News

• 5 June 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - People of Bukavu live in terror. “Manhunt for journalists and human rights activists” local sources inform Fides Bukavu (Fides Service)- “It is not true that the rebels have withdrawn. They are still present in at least five districts of Bukavu” local sources told Fides in Bukavu, southern Kivu, in eastern Congo taken by rebels ...
• 5 June 2004
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Thousands in Cagayan take part in celebrations to mark 400th anniversary of the arrival of Spanish Dominican missionaries who brought with them devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary Manila (Fides Service) - Thousands gathered on 4th June to take part in celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival Spanish missionaries who came with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary now known and rever ...
• 5 June 2004
  ASIA/HONG KONG - Canossian Sisters and Third Order members celebrate Foundress with profession of three new nuns and renewal of promises of 90 Third Order members Hong Kong (Agenzia Fides) - The Canossian family in Hong Kong recently marked the feast day of its foundress Saint Magdalene of Canossa. More than 200 Canossian Sisters and a large group of Third Order lay members and fr ...
• 5 June 2004
  ASIA/CHINA - Spanish Jesuit who started 145 leprosy centres caring for 10.000 patients opens home in Hunan province for people with HIV/AIDS Rome (Fides Service) - It was 1986, when Father Luis Ruiz, SJ, today 91 years old, first set out to alleviate the sufferings of lepers in the mainland Chinese province of Guangdong where at that time there was no electri ...
• 5 June 2004
  AFRICA/CONGO RD - Bukavu chronology of a tragedy. Another war imminent in Congo? Bukavu (Fides Service)- Bukavu, a city with a population of 500,000, the main centre of southern Kivu situated on lake Kivu not far from the border, is at the heart of a new Congolese tragedy of which we give a brief chr ...
• 4 June 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - French Father Gérard Chabanon will guide the White Fathers for the next six months Rome (Fides) - The 26th General Chapter of the Society of Missionaries of Africa known as the White Fathers, which opened on 10 May at the General House in Roma, has elected as Superior general of the Society French Fath ...
• 4 June 2004
  AMERICA/ECUADOR - The Church in Ecuador sends its first lay missionary ‘across frontiers’ to the Church in Guatemala: fruits of CAM 2 continue to mature. Quito (Fides Service) - On June 7 the Church in Ecuador will sends its first lay missionary “ad gentes” to work in the diocese of Jalapa, Guatemala. “Andrés Becerra Obando, missionary ad gentes, is a sign of that ...
• 4 June 2004
  EUROPE/SWITZERLAND - “The people of Europe and Switzerland need to hear the Good News of the Gospel, especially young people ” Bishop Denis Theurillat, Auxiliary of Basle and national youth delegate pastoral told Fides Rome (Fides Service) - “Today more than ever Europe is a land of mission” Bishop Denis Theurillat auxiliary of Basle and national delegate for youth pastoral said as the Church in Switzerland prepares to welcome Pope ...
• 4 June 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - Holiness should not be the privilege of a few but rather a mass phenomenon involving all Christians. Frascati diocese opens process for the beatification of the Servant of God Igino Giordani: writer, journalist, politician, ecumenist and patrologist. Rome (Fides Service) - On Sunday June 6, at St Peter’s Cathedral, Frascati, with the installation of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, the diocesan process for the beatification of Igino Giordani will open. At 7pm Bishop Gi ...
• 4 June 2004
  VATICAN - The Pope grants private audience to the President of the United States of America: “May God grant strength and success to all those who do not cease to hope and work for understanding between peoples, in respect for the security and rights of every man and woman” Vatican City (Fides Service) - At midday on June 4, Pope John Paul II received in a private audience President George W. Bush of the United States of America, with Mrs Bush and the president’s entourage. After welcomin ...
• 4 June 2004
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - “A Reconciled family becomes agent of reconciliation” theme for “Week for Peace” in Mindanao Manila (Fides Service) - “A Reconciled family becomes an agent of reconciliation ” is the theme of a “Week for Peace” planned for 25 November to 1 December in Mindanao, southern Philippines. The initiative comes ...
• 4 June 2004
  ASIA/INDIA - With regard to the case of Brian Savio O’Connor Indian Catholic tortured and imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, the Catholic Bishops of India call on the government to take official diplomatic action New Delhi (Fides Service) - There is concern and dismay among Catholics in India with regard to the case of Brian Savio O’Connor an Indian citizen residing in Karnataka and working in Saudi Arabia, tortured and impriso ...
• 4 June 2004
  ASIA/IRAQ - Not only bad news from Iraq: “Highlighting only violence is playing the game of the extremists” Iraqi priest tells the media. Baghdad (Fides Service)-“Give space to positive events in Iraq, not only to attacks and the dead” Iraqi priest Father Nizar Semaan in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul told Fides. “I urge all the media not to presen ...
• 4 June 2004
  ASIA/HONG KONG - Catholics among 60,000 at Vigil to commemorate the dead on the 15th anniversary of the tragedy in Tiananmen Square Beijing Hong Kong (Fides Service) - Catholics in Hong Kong took to the streets as part of the 60,000 people who attended a vigil on June 4th to mark the 15th anniversary of student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Beijing o ...
• 4 June 2004
  ASIA/TAIWAN - Franciscans Third Order creates group of volunteers to meet social urgencies Taipei (Fides Service) - The Association of Third Order Franciscan Volunteers is receiving marks of appreciation and support. The goal of the Association, started by members of the Third Order of Franciscans in Taiwan, i ...