News

• 9 January 2004
  VATICAN - PAPAL MESSAGE TO SYMPOSIUM ON THE DIGNITY AND RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH MENTAL DISABILITY: “A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY, EVEN WHEN WOUNDED IN MIND OR SENSORIAL OR INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY, IS A FULLY HUMAN SUBJECT WITH SACRED AND INALIENABLE RIGHTS PROPER TO EVERY HUMAN PERSON Vatican City (Fides Service) – “The point of departure for any reflection on disability is rooted in the fundamental persuasions of Christian anthropology: a person with a disability, even when wounded in mind or sen ...
• 9 January 2004
  VATICAN - CARDINAL SECRETARY OF STATE PRESIDES REQUIEM MASS FOR ARCHBISHOP COURTNEY IN ST PETER’S: “HE CARRIED THE TESTIMONY OF HIS ADAMANTINE FAITH ALONG THE ROADS OF THE WORLD, LIKE THE GOOD SHEPHERD HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR THE PEOPLE OF BURUNDI TO WHOM THE POPE SENT HIM AS AN APOSTLE OF PEACE ” Vatican City (Fides Service) – A solemn requiem Mass in memory of Archbishop Michael Aidan Courtney, Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi brutally assassinated on 29 December, was presided by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary o ...
• 9 January 2004
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - 6 NEW FORCES MINISTERS TAKE TIME TO THINK THROUGH DIFFICULT CITIZENSHIP DILEMMA Abidjan (Fides Service)- “This is an interval not a crisis” local Church sources in Abidjan assure Fides with regard to the abrupt curtailing of a national unity government cabinet meeting. The meeting was scheduled ...
• 9 January 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - SACRED HEART OF JESUS MISSIONARIES CELEBRATE 150TH ANNIVERSARY AND 80 YEARS IN CONGO DESPITE ENORMOUS DIFFICULTIES AND SACKING DURING FIVE YEARS OF CIVIL WAR Kinshasa (Fides Service)- The Sacred Heart Missionaries who this year celebrate ther150th anniversary of their foundation are working hard to resume their activity in the Democratic Republic of Congo where they first arr ...
• 9 January 2004
  ASIA/INDIA – CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS AND INDIVIDUALS HARASSED BY ANTI-CHURCH PROPAGANDA AND VIOLENCE: SO CALLED “INCIDENTS” ARE VERY OFTEN ORGANISED EXTREMIST ATTACKS New Delhi (Fides) – While the Catholic Bishops of India meeting in Trichur Kerala to discuss the subject of “Church and Communication” warn of anti-Church propaganda and false information aimed at influencing publi ...
• 9 January 2004
  ASIA/PAKISTAN – ADDRESSING A GATHERING OF MORE THAN ONE THOUSAND MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS PUNJAB CHIEF MINISTER PRAISES CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS AND SOCIAL INSTITUTES Lahore (Fides Service ) – “I was educated at the Foreman Christian College and no one ever forced me to become a Christian. Today I am a good Muslim”, Pervaiz Chaudhry, chief minister of the north east province of ...
• 8 January 2004
  VATICAN - DURING FIRST GENERAL OF THE YEAR 2004 THE POPE INVITES PEOPLE TO CONTEMPLATE THE SILENT PRESENCE OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER MARY BESIDE THE INFANT JESUS: “LET US ASK HER TO GUIDE OUR STEPS IN THE NEW YEAR WHICH DIVINE PROVIDENCE GRANTS US TO LIVE ”. Vatican City (Fides Service) – In his teaching during the first general audience of the year on Wednesday 7 January, Pope John Paul II reflected on the mystery of Mary’s divine motherhood. “Mary, Mother of God! Thi ...
• 8 January 2004
  AMERICA/MARTINIQUE – SAINT-PIERRE AND FORT DE FRANCE ARCHBISHOP MAURICE MARIE-SAINTE RESIGNS, REV. MICHEL MERANVILLE APPOINTED NEW ARCHBISHOP Vatican City (Fides Service) – The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has (14 November 2003) accepted the renunciation of the pastoral government of the archdiocese of Saint Pierre and Fort-de-France (Martinique) presented ...
• 8 January 2004
  ASIA/INDIA – THE MEDIA, CRUCIAL CHALLENGE FOR CHURCH IN INDIA IN THE PRESENT SOCIAL-POLITICAL SCENARIO: BISHOPS HOLD GENERAL ASSEMBLY Trichur (Fides Service) – “The Bishops of India are reflecting on the theme ‘Church and Social Communications’ because in the present social-political scenario the Christian community is faced with difficult chal ...
• 8 January 2004
  AMERICA/BRAZIL - CONCERN FOR MISSIONARIES KIDNAPPED IN RORAIMA STATE; YESTERDAY’S ATTEMPTED POLICE LIBERATION FAILED, CAPTORS DEMAND PRESENCE OF MEDIA AND WANT TO TALK TO PRESIDENT LULA Roraima (Fides Service) – Yesterday’s federal police attempt to liberate three Consolata missionaries taken hostage on 6 January from their mission in Surumu, Roraima (Brazil) failed. The Federal Police had announced ...
• 8 January 2004
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - PROTESTANT PASTOR SHOT DEAD: MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISTS SUSPECTED Islamabad (Fides Service) – A Protestant minister was shot dead on January 5 in Khanewal, in central Pakistan. Pastor Mukhtar aged 50, had ministered in Khanewal for14 years first with the Full Gospel Assemblies and th ...
• 8 January 2004
  ASIA/KAZAKHSTAN - DEATH PENALTIES SUSPENDED: GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES CONCRETE STEPS TOWARDS ELIMINATION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Astana (Fides Service) – The first step towards its definitive abolition: a suspension of death penalties decreed at the end of 2003 by President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, has been welcomed by the people of K ...
• 8 January 2004
  AFRICA/SUDAN - OIL WEALTH SHARING AGREEMENT A STEP ON THE PATH TO PEACE: BUT ALL SIDES MUST WORK TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF RE-SETTLING REFUGEES Rome (Fides Service)- “This is a first substantial step” Rev. Tonio Dell’Olio, spokesman for the Sudan Campaign a network of Catholic and secular associations working to bring peace to the country, told Fides. The ...
• 8 January 2004
  AFRICA/SUDAN - LANDMARK GOVERNMENT/REBEL AGREEMENT TO SHARE OIL WEALTH Rome (Fides Service) – A history making agreement between the government of Sudan and the rebels, Southern Peoples Liberation Army, SPLA was signed on 7 January in the Kenyan town of Naivasha by vice president Ali Osma ...
• 7 January 2004
  ASIA/INDONESIA - EMERITUS BISHOP SOUDANT OF PALEMBANG DIES IN HOSPITAL. CONGREGATION FOR THE EVANGELISATION OF PEOPLES SENDS HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES TO LOCAL CATHOLICS Rome (Fides Service)- Belgian born Bishop Joseph Hubertus Soudant, s.c.i, in charge of the Catholic diocese of Palembang (Indonesia) between1963 to 1997, died on 29 December 2003 in hospital in Lanaken, Belgium. Palemban ...