News

• 23 February 2015
  ASIA/AFGHANISTAN - Release of Indian Jesuit held hostage for eight months Kabul (Agenzia Fides) – Fr. Alexis Prem Kumar, Indian Jesuit taken hostage in Afghanistan (see Fides 3/6/2014), has been released after eight months in captivity : Fides was informed by the JRS , Jesuit Refugee Servic ...
• 23 February 2015
  AMERICA/CHILE - Rudimental bomb explodes near a parish in the capital Santiago (Agenzia Fides) – “We live in a democratic society, where every individual is free to express his or her own ideas, violence cannot be a valid path for Chileans”: says a statement issued by the archdioces ...
• 23 February 2015
  AMERICA/PUERTO RICO - Fishing competition for boys and girls with disabilities San Juan (Agenzia Fides) – Boys and girls with Down syndrome, autism or whose physical conditions confine them to a wheel chair, recently took part with their respective families, in the Fifth Children’s Fishing Comp ...
• 23 February 2015
  ASIA/LEBANON - Syrian-Catholic Patriarch opens centenary commemoration of the Assyrian genocide Beirut (Agenzia Fides) – Syrian-Catholic Patriarch Mar Ignace Youssef III opened commemorations to mark the centenary of the Assyrian Genocide, presiding in the evening of Saturday 21 February a liturgical celebration ...
• 23 February 2015
  AMERICA/PANAMA - “We must work for the poor”: Cardinal Lacunza says on the feast of Cristo de Atalaya Veraguas (Agenzia Fides) – In Panama, the first Sunday of Lent is marked as the feast of Cristo de Atalaya, and Bishop Audilio Aguilar of the diocese of Santiago de Veraguas invited the newly created Cardinal José Lui ...
• 23 February 2015
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Robbery and kidnapping in a Catholic church Kasur (Agenzia Fides) – Three armed men openly entered Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic church in Bhai Pheru, Kasur district, in Punjab, taking church personnel including the assistant parish priest Fr. Ijaz Bashir a ...
• 23 February 2015
  AFRICA/EGYPT - Copt Church forms committee to evacuate Egyptians from Libya Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - A “crisis unit” has been instituted at the request of the Synod of the Copt Orthodox Church to collect data and information regarding all Egyptians still present in Libya, in order to facilita ...
• 23 February 2015
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - “Government must guarantee freedom of press”: appeal following closure of several broadcasters including Kinshasa’s Catholic TV Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - “Guarantee freedom of press on the eve of important electoral commitments”. This appeal was launched by the Congo National Press Association (Union Nationale de la Presse du Congo), in a s ...
• 23 February 2015
  AFRICA/CAMEROON - Cameroonian press questions French policy to fight Boko Haram Yaounde (Agenzia Fides) – The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius confirmed, during a visit 21 and 22 February to Chad, Cameroon and Niger, that France is ready to support African countries threatened by the Islam ...
• 21 February 2015
  AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Lent: multimedia “On the way to Easter” Bogotà (Agenzia Fides) – “On the way to Easter” is the title of a multimedia webpage produced for Lent by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Colombia with images, suggested actions and ideas for prayer during ...
• 21 February 2015
  AFRICA/ DR CONGO – Election calendar made public: eight elections in two years Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – The National Independent Election Commission (CENI) of the Democratic Republic of Congo has made public a long awaited Election Calendar . “The Calendar is ambitious, - remarks Congo Netwo ...
• 21 February 2015
  ASIA/CHINA – Visits to the elderly and the poor, thanksgiving to God: Chinese Catholics celebrate New Year Beijing (Agenzia Fides) – Home visits to poor families, to lonely elderly and sick persons, Catholics and non ; carrying the sacraments to faithful unable to reach the church; community prayer meetings of thanksgiving ...
• 21 February 2015
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE – Since the beginning of missionary activity caring for the sick has been important: Archbishop of Harare for Lent Harare (Agenzia Fides) – A Lenten Season with special attention for sick and weaker members of society. This was requested by Archbishop Robert Ndlovu, of Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, in a Lenten Pastoral Letter, a cop ...
• 20 February 2015
  AMERICA/VENEZUELA - Police arrest Mayor of Caracas, for Archbishop Lückert “proof of dictatorship ” Coro (Agenzia Fides) – The Catholic Archbishop of Coro (Venezuela), Archbishop Roberto Lückert, affirms that the arrest of the mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma, "is adding fuel to the fire ". Yesterday about 100 Vene ...
• 20 February 2015
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES – In the Year of the Poor, Lent is a favourable time for solidarity Manila (Agenzia Fides) – In the Year of the Poor, Lent is a favourable time for solidarity, it is an opportunity to help persons in difficulty, a time for “being a good neighbour”: this was said by the Archbishop ...