News

• 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 ...
• 19 December 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - AFTER SO MANY CHRISTMASSES OF WAR AT LAST CONGO PREPARES FOR A CHRISTMAS AT PEACE: ON 1 JANUARY A NEW ‘MOTHER OF GOD’ PARISH WILL OPEN IN MUHUNGU ENTRUSTED TO XAVERIAN MISSIONARIES Bukavu (Fides Service ) - Father Luigi Lo Stocco, Xaverian missionary head of Radio Maria Queen of Peace in Bukavu, Democratic Congo, sent Fides a report on preparations for Christmas. “After many Christmasses with th ...
• 18 December 2003
  ASIA/MONGOLIA - ON CHRISTMAS DAY, NOT A HOLIDAY IN MONGOLIA, TINY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY WILL CELEBRATE THE SAVIOUR'S BIRTH: PARTIES AND PRESENTS FOR STREET CHILDREN RESCUED FROM CITY SEWERS BY MISSIONARY PRIEST Ulaan Baator (Fides Service) – “It will be a Christmas of joy and hope in Mongolia, where the Church was established only eleven years ago” said Bishop Wenceslaw Padilla, Prefect Apostolic of Ulaan Baatar, told Fid ...
• 18 December 2003
  AFRICA/UGANDA - ARCHBISHOP OF GULU ILLUSTRATES FOR FIDES JOINT CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO WAR STRICKEN PEOPLE IN NORTHERN UGANDA: “TRUST IN GOD, PRAY CONSTANTLY FOR PEACE WHICH COMES ONLY FROM GOD”. Gulu (Fides Service)-“The purpose was to launch a Christmas message of hope and reconciliation” Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu (Northern Uganda), told Fides with regard to a visit of solidarity made by religio ...
• 18 December 2003
  VATICAN - CELEBRATIONS ISSUES NOTICE OF CHRISTMAS SERVICES PRESIDED BY POPE JOHN PAUL II: OFFICE FOR PAPAL LITURGICAL Vatican City (Fides Service) - The Office for Papal Liturgical Celebrations today issued a notice signed by Archbishop Piero Marini, Maestro of Liturgical Celerbations to Pope John Paul II, with regard to Religious Servi ...
• 18 December 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - CHRISTMAS 2003 MESSAGE OF “UNITY IN DIVERSITY”: GOA CHRISTMAS CONCERT OF SONGS IN SIX LANGUAGES FOR AN INTERRELIGIOUS AUDIENCE Goa (Fides Service ) – This year in Goa the Christmas Concert will be polyphonic and multilingual. “We want to express unity in diversity, to show that the message of Christ is addressed to all men and women of all l ...