News

• 2 December 2008
  AMERICA/EL SALVADOR - Reflections from the Apostolic Vicar of Darien on the SEDAC Assembly: “Our Church in Central America seeks to carry out the process of evangelization that makes Christ more present among us.” San Salvador (Agenzia Fides) - “It has been the most attended meeting in the last four years; 49 bishops from various ecclesial provinces of Central America have come together,” said Bishop Pedro Hernandez Cantarero, ...
• 2 December 2008
  ASIA/CHINA - Chinese parishes now using the Advent Wreath; faithful make preparations for the feast of Saint Francis Xavier Beijing (Agenzia Fides) – Chinese Catholics on the mainland celebrated the beginning of the liturgical year, with the First Sunday of Advent, in union with the Holy Father and the Universal Church, preparing for the Lo ...
• 2 December 2008
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - “The international community has the duty to intervene in bringing peace to eastern Congo,” the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva says. Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - “The international community cannot remain inactive and should speak clearly. It is of utmost importance that the international community restore order and seek the common good.” These were ...
• 2 December 2008
  ASIA - “Seminarians, testimonies of dialogue and peace in Muslim society,”: the experience of Indonesia and Bangladesh at the Course for Spiritual Directors organized by CIAM Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Formation and spiritual direction for seminarians, in a nation and environment of Muslim majority, as is Indonesia, is a delicate task. However, we try to live in harmony with the societ ...
• 2 December 2008
  ASIA/VIETNAM - Prayer is considered “disorder in public area”: Thai Ha Catholics on trial Hanoi (Agenzia Fides) – Agenzia Fides has received a desperate plea from Fr. Vincent Pham Trung Thanh, Provincial Superior of the Redemptorists in Vietnam, explaining that this December 8, 8 parishioners of the parish ...
• 2 December 2008
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - Fighting between police and military soldiers; cholera, anthrax, and AIDS: the Zimbabwean crisis continues to worsen Harare (Agenzia Fides) – The extremely serious economic, political, and health crisis taking place in Zimbabwe is worsening every day. In response to the government's decision to hold a credit freeze, due to the lack o ...
• 1 December 2008
  VATICAN - On the First Sunday of Advent, Benedict XVI refers to the three great “hinges” of time and expresses his “horror and the disapproval of the explosion of such cruel and senseless violence” in India and Nigeria Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – As the First Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of a new liturgical year, before the recitation of the Angelus with the faithful gathered in Saint Peter's Square on November 30, the Hol ...
• 1 December 2008
  VATICAN - Holy Father's homily at First Vespers for the 1st Sunday of Advent: “Advent is the spiritual season of hope par excellence, and in this season the whole Church is called to be hope, for itself and for the world.” Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Celebrating the liturgical seasons, we actualize the mystery -- in this case the coming of the Lord -- in such a way as to be able, so to speak, to 'walk in it' toward its full realizati ...
• 1 December 2008
  EUROPE/ITALY - December 1: World AIDS Day. There are 33 million tested positive in the world, with sub-Saharan Africa being the most affected...universal access to the cure is urgently needed. Rome (Agenzia Fides) – Today, December 1 is World AIDS Day. The epidemic, that in past decades has led to a high number of victims, is today passing through a new phase. Several developments have been made in the attem ...
• 1 December 2008
  ASIA/CHINA - The Church in China, led by Jinde Charities, has been working in the frontline in the battle against AIDS Shi Jia Zhuang (Agenzia Fides) – For years now, the Catholic Church in China, led by the AIDS Prevention and Control Office of Jinde Charities (the Catholic charitable association), has been working on the frontline in ...
• 1 December 2008
  AFRICA - “AIDS is still a priority emergency in Africa,” the Jesuits' AIDS Network says Rome (Agenzia Fides) – We should be on alert, as the AIDS epidemic is not only not over, but it remains the leading cause of death in Africa. This is what the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN) says in their Message fo ...
• 1 December 2008
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - “Who are the ones encouraging the violence, through a cynical manipulation of religion?,” Archbishop of Abuja asks Nigerian authorities Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - “Once again, lives and properties have been destroyed, causing great avoidable damage and misery to many families and communities. Of particularly grave concern is the targeting of places of wor ...
• 1 December 2008
  VATICAN - The Pope celebrates Mass in the Parish of San Lorenzo, on the 1,750th anniversary of his martyrdom: “holiness, namely, going out to meet Christ who comes continually to visit us, does not go out of fashion” Rome (Agenzia Fides) - “At this beginning of Advent, what better message to receive from Saint Lawrence than that of holiness? He repeats to us that holiness, namely, going out to meet Christ who comes continually to v ...
• 1 December 2008
  VATICAN - Pope tells seminarians: “the Word of God that you must sow with your hands full and that carries eternal life, is Christ Himself, the only One who can change the human heart and renew the world” Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – In addressing a group of students from the Pontifical Seminaries of the Italian regions of the Marche ("Pio XI"), Puglie ("Pio XI"), Molfetta, and Chieti (“San Pio X”) received in an ...
• 1 December 2008
  AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Conclusions from the First Latin American Meeting For Pastoral Care of the Road/Street, organized by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, in collaboration with the Latin American Bishops' Council Bogota (Agenzia Fides) – The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People has published the final document of the First Latin American Meeting For Pastoral Care of the Road/Street, which to ...