News

• 9 January 2006
  AMERICA/CUBA - “Missionary Christmas” to close Missionary Year 2005: holy pictures of Infant Jesus bring tears to many an eye in Cuban families Havana (Fides Service) - “Missionary Christmas celebrated in all 11 Catholic dioceses in Cuba as a conclusion to the Missionary Year was a special blessing for many of our local families” says National Director of th ...
• 9 January 2006
  AFRICA/NIGER - Catholic Church in Niger looks back on 75 years of service and good relations in this mainly Muslim country Niamey (Fides Service) - In this new year 2006 the small Catholic Church in Niger with only two dioceses, is marking 75 years of service in this mainly Muslim country. In fact the people of Niger are 98% Muslim. The ...
• 9 January 2006
  AFRICA/DR CONGO- Over 120,000 people displaced by fighting in Katanga. Congo’s civil war the world’s bloodiest conflict in 60 years Kinshasa (Fides Service) - Conditions of civilians displaced by fighting between Mai-Mai militia and the national army in the southern province of Katanga are ever more serious. The UN Office for Coordination of Humanit ...
• 9 January 2006
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - The United Nations High Commission for refugees UNHCR has started distributing tents, blankets and heaters to 137,000 earthquake victims in Kashmir Islamabad (Fides Service) - Winter in Pakistan was late in coming but now it is has arrived with a bang. For three days last week heavy snow fell on people already suffering after serious earthquake on 8 October. Tempe ...
• 7 January 2006
  INSTRUMENTUM MENSIS DECEMBRIS PRO LECTURA MAGISTERII SUMMI PONTIFICI BENEDICTI XVI, PRO EVANGELIZATIONE IN TERRIS MISSIONUM The month of December 2005 for the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI was an opportune time to explain the true significance of Advent and Christmas. Advent, Pope Benedict XVI underlined several times, is a season of expectat ...
• 5 January 2006
  VATICAN - At midnight on 24 December, in St Peter’s Basilica the Holy Father Benedict XVI presided a solemn mass for the Nativity of Our Lord: “Christ gives himself to us and, in doing so, gives us his peace. He gives it to us so that we can carry the light of peace within and give it to others. He gives it to us so that we can become peacemakers and builders of peace in the world”. Vatican City (Fides Service) - At midnight on 24 December, in St Peter’s Basilica the Holy Father Benedict XVI presided a solemn mass for the Nativity of Our Lord. In his homily the Pope explained the connection betwe ...
• 30 December 2005
  THE NAMES OF THOSE KILLED WHILE ON MISSION IN THE YEAR 2005 Vatican City (Fides Service) - Once again this year Fides has the sad task of issuing the names of pastoral workers who died a violent death in 2005. According to the information collected, 26 Catholics were killed on mi ...
• 23 December 2005
  AFRICA/UGANDA - “Christmas finds children in northern Uganda in the same situation as the Holy Infant Jesus who had to flee into Egypt” a Catholic missionary says Gulu (Fides Service)-“Christmas finds children in northern Uganda in about the same situation as the Holy Infant Jesus who had to flee into Egypt” says a missionary in the north of Uganda where majority of the popula ...
• 23 December 2005
  We wish all our readers a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year “Christmas brings joy and peace to those who like the shepherds in Bethlehem hear and heed the words of the angel: "Let this be a sign for you: you will find a Child wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger" (Lk ...
• 22 December 2005
  AMERICA/PERU - “Priests for New Evangelisation” is the theme of the 11th Course of Ongoing Formation for Clergy to be held 16 January - 3 February 2006 in Lima Lima (Fides Service) -The 11th course of ongoing formation for clergy to be held 16 January - 3 February 2006 at Villa Marista, Santa Eulalia in Lima. The aim of course of which the theme is “Priests for New Evangeli ...
• 22 December 2005
  AMERICA/URUGUAY - “Christmas is the irruption of something "new" which we can neither buy nor manipulate nor adapt to meet our own will or whim” says President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Uruguay San José y Flores (Fides Service) - Bishop Pablo Galimberti, Bishop of San José di Maggio and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Uruguay (CEU), recently told Radio Maria Uruguay that “Christmas is th ...
• 22 December 2005
  EUROPE/GERMANY - Stars Singers “messengers of charity and peace”: “even children can do something to change the world and to help other less fortunate children” Berlin (Fides Service) - “You are messengers of charity and peace” Angela Merkel, the new Chancellor of Germany told a group of Holy Childhood children, known here as Stern Singers, who visited her at the Federal Ch ...
• 22 December 2005
  ASIA/TAIWAN - Fu Ren Catholic University organises Christmas Market a moment of Chinese/German cultural exchange Taipei (Fides Service) - In view of Christmas Fu Ren Catholic University in Taipei has inaugurated a special Christmas Market. The occasion is also the 80th anniversary of the foundation the famous University and the pur ...
• 22 December 2005
  ASIA/HOLY LAND - “God created you not to fear or to kill each other but to love each other, to build and to cooperate together””: Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem addresses Christmas Message to all the people of the Holy Land Jerusalem (Fides Service) - The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah sent a message addressed “to all Palestinians and to all Israelis” in which he reiterated the message of the Angels on Christmas day “not ...
• 22 December 2005
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - In Advent the Church holds Day of Charity “Blessed are the merciful” Seoul (Fides Service) - “Blessed are the merciful” is the theme of Advent Charity Day organised by the Catholic community in Korea. Bishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, President of the Korean Bishops’ Commission for Cari ...