News

• 30 January 2004
  AFRICA/SOMALIA - PEACE AGREEMENT FOR SOMALIA: TRANSITION GOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENT MEMBERS APPOINTED BY LOCAL CHIEFS NEW FEDERAL CONSTITUTION Mogadishu (Fides Service) - A agreement for peace in Somalia was signed yesterday 29 January in the Kenyan capital Nairobi by 42 representatives of different factions. The agreement stipulates the formation of a new tran ...
• 30 January 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - SCOTLAND’S CARDINAL ENCOURAGES CONGO WHERE CIVIL WAR KILLED 3 MILLION PEOPLE AND PRAISES LOCAL CHURCH FOR WORK IN EDUCATION AND ITS OWN CATHOLIC RADIO “A GOOD MEANS OF EVANGELISATION FOUND NEITHER IN SCOTLAND, ENGLAND NOR IRELAND” Bukavu (Fides Service )- Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’ Brian, Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, was very impressed with the work of the local Church in Bukavu which he had the opportunity to see during a r ...
• 30 January 2004
  ASIA/INDIA - 4,5 MILLION WITH AIDS IN INDIA DESERVE OUR LOVE AND MERCY SAYS CARDINAL VITHAYATHIL HEAD OF SYRO-MALABAR CATHOLIC CHURCH Kochi (Fides Service) – People with AIDS are our brothers and sisters: we must accept them and care for them with love, respect and mercy, said Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, Archbishop Major of Ernakulam-Angamaly in a ...
• 30 January 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - ETHICS AND HEALTH: TWO DEMANDS, TWO DUTIES, TWO COMPONENTS OF EVERY HUMAN PERSON Rome (Fides) – Recently Aris-Sanità magazine issued by the Associazione Religiosa delle Istituzioni Socio-Sanitarie comprising Church-run health-care institutes in Italy published a study on Ethics and Health by profe ...
• 29 January 2004
  VATICAN - THE POPE’S MESSAGE FOR LENT 2004: “WHOEVER RECEIVES ONE SUCH CHILD IN MY NAME RECEIVES ME (MT 18,5): “TO BECOME” ONE OF THE LEAST AND “TO RECEIVE” THE LITTLE ONES Vatican City (Fides Service) – “ Jesus had a particular love for children because of “their simplicity, their joy of life, their spontaneity, and their faith filled with wonder”. For this reason he wishes the com ...
• 29 January 2004
  EUROPE/SPAIN - 400 MILLION CHILD SLAVES: EXHIBITION UNMASKS SLAVERY “THESE ARE NOT CHILD WORKERS THEY ARE CHILD SLAVES” Madrid (Fides Service) – “The different faces of slavery: these are not child workers they are child slaves ” is the title of an exhibition which opened on 26 January at the Alfonso X el Sabio House of Culture prom ...
• 29 January 2004
  AMERICA/MEXICO - LATIN-AMERICAN BISHOPS’ CONFERENCES START PREPARATION FOR 5TH CELAM CONFERENCE AND COMMEMORATE POPE JOHN PAUL II’S FIRST VISIT TO MEXICO IN 1979 Puebla (Fides Service ) – To mark the 25 years of pontificate of Pope John Paul II, the Holy Father’s first visit to Mexico in January 1979 and the 3rd General Conference of the Council of Latin American Bishops’ ...
• 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 ...