Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez spoke during a press conference at the Vatican (AP/Alessandra Tarantino)
ROME — A founding father of Latin America’s controversial liberation theology movement, which seeks to place the Catholic Church on the side of the poor, said there has been no “rehabilitation” under Pope Francis because the movement was never formally rejected in the first place.
That said, Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez nevertheless acknowledged a clear “change in atmosphere” under the Latin American pontiff, who has voiced his dream of a “poor church for the poor.” More…
Peru’s government has dispatched troops to a violence-wracked southern coastal valley where protests against a copper mining project have claimed the lives of two civilians and a police officer.
Defense Minister Jakke Valakivi told reporters Sunday that the 500 troops sent to reinforce 2,000 police would guard strategic locations including bridges and gas stations.
Two civilians have been killed by police bullets since protests began in late March against the $1.4 billion Tía María project of Mexican-owned Southern Peru Copper. On Saturday, a police officer died. His skull had been fractured by a rock.
Farmers fear the project would contaminate their crops. More...
Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis. (Bob Roller/CNS)
ROME — Pope Francis’ closest cardinal advisor on Tuesday blasted “movements in the United States” hostile to the pontiff’s forthcoming document on the environment, claiming the criticism is fueled by a form of capitalism proteching it own interests.
“The ideology surrounding environmental issues is too tied to a capitalizm that doesn’t want to stop ruining the environment because they don’t want to give up their profits,” said Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga. More…
A camp set up to house foreigners in South Africa after widespread xenophobic attacks broke out.
In response to the recent spate of xenophobic attacks the South African Government launched Operation Fiela (a word which means to “sweep clean” or “clear out” the rubbish). Although the national police force led this operation, the military were also brought in to assist. They have conducted raids in various areas identified as “hotspots” in the past few weeks. Over the weekend the operation targeted the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg. At 03h30 on Friday morning the operation hit the church using apartheid-style tactics: kicking down doors, brandishing automatic weapons and rounding up immigrants who sought refuge in the place of worship. More…
Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh at a police station in Malaysia. Many are fleeing persecution in Myanmar. Credit European Pressphoto Agency
One of the world’s most beautiful regions, the seas of Southeast Asia — home to sparkling white beaches and $7,000-a-night beach villas — is becoming a scene of a mass atrocity.
Thousands of refugees from the persecuted Rohingya minority in Myanmar, fleeing modern concentration camps at home, have fled to sea in boats, and many have drowned. Fearing a crackdown, smugglers have abandoned some of those boats at sea, and neighboring countries are pushing the boats back to sea when they try to land.
The Obama administration, which has regarded Myanmar as one of its diplomatic successes, is largely unhelpful as this calamity unfolds. More…
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