News

• 29 January 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - MARIANNHILL MISSIONARIES MOURN DEATH OF GENERAL SUPERIOR FATHER DIETER GAHLEN Roma (Agenzia Fides) - German born Father Dieter Gahlen, Superior General of the Mariannhil Missionaries CMM died at the age of 56 on 24 January, in hospital in Rome where he had been in care since January 3. The funeral ...
• 29 January 2004
  AFRICA/SIERRA LEONE - CHILD SOLDIERS IN SIERRA LEONE: DEEPLY TRAUMATISED BUT NO HATRED IN THEIR HEARTS, SAYS MISSIONARY Freetown (Fides Service) -“Now that the process of disarming child soldiers has been completed there is the difficult stage of reinsertion in normal life” Father Giuseppe Berton, Xaverian missionary in Sierra Leone t ...
• 29 January 2004
  AFRICA – EDUCATION IS A RIGHT, BUT IN AFRICA THERE ARE CLASSES WITH 100 PUPILS AND NO BLACKBOARD Kinshasa (Fides Service ) – When the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa achieved independence they all gave absolute priority to education as a means not only to avoid but also to eradicate poverty. Every country has the ...
• 29 January 2004
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - IVORY COAST WOULD WELCOME THE UNITED NATIONS, EVERYONE WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE UN INVOLVEMENT. CATHOLIC BISHOPS URGE PEOPLE TO PRACTICE MODERATION TO HELP RETURN OF PEACE Abidjan (Fides Service )- “The news that the United Nations may take a more active role in the peace process has been welcomed by all in Ivory Coast” a local Church source in Abidjan, told Fides with regard to the ar ...
• 29 January 2004
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM AUDIENCE ENJOY RADIO VERITAS IN URDU: MORE THAN 700 PROGRAMMES COVER WIDE VARIETY OF SUBJECTS RANGING FROM SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND NEWS TO LITERATURE AND RELIGION Manila (Fides Service) – Radio Veritas in Urdu (the official language in Pakistan) has become a reference point for Catholic media in this country. The programmes are appreciated by Christians and Muslims alike and the ...
• 29 January 2004
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - 30 DAYS OF HOPE FOR TWO MEN DESTINED TO BE EXECUTED TOMORROW: THE LOCAL CHURCH’S BATTLE TO HAVE DEATH PENALTY ABOLISHED Manila (Fides Service) – “We welcome with joy and hope the Supreme Court’s decision. The judges hold the lives of two men in their hands. We have full trust in the magistrates who must decide whether to re-open th ...
• 29 January 2004
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - CHRISTIANS PROMOTE PEACE NOT VIOLENCE: LOCAL CHURCH MAKES SUNDAY 1 FEBRUARY DAY OF PRAYER AND FASTING FOR INTERRELIGIOUS HARMONY Colombo (Fides Service) – Catholics in Colombo will pray and fast to obtain from God the gift of harmony among religions on Sunday February 1. The recent wave of anti-Christian violence is causing Christians to lose si ...
• 28 January 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - PROFILE OF MISSIONARY PARISH FOR NEW EVANGELISATION: FOCUS OF NEXT GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF ITALIAN BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE IN MAY Rome (Fides Service) – Mission in parishes in view of new evangelisation will be the main theme for the work of the next General Assembly of the Italian Bishops Conference in May. The topic emerged from the Winter sess ...
• 28 January 2004
  AFRICA/SENEGAL/MAURITANIA – NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES REV. GIUSEPPE GIORDANO CONFIRMED Vatican City (Fides Service) – Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, has ( 25 January 2004) confirmed National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Senegal- ...
• 28 January 2004
  AMERICA/UNITED STATES - GROUP OF RESEARCHERS START SUCCESSFUL STUDY ON NEW WAYS TO CONTROL DENGUE FEVER WHICH STILL STRIKES IN WAVES Rome (Fides Service) – Recently a group of American researchers who monitor epidemics of Dengue fever dengue undertook a study of the waves of this disease which invade the planet. They started with Thailand and contin ...
• 28 January 2004
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - MURDERED NUNCIO ARCHBISHOP COURTNEY COMMEMORATED TOMORROW A MONTH AFTER TRAGIC AMBUSH, WITH A SOLEMN MASS IN BUJUMBURA CATHEDRAL Bujumbura (Fides Service). There is still deep grief all over the country for the violent killing of Archbishop Michael Aidan Courtney, papal nuncio in Burundi, killed in an ambush on 29 December 2003 (see Fides 30 Decem ...
• 28 January 2004
  VATICAN - THE POPE’S TEACHING AT GENERAL AUDIENCE: THE FONT OF ALL CONFIDENCE AND THE SOURCE OF ALL HOPE IN THE HOUR OF TRIAL IS THAT GOD IS NOT INDIFFERENT TOWARDS GOOD AND EVIL, HE IS A GOOD GOD NOT SOME INDECIPHERABLE AND MYSTERIOUS FATE Vatican City (Fides Service) – For his teaching during the weekly Wednesday audience on 28 January the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, took Psalm 10: “Unshaken confidence in the Lord” which is part of Vespers of Mo ...
• 28 January 2004
  AFRICA/LIBERIA – CAPUCHIN FATHERS’ VEHICLE STOLEN: THIEVES’ RANSOM DEMAND TYPICAL OF LIBERIA’S STATE OF CONFUSION Monrovia (Fides Service )- “People are disillusioned with the country’s political vicissitudes; they have other problems, where to find food for the evening meal” a local Church source told Fides commenting the req ...
• 28 January 2004
  ASIA/INDIA - APOSTOLATE IN COMMUNICATIONS, EVANGELISING THROUGH THE MEDIA: PRIORITY FOR GOA ARCHDIOCESE Goa (Fides Service) – “Goa archdiocese will give special attention in the coming years to pastoral of social communications, as requested by the last assembly of the Indian Bishops’ Conference”: newly appointed A ...
• 28 January 2004
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - TAEGU SEMINARY OPENS TO THE LAITY: THEOLOGY FOR HOUSEWIVES, WORKERS AND BUSINESSMEN Taegu (Fides Service) – In response to the laity’s desire to learn more about the faith Taegu Seminary will open theology studies to the laity. The courses should commence in March 2004 The initiative has strong su ...