News

• 5 May 2003
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - “CEASE-FIRE? REAL PEACE IS NOT SIMPLY THE ABSENCE OF FIGHTING. PEOPLE WANT A DECENT LIFE, LOOTING MUST STOP” SAY MISSIONARIES IN IVORY COAST Abidjan (Fides Service) – “People can’t take anymore. The situation must change. It is not possible to live a situation of anarchy for months on end.” This is how missionaries in northern Ivory Coast describe the ...
• 2 May 2003
  VATICAN - POPE AT GENERAL AUDIENCE: MODEL OF POLITICAL LEADER SHOULD BE: DIVINE INTERVENTION IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD Vatican City (Fides Service) – After two Wednesday catechesis on the significance of the Liturgical Celebrations of Easter, during the general audience on April 30, in St Peter’s Square, Pope John Paul II resumed his ...
• 2 May 2003
  EUROPE/ALBANIA - CARITAS MARKS TENTH ANNIVERSARY: MATERIAL AND OTHER ASSISTANCE TO BE NEAR TO THE PEOPLE Tirana (Fides Service) – Ten years ago, in conjunction with a visit by Pope John Paul II, Caritas Albania was opened. This tenth anniversary coincides with a time of “re-discovery” of the Church which kept the fait ...
• 2 May 2003
  ASIA/CHINA - RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES COMMITTED TO FIGHTING SARS: CATHOLICS CALL FOR SUPPORT OF UNIVERSAL CHURCH Beijing (Fides Service) – Communities of the different religions in China, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians have joined the mobilisation of the people to fight SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, in particular by ...
• 2 May 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - REV. LAURENT SONDITYA APPOINTED RECTOR OF REGINAE PACIS SEMINARY BUTEMBO-BENI Vatican City (Fides Service) - Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples has appointed (11 April 2003) rector of Reginae Pacis seminary Butembo-Beni Rev. Laurent Sonditya. ...
• 2 May 2003
  AMERICA/CHILE - REV. GEORGE VEGA VELASCO APPOINTED NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES Vatican City (Fides Service) - Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, has appointed (11 April 2003) National Director of Pontifical Mission Societies in Chile, Rev. Georg ...
• 2 May 2003
  VATICAN - ANNUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES OPENS MAY 5: HOW TO MEET THE GROWING NEEDS OF MISSIONARY ACTIVITY? Vatican City (Fides Service) – On Monday 5 May, with a welcome speech by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, the annual assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies ...
• 2 May 2003
  VATICAN - ROSARY AND MISSION: AT THE START OF THE MARIAN MONTH OF MAY IN THE YEAR OF THE ROSARY WE PRESENT A REFLECTION BY REV. FERNANDO GALBIATI, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE PONTIFICAL MISSIONARY UNION Vatican City (Fides Service) – “The meditation of the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (RVM) offers several points for missionary reflection. Indeed it opens the mind to the universal dimension that the myst ...
• 2 May 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - LEADERS OF HINDU MOVEMENT REACH OUT TO CHRISTIANS ANXIOUS TO BUILD BROTHERHOOD AND UNIVERSAL FAMILY, REMOVING BARRIERS WHICH DIVIDE HUMANITY New Delhi (Fides Service) – Not only tension between Hindus and Catholics in India. Although in some states there are still attacks on Christians and Christian institutions by extremist Hindu groups, there are many gro ...
• 2 May 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - LAWYER SISTER GRACE THOMAS DEFENDS RIGHTS OF POOR AND EXCLUDED PEOPLES Bangalore (Fides Service) – Too many poor people end up in prison, even if they are innocent, because they have no legal assistance. This happens in developed countries in the West and all the more in India where pover ...
• 2 May 2003
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - BISHOPS TELL NATIONAL LEADERS: WE HOPE YOU WILL BE GUIDED BY A SPIRIT OF DIALOGUE AS YOU CREATE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS WHICH WILL REASSURE ALL BURUNDIANS Bujumbura (Fides Service) – The Catholic Bishops of Burundi have launched yet another heartfelt plea for peace in their country, following their message to the nation in March (see Fides 25 March 2003). Addressing once ...
• 2 May 2003
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - CHANGEOVER OF PRESIDENTS AS AGREED WITH ALTERNATION OF HUTU AND TUTSI AN EXAMPLE OF STABILITY FOR THE REST OF AFRICA Bujumbura (Fides Service) – “The ceremony for the handing over of power between presidents, outgoing Tutsi Pierre Buyoya and incoming Hutu Domitien Ndayizeye, took place on May 1 in relative calm” local sources in ...
• 2 May 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - TREATMENT AND VACCINATION FOR SARS REQUIRE LONG EXPERIMENTATION DIFFICULT TO QUANTIFY Rome (Fides Service) – The spread of the epidemic keeps everyone in suspense. Many missionaries work every day all over the world in what are real struggles for survival and today, they too have to take into account th ...
• 2 May 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - CONTINUE TO DIFFUSE NORMAL PROCEDURE OF DIRECT PREVENTIVE TREATMENT TO CONTROL SARS IN VIEW OF A VACCINE Rome (Fides Service) – The virus continues to infect more people and there is already talk of a vaccine. But we are far from a possible date for production and distribution even in approximate terms. Fides Service spok ...
• 2 May 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - PRIESTS AND CATECHESIS: MEETING FOR EUOPE’S BISHOPS AND CATECHESIS DELEGATES Rome (Fides Service) – About eighty participants are expected for a Meeting of European Bishops and National Catechesis Delegates on the theme “ Priests and Catechesis in Europe”. The meeting, promoted by the Counc ...