News

• 5 September 2003
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - PEACE HAS DIFFICULTY GETTING STARTED, SPECTRE OF FOOD SHORTAGE IN REBEL CONTROLLED AREAS THREATENS Abidjan (Fides Service) – “The peace process has certainly come to an abrupt halt” a local Church source tells Fides Service after the discovery of a plan to assassinate President Gbagbo. The detection late last m ...
• 5 September 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - AT LAST EMPOWERED TO PROTECT CIVILIANS AND STOP FIGHTING BETWEEN REBEL GROUPS NEW UN MISSION DEPLOYED: BUT SOME WONDER WHY MOST ARE NON-FRENCH SPEAKING SOLDIERS Bunia (Fides Service) – “So far all the UN peacekeepers have done is to go on a fact-finding mission to Fataki” local sources in Bunia, main city of Ituri in Northern Congo, tell Fides Service. “UN Mission troops ...
• 4 September 2003
  VATICAN - THE POPE’S WEDNESDAY TEACHING AT THE GENERAL AUDIENCE: LET US ASK GOD FOR THE GIFTS OF TRUST, HOPE AND OPTIMISM, PARTICULARLY AT THIS TIME WHEN THE TEMPTATION TO DESPAIR IS STRONG Vatican City (Fides Service) – At the general Audience on Wednesday 3 September, held in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican, for which the Pope travelled by car from his Summer Residence in Castel Gandolfo, the Holy Fathe ...
• 4 September 2003
  AMERICA/SURINAME – BISHOP OF PARAMARIBO ALOYSIUS ZICHEM RESIGNS Vatican City (Fides Service) – The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has, on 9 August 2003, accepted the renunciation of the pastoral government of the diocese of Paramaribo, Suriname, presented by Bishop Aloysius Zichem ...
• 4 September 2003
  VATICAN - PAPAL MESSAGE FOR INTER-CHRISTIAN SYMPOSIUM AT JOANNINA IN GREECE: “THE SEARCH FOR DEEPER COMMUNION BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN CHRISTIANITY MUST NOT LIMIT ITSELF TO OFFICIAL CONTACTS AND HIGH LEVEL INITIATIVES” Vatican City (Fides Service) – On the occasion of an Inter-Christian Symposium taking place in Joannina, Epire, Greece, 3-7 September, on the theme: “The relationship between Christian spirituality and dogma in the E ...
• 4 September 2003
  AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - IN MAPUTO DOCTORS, NURSES, LABORATORY AND SOCIAL WORKERS ATTEND FIRST INTERNATIONAL COURSE ON DRUG RESOURCES ENHANCEMENT AGAINST AIDS Rome (Fides Service) - From 20 to 29 August 85 doctors, nurses social workers, laboratory workers and biology experts from Malawi, Tanzania, Angola, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique attended the first course in Drug Resourc ...
• 4 September 2003
  AMERICA/BOLIVIA - BOLIVIAN CATHOLC BISHOPS: “IT IS OUR DUTY TO FIND WAYS TO PREVENT FURTHER VIOLENCE…WE CANNOT REMAIN SILENT WHILE THE COUNTRY IS DESTROYED” La Paz (Fides Service) – Following serious episodes of violence which disrupted Bolivia in February, the Catholic Bishops have voiced their commitment to “support efforts and initiatives to promote national reconcili ...
• 4 September 2003
  AFRICA/LIBERIA - TAYLOR HAS GONE BUT HIS MILITIA ARE STILL RAMPANT. CONSOLATA MISSIONARIES LAUNCH APPEAL: “ FOOD SHORTAGE IN BUCHANAN NOW CRITICAL ” Monrovia (Fides Service)- “There is little or no food in Buchanan”, the Consolata missionaries in Harbel, 50 km south of Monrovia, capital of Liberia, tell Fides Service. Buchanan, the principal port, is about 90 km ...
• 4 September 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - CATHOLIC CHURCH DEEPLY CONCERNED FOR SITUATION KISANGANI, ONCE CONGO’S THIRD LARGEST CITY Kinshasa (Fides Service )- The Catholic Church in Congo has voiced deep concern for the situation in Kisangani, in the north eastern part of Democratic Congo. This is reported in the latest issue of DIA local church bull ...
• 4 September 2003
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - OPPOSITION ELECTION VICTORY SHOWS PEOPLE’S WILL FOR CHANGE Harare (Fides Service )- “The results of the recent municipal elections in Zimbabwe demonstrate that the people want a change, says a local Church source who asks not to be named for security reasons. Municipal electio ...
• 4 September 2003
  ASIA/IRAQ - PADRE NIZAR SEMAAN. “THE NEW IRAQI GOVERNMENT IS NOT FAR FROM A RETURN TO NORMALITY” Baghdad (Fides Service)- “The setting up of the new government is an important step on the way to normality for Iraq ” Catholic priest Father Nizar Semaan, of Ninive diocese in northern Iraq, tells Fides with regard ...
• 4 September 2003
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - DESPITE TENSION WITH MUSLIMS CHRISTIANS OCCUPY GROWING SPACE ON RADIO AND NOT ONLY CATHOLIC COMPANIES Lahore (Fides Service ) – The number of Christian commentators and personalities heard on the radio in Pakistan is growing steadily and not only on Catholic radios. Besides Radio Veritas in Urdu, which broadcasts an an ...
• 4 September 2003
  ASIA/TAIWAN - INTENSE PREPARATION FOR 8TH CONGRESS OF THE FAMILY OF RELIGIOUS IN ASIA AND OCEANIA: MAJOR EVEN OF COMMUNION AND SHARING FOR LOCAL CHURCHES Taipei (Fides) – The entire family of religious men and women in Asia and Oceania is preparing for the inter-continental Meeting of Religious 20-30 October in Taiwan. The Congress the 8th Asian-Oceania Meeting of Reli ...
• 4 September 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - “MOTHER TERESA THE MOST PRECIOUS GEM”: SCHOOL CONTEST IN RAJASTHAN STATE, CHILDREN OF ALL AGES CHRISTIAN AND NON, BUSY PRODUCING ESSAYS, PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES ON MOTHER TERESA Jaipur (Fides Agency) – Jaipur is known for its precious resources and production of gems, but the local people consider the most precious of all gems Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the little nun clad in a white sari who ...
• 4 September 2003
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - “CATHOLICS HELPED FOUND OUR COUNTRY AND FORM NATIONAL IDENTITY SAYS FATHER BERNARD INAYAT Lahore (Fides Service) – Speaking of recent tension between Muslims and Christians in Pakistan and denying the statements that Christianity is seen as a “foreign religion” Father Bernard Inayat, Head of the Pakist ...