News

• 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 ...
• 18 December 2003
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - CHRISTMAS IN PAKISTAN: HOPE OR FEAR? DESPITE GROWING FEAR OF TERRORISM AFTER PRESIDENT NARROWLY ESCAPES BOMB BLAST PAKISTANI CHRISTIANS READY TO CELEBRATE WITH HOPE Rawalpindi (Fides Service) – In Pakistan Christians will live Christmas with top security measures but with firm hope Bishop Anthony Lobo of Islamabad-Rawalpindi told Fides days after the 14 December bomb blast against ...
• 18 December 2003
  AMERICA/BRAZIL - “TO BE MISSIONARY MEANS IGNORING BORDERS, GOING BEYOND FRONTIERS. THIS IS OUR CHARISMA”: GUIDELINES PROMOTE MISSIONARY CHILDHOOD ACTIVITY IN BRAZIL Brasilia (Fides Service) – Study, reflection and programming of activities regarding the Pontifical Mission Society of Missionary Childhood for 2004 was the focus of the annual national meeting of Missionary Childhood ...
• 18 December 2003
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST – SIGNS OF HOPE FOR PEACE, BUT CARE MUST BE TAKEN TO PREVENT PREVAILING OF LOGIC OF VIOLENCE Abidjan (Fides Service)- “We hope this Christmas will be different from the last when because of the curfew we had to celebrate midnight Mass at three in the afternoon” a local Church source in Abidjan told Fides. In ...
• 17 December 2003
  ASIA/IRAQ - IRAQI CHRISTIANS APPEAL TO PEOPLE OF MOSUL: “A MINORITY OF EXTREMISTS MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO DESTROY MOSUL’S TRADITIONAL IMAGE OF RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE ” Baghdad (Fides Service) –The Christian community in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul is subject to increasing pressure by Muslim extremists. Local sources told Fides that one night last week a group of at least 10 arme ...
• 17 December 2003
  ASIA/JAPAN - CHURCH IN JAPAN FOR MISSION AD GENTES: FIVE LAY MISSIONARIES SET OUT FOR RUSSIA, CAMBODIA, EAST TIMOR AND PALAU Tokyo (Fides Service ) – The Church in Japan is ever more committed to mission ad gentes: recently five lay missionaries aged between 26 and 62 set out for mission in Russia, Cambodia, East Timor and Palau. After a sev ...
• 17 December 2003
  AFRICA/NIGERIA – ARCHDIOCESE OF CALABAR: ARCHBISHOP BRIAN DAVID USANGA RESIGNS, BISHOP JOSEPH EDRA UKPO APPOINTED Vatican City (Fides Service) – The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has, 17 December 2003, accepted the renunciation of the pastoral government of the Archdiocese of Calabar (Nigeria), presented by Archbishop Brian Davi ...
• 17 December 2003
  WYD 2005 IN COLOGNE, GERMANY: OMI PREPARATORY MEETING 11 TO 15 AUGUST 2005 The Youth Service Department of the German Province of the Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is already at work to organise a pre-WYD 2005 meeting for groups accompanied by Oblates as they did before WYD in To ...
• 17 December 2003
  VATICAN – POPE JOHN PAUL II PRESIDES FUNERAL FOR CARDINAL PAULOS TZADUA EMERITUS ARCHBISHOP OF ADDIS ABABA Vatican City (Fides Service)- On December 16 in St Peter’s basilica Pope John Paul II presided the funeral mass for Cardinal Paulos Tzadua, Emeritus Archbishop of Addis Ababa. The Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Joseph ...