VATICAN – If the Catholic Church at every level – and governments, too – would listen to young people and give them a voice in decision-making, they could unleash great potential, said two African young adults.

LAGOS, Nigeria – Bishop Hilary Dachelem of Bauchi has appealed to the Nigerian government and security agencies to work for the rescue of the 110 schoolgirls kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in February.

The disciplines of Lent — prayer, fasting and almsgiving — are an exercise in conscience formation. Lent is much more than conscience formation, but it is that.

With the final numbers in, the Canadian government is kicking in $21.3 million to protect 20 million people in Africa and Yemen from imminent starvation, but Canada’s Catholic development agency is continuing to collect more funds even as Ottawa closes down its matching fund program.

An interfaith donation blitz on behalf of 20 million people threatened with famine in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen has resulted in $3.8 million headed overseas in the name of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

MANCHESTER, England – Western governments are "spitting in the face" of African democracy by trying to impose legal abortion against the wishes of most of the people in such countries, said a Nigerian-born pro-life campaigner.

VATICAN CITY – To the vast majority, Pope Francis is the compassionate face of Catholicism today.

ISSELE-UKU, Nigeria – It was supposed to be a quiet retreat weekend last April for Fr. Sam Okwuidegbe, a Nigerian Jesuit priest and director of a local spirituality centre.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis is giving priests belonging to the Diocese of Ahiara, Nigeria, 30 days to write a letter promising obedience to him and accepting the bishop appointed for their diocese or they will be suspended.

There are 20 million people on the edge of starvation in just four countries and Development and Peace thinks we should do something about it.

ABUJA, Nigeria – 82 girls abducted by Boko Haram militants over three years ago have been freed.

LAGOS, Nigeria – The Catholic bishop of a diocese at the center of the Boko Haram insurgency said the militants need to be fought on several levels.

ABUJA, Nigeria – At a recent meeting, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria gave a bleak summary of the state of their country, lamenting humanitarian crises including violence at the hands of Boko Haram and other extremist groups, poverty, government corruption, and a lack of respect for human rights or dignity.

KAFANCHAN, Nigeria – Islamist violence and terrorism has killed more than 12,000 Christians in Nigeria, destroying some 2,000 churches. Boko Haram has perpetrated the bulk of the killings, but in the past year a new source of Islamist terror has hit the country in the form of the Fulani Herdsmen Terrorists (FHT).

LAGOS, Nigeria – Three Catholic leaders welcomed the release of some of the girls kidnapped in 2014 from a school in Chibok and urged the Nigerian government to prioritize the release of the remaining girls.