News

• 20 June 2003
  WORLD REFUGEE DAY - INFO Rome (Fides Service) – The Geneva Convention, 28 July 1951 and the New York Protocol 31 January 1967 define the refugee a person who, fearing persecution because of race, religion, nationality, or membership of a parti ...
• 20 June 2003
  ASIA/INDONESIA - RECONCILIATION CEREMONY OF PROTESTANTS AND MUSLIMS IN MOLUCCAS ISLANDS AFTER YEARS OF ETHNIC CLASHES – BISHOP MANDAGI OF AMBOINA SAYS “WE START LIFE AGAIN LOOKING TO THE FUTURE WITH CONFIDENCE” Ambon (Fides Service) – “Today there is an atmosphere of confidence and hope. People show good will in dialogue and look at each other as brothers and sisters. I am surprised to see the speed of the reconciliation pr ...
• 20 June 2003
  AMERICA/UNITED STATES - DISABILITY MUST NOT BE SEEN AS A PUNISHMENT OR CURSE: ARCHBISHOP MIGLIORE ADDRESSES UNO New York (Fides Service) – “The person with disabilities has every right to be a subject and an active agent in the everyday affairs of human existence. These persons are rich in humanity. Each has rights and duties ...
• 20 June 2003
  VATICAN - THE POPE SAYS ON SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI: “LIKE THE APOSTLES AND SAINTS OF ALL TIMES WE CONTEMPLATE THE FACE OF THE ‘EUCHARISTIC’ CHRIST, LEARNING FROM MARY, WOMAN OF THE EUCHARIST WITH HER WHOLE LIFE” Rome (Fides Service) – On the solemnity of Corpus Christi, Thursday 19 June, Pope John Paul II presided Mass in the square outside the cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of St John Lateran, and the Procession of the Bless ...
• 20 June 2003
  EUROPE/BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - THE POPE WILL FIND A CHURCH AND A SOCIETY WHOSE SCARS ARE SLOWLY HEALING, COMMITTED TO DIALOGUE AND RECONCILIATION: INTERVIEW WITH VICAR GENERAL OF BANJA LUKA DIOCESE, PRESIDENT OF COMMITTEE FOR PAPAL VISIT Banja Luka (Fides Service) – “On Sunday next I will go to Bosnia Herzegovina, to confirm in the faith that Catholic community committed to the important path of reconciliation and harmony”. With these words Pope Jo ...
• 20 June 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO FRATERNITY TO WELCOME NEW PRIESTS AND DEACONS: MISSIONARIES DESTINED FOR TAIWAN, SPAIN, GERMANY AND CZECH REPUBLIC Rome (Fides Service) – Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope’s vicar General for the diocese of Rome, will ordain 6 priests and 5 deacons for the Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St Charles Borromeo. The solemn ...
• 20 June 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - INTERNATIONAL BODIES UNABLE TO GUARANTEE JUSTICE AND PEACE TODAY MUST BE REINFORCED NOT ELIMINATED: ARCHBISHOP MARTINO TELLS NATIONAL MEETING OF ITALIAN DIOCESAN CARITAS OFFICES Rome (Fides Service) – The present day inadequacies of international bodies must not lead to the reduction of their importance but rather to reinforce them and render them capable of fulfilling their original duty. Thi ...
• 20 June 2003
  AFRICA/UGANDA - ACHOLI PEOPLE VICTIMS FOR YEARS OF THE WORST FORM OF TERRORISM WHICH NEVER MAKES THE HEADLINES Kampala (Fides Service) – “It is certainly a good sign the fact that the Ugandan press is talking of the need to end the carnage in northern Uganda which has gone on for too long” said a missionary with years of ex ...
• 18 June 2003
  VATICAN - THE POPE SAYS TO BISHOPS OF BURKINA FASO AND NIGER: “EVANGELISATION IS FUNDAMENTAL MISSION FOR THE CHURCH. PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL CANNOT BE FULLY ACHIEVED WITHOUT CONTRIBUTION OF ALL BELIEVERS” Vatican City (Fides Service) – Receiving on 17 June the Bishops of Burkina Faso and Niger, who form one Conference, for their visit ad limina, Pope John Paul II launched a new appeal to the international community “t ...
• 18 June 2003
  EUROPE/PORTUGAL - WORLD REFUGEE DAY 2003: A MEETING ORGANISED BY THE JESUIT REFUGEE SERVICE DENOUNCES: “THE NEW IMMIGRATION LAW IS IMMORAL” Lisbon (Fides Service) - As part events to mark the international Week for Refugees, 15-22 June and World Refugee Day 20 June 2003, the Jesuit Refugee Service JRS in Portugal organised a day of study for immigrants and ...
• 18 June 2003
  EUROPE/SLOVAKIA - TRNAVA UNIVERSITY AWARDS HONORARY DOCTORATE IN THEOLOGY TO CHIARA LUBICH, FOR HER CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THEOLOGY OF UNITY AND COMMITMENT TO PROMOTE DIALOGUE AT EVERY LEVEL Trnava (Fides Service) – On Monday June 23 at 11 am, at Castel Gandolfo (just outside Rome) Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement will be awarded an honorary doctorate in theology. By conferring this title on ...
• 18 June 2003
  AFRICA/BURKINA FASO - A YOUNG CHURCH FULL OF ENTHUSIASM Ouagadougou (Fides Service) – In 2000 the Catholic Church in Burkina Faso celebrated the centenary of evangelisation in the region. The first mission here was opened by the White Fathers, today known as Missionaries of ...
• 18 June 2003
  AFRICA/LIBERIA - DISBELIEF AND SCEPTICISM IN LIBERIA AFTER CEASE-FIRE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND REBELS IS ANNOUNCED Monrovia (Fides Service) – Liberia awoke with surprise, uncertainty and hope following the announcement of a cease-fire agreement and the resignation of President Charles Taylor. On June 17 at midnight the Liberian go ...
• 18 June 2003
  ASIA/MALAYSIA - FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SARS: 8,460 INFECTED, 6,989 RECOVERED Kuala Lumpur (Fides Service) – Where does the virus come from? Why did it not appear earlier? Is the natural reservoir really an animal? These are some of the queries raised and discussed by experts mainly from Asia an ...
• 18 June 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - CHRISTIANITY IN WORDS AND DEEDS BROADCAST ON PRIVATE TV: “VOICE OF CHRISTIANITY” PROGRAMME MARKS FIRST ANNIVERSARY New Delhi (Fides Service) – On June 15 in Delhi the first anniversary of “Voice of Christianity” programmes on a local private broadcasting company Jain TV was marked with special enthusiasm. Archbishop Vincent ...