News

• 18 May 2005
  EUROPE/ITALY - Monfort Missionaries elect new Superior General Santino Brembilla the first ever Italian to lead the Missionaries of the Company of Mary. Rome (Fides Service) - On 15 May Pentecost Sunday, the General Chapter of the Monfort Missionaries of the Company of Mary, meeting in Rome 1 to 21 May elected as new superior general Italian Father Santino Brembilla, age ...
• 18 May 2005
  VATICAN - “I wish to recommend CELAM to give special attention to pastoral of the family threatened in our day by serious dangers which undermine the very foundation of Christian marriage and family”: Pope Benedict XVI sends message to Latin American Bishops for 50th CELAM anniversary Vatican City (Fides) - On the occasion of the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Council of Latin American Bishops’ Conferences CELAM, Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message of good wishes dated 14 May 2005 in which ...
• 18 May 2005
  EUROPE/SWITZERLAND - Meeting of General Secretaries of European Bishops' Conferences: on the agenda the role of Christianity and the Churches in Europe, bio-ethical issues, urgent pastoral themes St Gallen (Fides Service) - From 26th - 30th May 2005, the CCEE Secretariat at St Gallen is organising a meeting of the General Secretaries of Europe's 34 Bishops' Conferences. The representatives from the Bishops' Confe ...
• 18 May 2005
  EUROPE/SPAIN - Adoption of a child by same sex couples cannot be justified if we consider the rights of the child Madrid (Fides Service) - “To subordinate the interests of a child to the desires of adults is an ignoble experiment of social engineering which damages something which should be sacred for every legislator: the primary ...
• 18 May 2005
  AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - While waiting for official election results, government and opposition both claim victory in parliamentary elections on 15 May Addis Ababa (Fides Service)- In Ethiopia a growing number of Opposition members are claiming victory after parliamentary elections held on Sunday 15 May. According to the Opposition 92 seats went to the main group CUD, ...
• 17 May 2005
  ASIA/INDIA - “Christians must be barred from public administration” say Hindu extremists: “this goes against the country’s Constitution and human rights” Indian Christians reply New Delhi (Fides Service) - Hindu extremists have launched another fierce anti-Christian campaign the eastern Indian state of Orissa. Member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) calling on the state governm ...
• 17 May 2005
  ASIA/VIETNAM - Bird flu: second outbreak in less than a week. Experts fear virus may change Rome (Fides Service) - Since the end of 2003 bird flu has killed 36 people in Vietnam, twelve in Thailand and four in Cambodia. Now in Vietnam two cases of human infection by bird flu have been reported in less than a we ...
• 17 May 2005
  ASIA/CINA - Cases of parasitic disease increase by 75 per cent. 12 million people in China infected by a parasite in the liver Rome (Fides Service) - Diseases caused by food parasites are a growing threat for public health and a serious problem for food security. According to a survey by the Chinese health ministry in 31 provinces and regions of ...
• 17 May 2005
  ASIA/UZBEKISTAN - UN High Commission for Refugees assists Uzbekistan people fleeing violence Bishkek (Fides Service) - While tension is still high in eastern Uzbekistan and clashes between insurrectionists and government troops continue, more civilians fleeing the fighting are heading for the border with Kyrgy ...
• 17 May 2005
  ASIA/UZBEKISTAN - “Social malcontent and poverty are at the root of local protests”, says Franciscan Fr. Krzysztof Kukulka missionary in Uzbekistan Vatican City (Fides Service) - “We are grieving for the death of so many people. Uzbeks are a friendly peace loving people. These protests arise from malcontent and poverty. Unless economic and social reforms are start ...
• 17 May 2005
  AFRICA/CHAD - Violence in refugee camps in Chad: UN High Commission for Refugees seriously concerned N’Djamena (Fides Service) - UN High Commission for Refugees UNHCR is seriously concerned about violence in recent weeks in refugee camps in eastern Chad in which four people were killed. The situation in the camps at ...
• 17 May 2005
  AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU - Uncertainty and concern in Guinea Bissau after declarations by former President Kumba Yala Bissau (Fides Service)- “The situation is complicated from the juridical point of view but the main concern is on the political level” said Fr Davide Sciocco, PIME missionary with long experience in Guinea Bissau wh ...
• 17 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Next year presidential elections. Democratic Congo adopts new constitution Kinshasa (Fides Service)- “I have promised to lead the people to elections and my promise will be kept” said President Joseph Kabila during a solemn ceremony yesterday 16 May in Kinshasa for the adoption of a new Con ...
• 17 May 2005
  EUROPE/SPAIN - Spanish Family Forum: There is nothing to prove that adoption by a same sex couple is innocuous for the development of the minor Madrid (Fides Service) - The Spanish Family Forum, an association representing more than 4 million families in Spain, has stated that reports presented to the Spanish parliament on the consequences for minors adopted by ...
• 17 May 2005
  VATICAN - Catholic Church’s Message to the Buddhists of the world on occasion of the Feast of Vesakh 2005: “where Buddhists and Catholics live together may they use the moment to consolidate the good relations which already exist between them” Vatican City (Fides Service) - Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, on the occasion of the Feast of Vesakh 2005, has sent on behalf of the Catholic Church ...