Stan Chu Ilo is a senior research professor of world christianity, african studies, and global health at the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural theology, DePaul University, and the coordinating servant of the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network.
The Holy See confirmed this week, through Cardinal Pietro Parolin, that it will not participate in U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace” on Palestine, according to a Reuters report. The Vatican’s reason was simple and consistent with its diplomatic tradition: a crisis of this magnitude must be addressed through legitimate multilateral institutions, above all the United Nations. The…
“Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return. Repent and believe the Gospel.” The liturgy of Ash Wednesday places before the Church a truth that is at once sobering and profoundly liberating. “Remember that you are dust.” Humanity is dust—finite, vulnerable, radically dependent on God. Yet this incompleteness is not a defect in our humanity. It is…
The ongoing cultural debate that erupted at the Ghana–Zambia economic forum in Lusaka between Zambians and Ghanaians over the dress code for African politicians and public officials is both interesting and revealing. It is revealing not because of what people said, but because the debate exposed Africa’s unresolved relationship with identity, dress codes, modernity, and power. The debate was triggered…
The recent Lifetime Achievement Award given to the Father of Afrobeat, Nigeria’s Fela Anikulapo Kuti, calls for celebration and reflection on his enduring legacy. Fela is the first African to win this award, albeit posthumously. While many of his numerous admirers will wonder why he never received it while he was alive, or why it has taken nearly three decades…
Many lovers of the beautiful game were shocked when the Senegal national football team, the Teranga Lions, walked off the field of play during stoppage time of the AFCON final after the Atlas Lions of Morocco were awarded a penalty. This came only moments after what appeared to be a trophy-winning Senegalese goal was ruled out. The sequence of events—an…
We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values… when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered… true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice that produces…
The recent attack and capture of President Maduro of Venezuela by American law enforcement and military, and the first consistory of the world’s cardinals convoked by Pope Leo, show two contrasting approaches to leadership that I wish to analyze in this essay. In the last eight months or so, people have begun to draw a sharp contrast between the two…
The sudden and preventable death of Nkanu, the 21-month-old son of acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie, in a Nigerian hospital once again exposes the shameful and unacceptable consequences of Nigeria’s poor healthcare delivery. According to an internal family memo, the family alleges that Nkanu’s tragic death resulted from severe medical negligence at Euracare Hospital in Lagos on January 6. While…
The U.S. Christmas Day airstrike in Nigeria may have been framed as a counter-terrorism success. For Nigerians and Africans, it should instead provoke grief, sober reflection, and an urgent national conversation about sovereignty, violence, and the future of the Nigerian state.” — Stan Chu Ilo The U.S. Christmas Day airstrike on Nigeria should worry Nigerians and all Africans. Rather than…
I remember the conversation I had with my late uncle, Felix Mgbo. This was a few years after I left my home country, Nigeria, for Rome. Uncle Felix asked me: “Are you coming home for Christmas?” “No, Uncle Felix, not this time,” I replied, sounding rather flat. “Do you realize,” he said, his voice suddenly heavy with emotion, “that you…