News

• 9 July 2004
  EUROPE/SPAIN - Multi Festival David 2004: a Christian encounter of modern music and art “to translate the Gospel into the language of music” Oviedo (Fides Service) - "Generation Hope" is the slogan of the 19th Multi Festival David 2004 which opened on 8 July in the Spanish town of Los Cabos and will close on Sunday 11. The first Multi Festival David was firs ...
• 9 July 2004
  AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - A decision to send 300 African troops to Darfur, first step towards a continental security system? Addis Ababa (Fides Service) - It is early days yet but could this be a first step towards and African system of security? The decision taken at the end of a conference of heads of states and government of the African Uni ...
• 9 July 2004
  AFRICA/GUINEA - Silent odyssey of forced repatriation to south east Guinea of Guinean emigrants and foreign refugees. Jesuit Refugee Service only NGO present in the area Conakry (Fides Service)- Southern Guinea is living a silent humanitarian emergency as it sees the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Guinean and foreign refugees forced to leave Ivory Coast shaken by a serious political ...
• 9 July 2004
  AMERICA/VENEZUELA - The local Church calls for a transparent and credible referendum: “We must overcome division and polarisation which have provoked radical reciprocal mistrust” says President of Bishops’ Conference Caracas (Fides Service) - With an opening discourse by Archbishop Baltazar E. Porras Cardozo, Archbishop of Mérida, the 82nd Plenary Assembly of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference July 7-13 opened in Caracas. Reflecti ...
• 9 July 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - Monasticism builds bridges between religions - Conference on Islam and Christianity organised in Assisi by European Monastic Interreligious Dialogue Commission Rome (Fides Service) - A Conference ‘Islam and Christianity’ organised by the Italian branch of the Commission for Monastic Interreligious Dialogue will take place for 15-18 July at St Joseph’s Benedictine Monaster ...
• 9 July 2004
  EUROPE/SPAIN - Mission and Missionaries in the Church today - “to evangelise with authenticity demands radical following of the crucified Christ ” National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Spain tells Culture Forum in Barcelona Madrid (Fides Service) - “Evangelising with authenticity means radical following of Christ crucified. It is here that we find the guarantee of ecclesial fecundity” said Archbishop Francisco Pérez, National Director ...
• 8 July 2004
  EUROPE - European Vocations Service meeting concludes: “offer young people courageous and bold ideas that will help them hear Jesus' call to "come and follow me” Strasbourg (Fides Service) - Europe's national delegates for vocations ministry met in Strasbourg from 1st to 4th July 2004 to study the theme Good Master, What should I do? (Lk 18.1): Accompanying young people on the th ...
• 8 July 2004
  AFRICA/SUDAN - What lies behind the name Darfur, behind the people in flight? Why are these endless kilometres of sand provoking massacres, raping and famine? Rome (Fides Service)- It is unthinkable that a local dispute between farmers and shepherds, found in many parts of the world, can in a year turn into genocide of civilians. How can a government treat its own people so fe ...
• 8 July 2004
  AMERICA/COLOMBIA - “The armed groups realise they can never dissuade us in our commitment to oppose violence, indeed we are even more determined and united with the people who are with us and know we are with them and for them”. Bishop Oscar José Vélez Isaza of Valledupar interviewed by Fides. Rome (Fides Service) - At least 35,000 dead in 40 years of fighting. Fides asked Bishop Oscar José Vélez Isaza C.M.F., Bishop of the diocese of Valledupar, for testimony on the situation of violence and bloodshed in Co ...
• 8 July 2004
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Bitter fight between secular and fundamentalist Muslims in North-West Frontier Province over Sharia plans which threaten country’s democracy Islamabad (Fides Service) - Amidst general protests of large sectors of society, moderate Muslims, human rights groups and, religious minorities, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal MMA governing alliance of radical religious pa ...
• 8 July 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - Italian Movement to Fight World Hunger points finger at difficult access to IT resources. Pilot programme in Rwanda Rome (Fides Service) - “Counter the digital divide and promote social inclusion for young people in Muhura” in Rwanda is a joint initiative undertaken by the Italian Movement to Fight World Hunger with the METID Cent ...
• 8 July 2004
  AMERICA/MEXICO - Priest found stabbed to death at his home near his parish at Ciudad Juarez Ciudad Juarez (Fides Service) - A Catholic priest Father Ramon Navarrete Islas, aged 56, was found dead at his home near the parish where he worked in Ciudad Juarez a town near the Mexican border with the United States. ...
• 8 July 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - “The peoples of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi want peace” say Catholic Bishops of the Great Lakes region Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides)- “Why do we keep on hurting each other?” asks Archbishop Simon Ntamwana, Archbishop of Gitega in Burundi and this question sums what was said by the Catholic Bishops of Democratic Congo, Rwan ...
• 8 July 2004
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - New food shortage alarm in Zimbabwe. Warning from UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Harare (Fides Service)- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO has issued a warning of possible severe food shortage in Zimbabwe. FAO said that this year the southern African country faces a deficit of ...
• 8 July 2004
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Philippines Clergy Congress reflects on problems and challenges of pastoral ministry Manila (Fides) - Energy and hope despite the shortage of priests and need for more vocations: this is the picture emerging from the first Philippines Clergy Congress taking place in Manila, 5-9 July which has brought tog ...