News

• 11 January 2005
  EUROPE/SPAIN - “Our aim is to help Spanish children realise that so many other children are less fortunate and in great need, and this year the children of Asia in particular” says National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. Spanish missionaries in affected countries in front line to help seaquake victims Madrid (Fides Service) - In Spain the annual Holy Childhood Day is celebrated on 23 January. In view of this important occasion the National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Spain, Bishop Francisco Perez i ...
• 11 January 2005
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - African Union in favour of Ivory Coast referendum on Constitution “but rebels in the north disagree and seem to reject any idea of a united country” say Fides sources Abidjan (Fides Service)- “I doubt conditions are right for the return of peace in Ivory Coast, indeed we see worrying signals which seem to indicate the continuation of the division of the nation” a missionary in the ...
• 11 January 2005
  ASIA/INDIA - “Platinum Jubilee” for St Charles Borromeo Sisters who first came on mission to India 75 years ago Bangalore (Fides Service) - It all started when, in response to a call from Pope Pius XI “for missionaries to go to every corner of the earth”, in 1929 a group of five Sisters of St Charles Borromeo set out from Belg ...
• 11 January 2005
  ASIA/INDONESIA - UN High Commission for Refugees starts relief operations in Aceh Banda Aceh (Fides Service) - The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and other UN agencies have started relief operations along the west cost of the Indonesian province of Aceh, the area worst hit by the ...
• 11 January 2005
  OCEANIA/AUSTRALIA - Caritas Australian has already collected unhoped-for sum of 4 million dollars in aid December tsunami victims in south east Asia Sydney (Fides Service) - Caritas Australia has collected more than 4 million dollars in a special collection for victims of the December 26 disaster in south east Asia. “We never expected to collect so much”, said Fi ...
• 11 January 2005
  AMERICA/CHILE - “Together to build hope”: thousands of young people from 6 Latin American countries to attend 3rd International Youth Pastoral Meeting 18 to 23 January in Arica Arica (Fides Service) - Thousands of young people from Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil and Mexico will meet for the 3rd International Youth Pastoral Meeting 18 to 23 in Arica, to reflect on the theme “Together ...
• 11 January 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Tension in Democratic Congo for possible postponement of elections. Situation in the east still critical. Catholic Bishop of Butembo-Beni says “150,000 people without humanitarian assistance. European Union must intervene” Kinshasa (Fides Service)- Tension is high in Kinshasa, capital of Democratic Congo where yesterday 10 January at least four people were killed in clashes during a protest against possible postponement of political electi ...
• 10 January 2005
  AMERICA/MEXICO - The Pope appoints new Bishop of Tarahumara Vatican City (Fides Service) - The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, on 4 January 2005, appointed Bishop of Tarahumara (Mexico), Rev. Rafael Sandoval Sandoval, M.N.M., parish priest at Monterrey and former Superior General ...
• 10 January 2005
  AFRICA - Darfur, Ivory Coast, Democratic Congo: three crisis areas focal points of African Union Peace and Security Council Summit in Gabon Libreville (Fides Service)- Heads of state and members of the African Union Peace and Security Council AUPSC will attend a summit meeting, today 10 January and tomorrow January 11, in Libreville, capital of Gabon to disc ...
• 10 January 2005
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Catholic Missionaries and Muslim faithful work side by side in relief work: one good result of tsunami disaster Manila (Fides Service) - The Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate OMI have started a campaign to collect money for the people affected by the December 26 tsunami in south Asia among the Philippines deeply saddened by t ...
• 10 January 2005
  VATICAN - On the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, the Pope recalls “the mission of the Christian starts with Baptism” and says “the rediscovery of Baptism through opportune itineraries of adult catechesis is an important aspect of new evangelisation” Vatican City (Fides Service) - Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan and the rediscovery of the importance of Baptism were the subject of Pope John Paul II’s midday reflection on Sunday 9 January, before reciting the An ...
• 10 January 2005
  AFRICA/TANZANIA - In Tanzania 1.5 million, 7.8% of the adult population aged 15 to 49, affected by HIV/AIDS. In 2001 AIDS killed 140,000 people. Catholic Sisters run Hope Village offering anti-retroviral treatment for HIV+ children orphans of both parents Dodoma (Fides Service) - In Tanzania with a population of 28,700,000 and about 1.5 million HIV+ persons, there is one doctor for every 19,555 people. The Italian Rome based order of women religious, Adorers of the Blood ...
• 10 January 2005
  VATICAN - Life, peace, food and freedom, four challenges for humanity today the Pope tells Diplomatic Corps in the Vatican: “The Catholic Church, because of her universal nature, is always directly engaged in the great causes for which the men and women of our age struggle and hope…wherever there are Christians, the whole body of the Church is called into play; indeed, wherever there is any one individual, we sense a bond of brotherhood”. Vatican City (Fides Service) - This morning Pope John Paul II exchanged New Year wishes with the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See received in audience in the Vatican. In his address to the national representat ...
• 10 January 2005
  EUROPE/GERMANY - The Church in Germany hosts ecumenical service for victims of South East Asia seaquake tragedy. “Love is stronger than death!” says Cardinal Lehmann, president of the German Bishops’ Conference Berlin (Fides Service) - At an ecumenical service at the Berlin Catholic cathedral on Sunday 9 January Germany prayed for the victims of the tragic seaquake which struck south east Asia in which many German holiday maker ...
• 10 January 2005
  AFRICA/SUDAN - What peace for Sudan? Southern Sudan is not Darfur Rome (Fides Service) - Peace signed yesterday in Kenya, marks the end of more than 20 years of war in southern Sudan, but this conflict must not be confused with the war still going on in the western Sudanese region of D ...