After almost nine years of Jacob Zuma’s mostly ruinous presidency, South Africa’s long wait to finally exhale ended last week with his departure. Under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa, the nation hopes that sober, responsible, transparent and accountable governance will take hold in South Africa.
Pope Francis is in the midst of the worst crisis in his papacy of almost five years.The Holy Father has a good record of saying the right things on the sex abuse scandal.So there was understandable indignation at comments in response to protests against a bishop accused of having known about the abuses of a priest.
A peculiar quirk of the calendar this year times Ash Wednesday to coincide with Valentine’s Day, and Easter with April Fool’s Day.
While Catholics will not mistake the Resurrection for an April Fool’s joke, some will likely be torn between observing the Church’s disciplines governing Ash Wednesday
This week 21 years ago the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, which legalised abortion-on-demand in South Africa, came into effect. For the Catholic Church, this law is a stain on our democracy because abortion kills God-made life, which is sacred.
The Eighth Commandment admonishes us not to bear false witness — but the sin of lying is becoming more and more easy to commit as our access to means of communications increases. When we spread fake news on social media, blogs or e-mail, we make ourselves complicit in the act of bearing false witness.
Psychologists may cite a range of reasons to explain why some people bully others, but Pope Francis has identified in blunt language the spiritual roots of the harassment of others.
The decline of Christianity in Europe found alarming expression last month when a survey revealed that only half of all Germans were planning to attend church services for Christmas.
As we are getting used to the figure 2018 on our diaries, we are called to pray for the many social and political crises, existing and potential, that afflict our country and the world.
The secular media and social networks became overexcited again this month about another comment by Pope Francis: this time the Holy Father supposedly proposed to change the Lord’s Prayer.
