Do not forget Afghanistan, CAFOD pleads

THREE years since the Taliban’s return to power, Afghanistan is in need of “urgent attention”, CAFOD has warned. In a report published last week, the charity says that an estimated 23.7 million people, more than half the population, need help. Its local partners are focused on “empowering small farmers, promoting women’s entrepreneurship, and addressing climate-change impacts through initiatives like tree-planting and flood defences”. The United Nations reports that edicts from the Taliban have denied girls an education beyond primary school, “stripping them of their fundamental rights and eviscerating their autonomy”. cafod.org.uk/afghanistan

Crackdown on Evangelical NGOs in Nicaragua

THE Nicaraguan government has revoked the legal status of 1500 NGOs operating in the country, and has transferred their assets to the State, Vatican News reports. The decision allegedly stems from the NGOs’ failure to meet certain obligations, including submitting financial statements for periods ranging from one to 35 years, with a detailed breakdown of income and expenses, payment records, donation details, and the names of their directors. Most are affiliated with Evangelical communities. More than 5200 NGOs have been dissolved since 2018, when popular protests began.

Raise voices for peace in Holy Land, says WCC

RESOURCES for the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel, 16-22 September, have been published by the World Council of Churches. The theme is: “Whatever you did . . . you did for me” (Matthew 25.40). The programme director for public witness and diakonia, the Revd Dr Kenneth Mtata, said: “If member churches raise awareness about the suffering of civilians, support humanitarian efforts, and use their influence to call for an end to violence and the implementation of fair and lasting solutions, hope will be restored. The fellowship must call for immediate ceasefire, remain a moral and spiritual voice, urging all parties to seek reconciliation, uphold dignity, and pursue actions that reflect the teachings of compassion, mercy, and love.” oikoumene.org/resources/documents

Death penalty poisons society, Pope declares

CAPITAL punishment fuels “a sense of revenge that becomes a dangerous poison for the body of our civil societies”, the Pope writes in the preface to a new book, A Christian on Death Row: My commitment to those condemned (Vatican Publishing House), by Dale Recinella, a former Wall Street lawyer who serves as a prison chaplain in Florida, alongside his wife, Susan. “States should focus on allowing prisoners the opportunity to truly change their lives, rather than investing money and resources in their execution, as if they were human beings no longer worthy of living and to be disposed of,” the Pope writes. He praises Mr Recinella’s work as “a living and passionate testimony to the infinite mercy of God”.