News

• 23 December 2003
  OCEANIA/ SOLOMON ISLANDS – FIREARM ROUNDUP COMPLETED: ISLANDERS PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS OF PEACE Honiara (Fides Service) – “At last this will be a Christmas of peace thank God. After five years of violence, death and fear, Solomon Islands today is a safer and more tranquil place than ever before” Salesian Fath ...
• 22 December 2003
  AMERICA/UNITED STATES/HAITI – REVEREND JEAN BAPTISTE GUERLAIN CHANCY APPOINTED NATIONAL DIRECTOR PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES Vatican City (Fides Service) – Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, has appointed on 12 December 2003, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Haiti, ...
• 22 December 2003
  ASIA/ ARABIAN PENINSULA – REV. PAUL HINDER APPOINTED AUXILIARY BISHOP FOR THE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF ARABIA Vatican City (Fides Service) – The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has, 12 December 2003, appointed Auxiliary Bishop for the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia (Arabian Peninsula) Reverend Paul Hinder OFM Cap., Definitor G ...
• 22 December 2003
  VATICAN - THE POPE’S REFLECTION AT THE ANGELUS: “MAY MARY, MOTHER OF MOTHERS, HELP US TO GRASP THE KEY WORDS OF THE MYSTERY OF HER DIVINE SON'S BIRTH: HUMILITY, SILENCE, WONDER, JOY” Vatican City (Fides Service) – “Christmas is almost here. As the last touches are given to Nativity Scenes and Christmas Trees, of which we have examples here in St Peter’s Square, we must prepare our hearts to liv ...
• 22 December 2003
  VATICAN - THE POPE EXCHANGES CHRISTMAS GREETINGS WITH THE ROMAN CURIA - “ONE IS THE GOAL FOR WHICH WE TOIL TOGETHER: TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST FOR THE SALVATION OF THE WORLD. THIS MISSION WE UNDERTAKE WITH A SPIRIT OF FAITH AND HEART WILLING TO MAKE SACRIFICES” Vatican City (Fides Service ) – With a warm invitation to “rejoice in spirit” because, as the liturgy says in this season, "the Saviour of the world has come down from heaven", Pope John Paul II addressed the Card ...
• 22 December 2003
  AMERICA/PERU - “CHRISTMAS IS JESUS. GIVE HOPE TO 50.000 CHILDREN”: MOVEMENT OF CHRISTIAN LIFE 2003 SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN Lima (Fides Service ) - “To rediscover the authentic meaning of Christmas, that is the birth of Jesus Christ made Man for our salvation,” is the objective of a solidarity campaign “Christmas is Jesus. Give hope t ...
• 22 December 2003
  ASIA/IRAQ - QUIET CHRISTMAS IN BAGHDAD IN PRAYER AND HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE Baghdad (Fides Service )- “We will celebrate Christmas with solemnity despite the difficulties” local Church sources in Iraq told Fides. “Due to the lack of security we will not have midnight Mass in Baghdad or in ...
• 19 December 2003
  EUROPE/SWITZERLAND - WHO ISSUES REPORT ON WORLD HEALTH, 194 PAGES ON LIFE ON THE PLANET: IN JAPAN PEOPLE LIVE TO BE 85, IN SIERRA LEONE MOST DIE BEFORE THEY ARE 36 Geneva (Fides Service) - The World Health Organisation WHO warns of a growing gap between health conditions in poor countries and the rest of the world. While people live longer in most of the world, in Sub-Saharan Afri ...
• 19 December 2003
  AFRICA/ANGOLA - SALESIANS ASSIST THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES: HUMANITARIAN AID DOES NOT CLASH WITH PASTORAL MINISTRY AND MANY LAPSE CATHOLICS RETURN TO THE FAITH AFTER YEARS OF Lwena (Fides Service/Ans) – Twenty years of civil war left Angola devastated, mourning its dead, wasting away from malnutrition, faced with destruction. It is estimated that at least 15 million anti-personnel mines sti ...
• 19 December 2003
  VATICAN - THE POPE RECEIVES JURISTS IN AUDIENCE: “TO PROTECT THE HUMAN PERSON AND HUMAN DIGNITY, TO ACHIEVE THE COMMON GOOD AND HARMONY AMONG PEOPLES, THE PATH TO BE TAKEN AND PROMOTED IS THE “POWER” OF THE LAW Vatican City (Fides Service) – This morning, 19 December, Pope John Paul II received a delegation of Jurists of the committee which promoted studies collected in a volume in his honour to mark the 25th year of his Pont ...
• 19 December 2003
  ASIA/NEPAL - REVIEWING 2003: AMIDST SITUATION OF VIOLENCE, GRIEVING, POVERTY, LOCAL CHURCH CONTINUES SERVE PEOPLE OF THIS LAND SHARING THEIR JOYS AND SORROWS: NEW YOUTH CENTRE OPENS ON 2 JANUARY IN KATHMANDU Kathmandu (Fides Service) – The year 2003 was one of difficulty marked by violence. Many families suffered losses of loved ones. The little Church in Nepal, (6.000 souls amidst a population of 23 million), stood by to ...
• 19 December 2003
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - BOOST COMMUNICATION IN AND AMONG ASIAN FAMILIES FOR MUTUAL ENRICHMENT AND EVANGELISATION SAYS COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION OF ASIAN BISHOPS’ CONFERENCES Colombo (Fides Service) – How to boost communication in families and among families of different nationalities in Asia was the theme of a recent Meeting in Negombo (Sri Lanka), organised by the Commission for Social C ...
• 19 December 2003
  MONDAY 22 DECEMBER S. EGIDIO COMMUNITY PRESENTS NEW CITY GUIDE FOR TRAMPS IN ROME:WHERE TO EAT, SLEEP,WASH On Monday 22 December at 11.30am at the S. Egidio Soup Kitchen in Via Dandolo 10 (Rome) S. the Catholic association S. Egidio Community will presents a new edition of its city guide for the homeless “DOVE MANGIARE, DOR ...
• 19 December 2003
  ASIA/TURKEY –CLOSER THAN EVER IN SOLIDARITY AND DIALOGUE WITH COMMUNITIES OF OTHER RELIGIONS, TURKEY’S CHRISTIANS PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS Istanbul (Fides Service ) – “This Christmas we Turkish Christians feel a deeper sense of solidarity and closeness with Jewish and Muslim communities: this is undoubtedly because of the recent tragic attacks in Istanb ...
• 19 December 2003
  AFRICA/MADAGASCAR - PRISON SENTENCE FOR FORMER PRESIDENT IS A BOOST FOR THOSE WHO DEMAND JUSTICE FOR PAST CRIMES, BUT THE PROBLEM OF NATIONAL RECONCILIATION REMAINS TO BE SOLVED Antananarivo (Fides Service )- “The sentence is a boost for those who demand justice for crimes committed in the past ” Father Cosimo Alvati, head of Radio Don Bosco in Madagascar told Fides with regard to a five yea ...