Browse past isues
Help the mission
Support the mission
Get in touch
The ongoing war in Sudan, stemming from a power struggle between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has led to severe humanitarian crises, with thousands killed, millions displaced, and widespread atrocities, yet it remains largely overlooked by global media.
In a country devastated by a year of civil war, the Comboni Missionaries opened a place to help the terminally in Port Sudan.
The independence of southern Sudan, on July 9, is approaching and there is a growing concern for the fate of Christians in northern Sudan. As underlined by Fr. Asfaha Yohannes Weldeghiorghis, Ethiopian Comboni missionary, pastor of Nyala, capital of south Darfur in an interview for Sudan Catholic Radio (SCR), Christians in the North are mostly of southern origin and the support of the Churches of the South are expected. The missionary added that, since the faithful of the two countries have deep human, spiritual and family ties, they have to remain united, just like the Church of the North and South Sudan must remain united after independence, to offer mutual support. Fr. Asfaha also claimed that the Church of the North does not have the same rights of worship as for Muslims, and fears the worst after the independence of South Sudan.
A possible new war between North and South Sudan could cause damages around 100 billion dollars, revealed a report recently released by Frontier Economics (a consulting firm in economics) together with the ISS (Institute for Security Studies, a South African think tank that deals with security issues relating to Africa), by SID (Society for International Development) and by Aegis Trust campaigns for a sustainable peace in Sudan.
St. Mary’s University, the first Catholic university in South Sudan, was inaugurated in the capital city of Juba last April. The ceremony was attended by the Security and Religious Affairs Minister, Maria Kiden Kimbo, of the South Sudan Government. St. Mary’s is the second private university in the capital of South Sudan. Minister Kimbo praised the opening of the new university, which will offer an education to future social workers, a profession that is extremely important in a country with nearly 50,000 handicapped persons.
Four Franciscans, three priests and a brother arrived in Sudan in July 2007. The archbishop of Khartoum, Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir, introduced them officially to the diocesan community, during the Eucharistic celebration in honor of St. Daniel Comboni, on October 10. The four newly-arrived Franciscans (2 Sudanese from the South, 1 Croatian and 1 Filipino) have offered themselves for the job to answer the call of their Superior-General. The superior of the group is Filipino Father Melito Penili. After a few years of academic and administrative work in the Philippines, he spent four years in Libya among the OFWs. Then he frequented a two-year Arabic course at Dar Comboni in Cairo, a language school for missionaries.
