Francis McDonagh
Nicaragua: Ortega wants a submissive church
The persecution of the Church in Nicaragua intensified in the small hours of Friday 19 August when police broke into the residence of Mgr Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of Matagalpa in northern Nicaragua, and took him away with the other clergy and laity who had been blockaded with him for two weeks.
Ex-minister Montano sentenced for UCA murders
The verdict of the Spanish case in the trial of the former Salvadorean minister and army colonel, Inocente Orlando Montano.
El Salvador: Madrid trial for the UCA murders
A former Salvadorean army colonel has been on trial in Madrid, accused of playing a direct role in the murder of 6 Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her 15-year-old daughter, in their house next to the Catholic university campus, on 16 November 1989.
Brazil: September 7 — day of death
'We now realise that Brazil has always chosen death. But never, at any other moment of its history, has the country reached this level of perversion under the formal title of democracy.'
The Synod on the Amazon
A synod is a meeting of representatives of Church
communities to discuss issues of doctrine or Church governance. So far, for most people, so boring. ...
Frei Henri, champion of justice for Brazil’s rural poor
A chapter in international solidarity with Brazil’s embattled rural poor closed on Sunday 26 November with the death of Dominican priest and lawyer, Henri...
What Afro-Venezuelans can teach the government
Jesús Alberto ‘Chucho’ García is Venezuelan Consul General in New Orleans and previously represented the Venezuelan government in Angola, Mali and Burkina Faso. He...
Another look at Pope Francis
Was LAB unfair to Pope Francis in our 4 April Newsletter? An analysis by the provincial of the Colombian Jesuits provides a more hopeful view.
CULTURE AND CONFLICT IN SOUTHERN PARA
LAB editor Francis McDonagh describes a visit to the south of the Brazilian state of Pará, starting in Belém and moving into deepest darkest rancher country.
BRAZIL AFTER SANTA MARIA
LAB Editor Francis McDonagh discusses what the tragedy in southern Brazil, in which 236 young people were killed, tells us about Brazil's ambition to be a member of the 'rich country' club.