative peace of recent months was both a breath of fresh air and an answer to prayer and we are shocked and saddened by this recent update detailing yet more horror and suffering as violence has once again broken out,” he said.
Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako lauded Shia leader Muqtada al Sadr last week for his “courage and human and national responsibility” for urging his followers in a televised address to end a parliamentary siege and demonstrations in the “Green Zone” of Baghdad to avoid further bloodshed. Unrest broke out in Iraq on 21 August after Muqtada al Sadr, leader of the coalition that won the October 2021 elections but without enough seats to secure a majority government, announced his intention to withdraw from political life and denounced the country’s political deadlock. His supporters took to the streets, calling for the dissolution of parliament and new elections. At least 30 people were killed.
Pope Francis has prayed for “beloved Argentina”, his home country, after the attempted assassination of Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. He sent a telegram to her expressing his solidarity. “Having received the disturbing news of the attack that Your Excellency suffered yesterday afternoon, I wish to express my solidarity and closeness in this delicate moment,” the Pope said in the telegram on 2 September. The gunman’s weapon, loaded with five bullets, failed to fire as he aimed at her. He was later identified as a 35-year-old Brazilian.
Representatives of civil society in South Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have called for “a say in the plan to withdraw the Blue Helmets”. This followed a meeting in the Archdiocese of Bukavu last week which urged a peaceful transfer of responsibilities between peacekeepers of the UN Mission in DR Congo and the Congolese security forces by June 2024. Local people have been disappointed that the UN Mission is failing to stop decades of armed conflict. Last July saw violent clashes between the population and UN soldiers, which caused several deaths and injuries.
On Monday, Archbishop Thomas J Netto of Trivandrum began a hunger fast in front of a multi-billion dollar seaport in Kerala, India. The port has been a focus of protests by local fishermen, who have managed to stall work on the port’s construction since 16 August. The biggest demand is that the building of the Adani Group’s deepwater port and container shipment terminal at Vizhinjam in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram should be stopped and an environmental impact study carried out. The Church has urged the Kerala government to monitor the seaport’s ecological impact by involving coastal people, and to ensure fair compensation for their losses.
An 83-year-old American nun kidnapped from her parish in Burkina Faso by jihadists four months ago was freed last week unharmed. A Church statement about the release of Sr Suellen Tennyson of the Marianites of Holy Cross said she was in good health. According to unconfirmed reports in the US press, the release could be the result of action by US Special Operations forces.
The bishops of Southern Africa have invited young people to their next plenary meeting in late September, saying, "young people want to be an integral part of the Church today and not just in the future.” The gathering will be held in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, from 22-27 September.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops urged Catholics to mark “the Season of Creation” which began on 1 September and ends with the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on 4 October. “In the United States, the Season coincides with the beauty of the fall season, when the bounty and blessings of our nation’s land, waters, and skies are on full display,” noted a statement from the conference that urged Catholics to do what they can to protect the environment.
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