News

• 16 April 2004
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - Rev. Thomas Mbvwakhnkwuot appointed Rector of the Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna Vatican City (Fides Service) - Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, appointed, 19 March 2004, Rector of Good Shepherd Inter-diocesan Major Seminary in Kaduna, Nigeria, ...
• 16 April 2004
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - Small steps for reconciliation between President Gbagbo and 7 Opposition Parties which abandoned interim government of national unity Abidjan (Fides Service)- “There are signs of hope but we will have to wait for the meeting tomorrow, 17 April, to see how dialogue has progressed” a local church source in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, ...
• 16 April 2004
  AFRICA/SUDAN - Prospects for peace in Sudan extend also to northern Uganda Khartoum (Fides Service)- Sudan appears to have taken the right path to end the civil war which since 1983 has caused the death of more than 1.5 million people mostly civilians. The leader of the Sudan People’s Liberat ...
• 16 April 2004
  ASIA/CHINA - Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo and Easter Rome (Fides Service) - Chinese Catholic Bishop Julius Jia, not recognised by the Beijing government, has been released. On his release after ten days of detention he said it had been very painful to be away from his peo ...
• 16 April 2004
  ASIA/NORTH KOREA - UN Human Rights Commission institutes role of Special Observer for North Korea Geneva (Fides Service) - The figure of a Special Observer for North Korea to monitor the situation of human rights in that Asian country was instituted on 15 April by the United Nations Commission for Human Rights during ...
• 16 April 2004
  ASIA/VIETNAM - Mountain peoples continue to flee Vietnam, but the Office of the UN High Commission for refugees in Cambodia which provided assistance has had to close Ho Chi Minh City (Fides Service) - Mountain people known as Montagnards in central Vietnam, many of whom are Christians, continue to flee for safety to Cambodia to escape repression which was especially fierce over the E ...
• 15 April 2004
  VATICAN - Like Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, virgin, Doctor of the Church, now secondary patroness of the Apostleship of Prayer, everyone can live a life of prayer, charity, and the humility and simplicity of the Gospel”. Vatican City (Fides Service) - “This proclamation will benefit the members of the Apostleship of Prayer who will receive abundant blessings from the Lord to enable them to follow like Saint Therese of Lisieux, a life o ...
• 15 April 2004
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Bishop Francisco F. Claver SJ Vicar apostolic of Bontoc-Lagawe resigns, Rev. Cornelio Galleo Wigwigan appointed Vatican City (Fides Service) - The Holy Father Pope John Paul II has, 19 March 2004, accepted the renunciation of the pastoral government of the Apostolic Vicariate of Bontoc-Lagawe (Philippines) presented by the Vicar A ...
• 15 April 2004
  AFRICA/SOMALIA - Fundamentalists target westerners. 5,000 dollars for a foreigner’s head Mogadishu (Fides Service) - According to reliable Fides’ sources in Mogadishu Al Qaida plans use local fundamentalist recruits to target westerners in Somalia. “Behind the murder of Italian medical doctor Annalena To ...
• 15 April 2004
  “Inter-ethnic Dialogue and Reconciliation”: 16 - 18 April in Rome international Symposium promoted by Friars Minor Rome (Fides Service) - From Friday 16 April to Sunday 18 in Rome at the Auditorium of the Pontifical Oratory of San Pietro (via S. Maria Mediatrice 22), there will be an international symposium on Inter-ethnic Dialogue a ...
• 15 April 2004
  ASIA/IRAQ - “It is time for the Arab world to condemn acts of terrorism like the brutal killing of one Italian hostages ” says Father Nizar Baghdad (Fides Service)- “I am deeply grieved by the murder of Fabrizio Quattrocchi” Nizar Semaan, a Iraqi Catholic priest in Mosul told Fides who voiced his condolences for the killing of the Italian hostage in Iraq ...
• 15 April 2004
  AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - According to the exit poll the National African Congress is in the lead after elections yesterday; bad organisation affected voting in some parts Johannesburg (Fides Service)- In South Africans went to the polls in an orderly and peaceful manner to place their votes for legislative and regional elections yesterday 14 April (see Fides 14 April 2004). “The people ...
• 15 April 2004
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Uphold values, avoid taking sides with political parties: Archbishop Fernando Capalla urges priests and religious in view of elections on May 10 Davao (Fides Service) - Uphold values, avoid taking sides with political parties is the advice to priests and religious offered by Archbishop Fernando Capalla, President of the Philippines Bishops’ Conferences , in vie ...
• 15 April 2004
  AMERICA/BRAZIL - “To face the challenge of a globalised society we want to be a missionary Church with concrete commitment for mission in the Amazon region”: 6th national assembly of organisations of the People of God in Brazil. Belo Horizonte-Minas Gerais (Fides Service) - At the end of the 6th national assembly of organisations of the People of God in Brazil, held 26 to 28 March, the participants addressed a letter to the Brothers and Sisters ...
• 14 April 2004
  ASIA/IRAQ - Christians flocked to Easter Liturgies. Gesture of solidarity with Sunni Muslims in Falluja trapped in the city in crossfire between US troops and guerrilla forces Baghdad (Fides Service)-“Despite the atmosphere anything but calm, Iraqi Christians came in great numbers to take part in all the Easter liturgies” local Catholic priest, Father Nizar Semaan, in Mosul told Fides. “ ...