News

• 20 November 2003
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - “THE STATE OF INSECURITY IS SUCH THAT WE MAY HAVE TO CELEBRATE MIDNIGHT MASS AT FOUR PM ON CHRISTMAS EVE SAYS MISSIONARY IN NORTH IVORY COAST” Abidjan (Fides Service)- “For the moment, the emergency is over and all is calm” a missionary in Bouake told Fides Service. Bouake is the main town in the northern region Ivory Coast in the hands of the New Forces re ...
• 19 November 2003
  AMERICA/COSTARICA - BISHOP GIRARDI, SPEAKER AT AMERICAN MISSION CONGRESS: “BEING A MISSIONARY TODAY; A TIME OF VAST POSSIBILITIES AND GREAT CHALLENGES FOR MISSIONARY ACTIVITY WITH NEW FORUMS TO BE EVANGELISED” Tilaran (Fides Service) – CAM 2, the 2nd American Mission Congress which will be held next week 25 to 30 November in Guatemala City, is the first major missionary event in the third millennium. It will be an opportunit ...
• 19 November 2003
  VATICAN - POPE’S TEACHING AT GENERAL AUDIENCE: “WITH US IN SUFFERING AND IN DEATH, CHRIST NOW DRAWS US TO BE WITH HIM IN HIS GLORY, BLESSING US AND CALLING US TO SHARE IN HIS ETERNITY Vatican City (Fides Service) – Pope John Paul II met visitors who had come for his Wednesday Audience on October 19 in the Paul VI Hall. This week his teaching on the psalms of Vespers, focussed on the Canticle Fil 2,6 ...
• 19 November 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - 1 MILLION OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN LED TO PROSTITUTION; 2 MILLION KILLED IN WAR AND 6 MILLION WOUNDED OR MUTILATED; EVERY DAY 7000 CHILDREN ARE INFECTED BY AIDS: ITALY’S NATIONAL DAY FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS Rome (Fides Service) – November 20 in Italy and in several other countries is National Day for Childhood and Adolescence to highlight the importance of building a world suitable for children. Every year 1 million of th ...
• 19 November 2003
  AMERICA/GUATEMALA - TOWARDS AMERICAN MISSION CONGRESS CAM 2 - “LONG AND FRUITFUL PREPARATION FILLS US WITH HOPE THAT IT WILL FOSTER NEW EAVNGELISING IMPULSE SAY BISHOPS OF GUATEMALTA Guatemala City (Fides Service) – The Catholic Bishops of Guatemala, meeting on November 18, issued a statement on the experience of the Year of the Rosary, celebrations for the 25th years of Pontificate of Pope John P ...
• 19 November 2003
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - “MISUNDERSTANDING OF DEFENCE MINISTER’S SPEECH CAUSE OF RISING TENSION IN IVORY COAST” SAYS MISSIONARY Abidjan (Fides Service) – Tension is rising in Ivory Coast where New Forces rebels have declared a state of emergency fearing an attack by the regular army. “This tension probably rises from a misinterpretation of wh ...
• 19 November 2003
  ASIA/CHINA - CATHOLICS AND DIPLOMATS ORGANISE FRIENDSHIP DAY POT LUCK CHARITY LUNCH TO BUILD A NEW CHURCH AND SEND POOR STUDENTS TO UNIVERSITY Beijing (Fides Service) – The Catholic community in Beijing has always had good relations with the diplomats and international organisations personnel stationed in Beijing. Many foreign citizens attend Sunday Mass in ...
• 19 November 2003
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - WAVE STUDIO DISTRIBUTES “PEACE ON EARTH” CD AND AUDIOCASSETTE TO CATHOLIC FAMILIES SCHOOLS, RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS, PARISHES AND ALSO MUSLIM INSTITUTES AND ASSOCIATIONS Lahore (Fides Service) – “Peace on Earth” is the title of a new Compact Disc produced by Lahore diocese’s Catholic Wave Studio whose director is Father John Nadeem. Wave recording studios was opened by the Socia ...
• 19 November 2003
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - CHURCH CONCERNED FOR IRREGULAR IMMIGRANT WORKERS WITHOUT RIGHTS OR ASSISTANCE, DESTINED TO BE REPATRIATED Seoul (Fides Service) – Concern for the situation of irregular immigrant workers in South Korea, whose living conditions are often at the limit of survival and human dignity, was voiced by the Korean Bishops’ Commiss ...
• 19 November 2003
  AFRICA/ANGOLA - MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS: CAN THE TRAGICALLY HIGH INFANT DEATH RATE DUE TO LACK OF NORMAL HEALTH-CARE BE AVOIDED AND HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST? Rome (Fides Service) – These are the questions which Saturday Cuamm on 22 November on the theme “Caring for Children 25 years after Alma Ata: the Angola case” will try to answer. Saturday Cuamm study days aim to he ...
• 19 November 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - ART AND DISABILITIES CONCRETE COMMITMENT OF ST JOHN OF GOD BROTHERS: “PERSONS WITH A DISABILITY HAVE INTELLIGENCE OF HEART VISIBLE IN GESTURES, WORDS AND EVERY DAY LIFE ” – SAYS BROTHER GERARDO D’AURIA, SUPERIOR OF THE ST JOHN OF GOD HOSPITAL IN GENZANO Rome (Fides Service) – Painting as a form of expression and rehabilitation. This is the objective of Il mattone Art Workshop sponsored by the “St John of God Institute” in Genzano not far from Rome which will show ...
• 18 November 2003
  ASIA/IRAQ - ON DAY OF STATE FUNERAL OF 19 ITALIAN SOLDIERS BOMB BLAST VICTIMS, CHALDEAN CATHOLIC MONK TELLS FIDES: “WE SYMPATHISE DEEPLY WITH THE FAMILIES AND WITH ALL ITALY AND WE ASK THE ITALIAN MISSION NOT TO ABANDON IRAQ BUT TO CONTINUE TO WORK FOR THE GOOD OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE!” Rome (Fides Service) – Solidarity, prayers and a call on the Italian mission not to leave Iraq but to stay in Nassirya was the message sent to Fides by Iraqi Father Berjou Mansoor on behalf of the Chaldean Monks in Rom ...
• 18 November 2003
  ASIA/IRAQ - “MAY ITALIAN BLOOD SHED ON IRAQI SOIL HELP OLIVE TREE OF PEACE TO GROW AT LAST” IRAQI FATHER NIZAR SEMAAN SPEAKS FOR IRAQI CHRISTIANS Rome (Fides Service)- “On behalf of the Christians in Iraq I wish to voice sympathy and solidarity to the families of the soldiers killed by the bomb attack on the Italian mission head quarters in Nassiriya on November ...
• 18 November 2003
  VATICAN - THE POPE TELLS INDIAN BISHOPS: “ANY SEMBLANCE OF A CASTE-BASED PREJUDICE IN RELATIONS BETWEEN CHRISTIANS IS A COUNTERSIGN TO AUTHENTIC HUMAN SOLIDARITY, A THREAT TO GENUINE SPIRITUALITY AND A SERIOUS HINDRANCE TO THE CHURCH’S MISSION OF EVANGELISATION” Vatican City (Fides Service) - “It is not enough that the Christian community hold the principle of solidarity as a lofty ideal; rather it must be seen as the norm for human interaction” Pope John Paul II told a gro ...
• 18 November 2003
  VATICAN - ANNUAL MESSAGE TO ALL MUSLIMS FROM PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE ON THE OCCASION OF ‘ID AL-FITR, FEAST WHICH CONCLUDES RAMADAN: CONSTRUCTION OF PEACE FOLLOWING THE TEACHING OF BLESSED JOHN XXIII Vatican City (Fides Service) – To mark the Feast of ‘Id al-Fitr, 1424 A.H. / 2003 A.D.) which closes the Muslim Ramadan month of prayer and fasting Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald President of the Pontifical Counci ...