News

• 23 June 2003
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - 4,000 GATHER TO PRAY IN DEMILITARISED ZONE DIVIDING NORTH AND SOUTH ON NATIONAL DAY FOR RECONCILIATION AND UNITY OF KOREAN PEOPLE Seoul (Fides Service) – At least 4,000 gathered in the demilitarised border zone between north and south Korea for Mass to mark the Day for Unity and Reconciliation of the Korean People on Sunday June 22. Bishops, prie ...
• 23 June 2003
  AFRICA/BURKINA FASO-NIGER - CHURCH STILL YOUNG, DESPITE DIFFICULTIES TENDS TO MISSION, INTERVIEW WITH BISHOP OUEDRAGO, PRESIDENT OF BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE Vatican City (Fides Service) – “Despite difficulties connected with the precarious living conditions of the local people, the missionary vitality of your diocesan Churches has expressed itself in various forms”, Po ...
• 23 June 2003
  EUROPE/BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - THE POPE TELLS CATHOLICS IN BANJA LUKA: “DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED, MULTIPLY EFFORTS TO MAKE BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA ONCE AGAIN A LAND OF RECONCILIATION, ENCOUNTER AND PEACE Banja Luka (Fides Service) – “With deep gratitude for the invitation, I return after six years to Bosnia-Herzegovina and I thank God for allowing me to meet once again these people so dear to my heart”. With these ...
• 23 June 2003
  ASIA/MALAYSIA - KUCHING - ARCHBISHOP PETER CHAUNG HOAN TING RESIGNS, MGR JOHN HA TIONG HOCK APPOINTED Vatican City (Fides Service) – The Holy Father Pope John Paul II has (18 June 2003) accepted the renunciation of the pastoral government of the archdiocese of Kuching, Malaysia, presented by Archbishop Peter Chaung Hoa ...
• 23 June 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - TO FIGHT DRUG ABUSE IT IS INDISPENSABLE TO START FROM THE TRANSCENDENT AND UNIQUE VALUE OF EVERY PERSON: SYMPOSIUM FOR UN ANTI-DRUGS DAY Rome (Fides Service) – United Nations, the Vatican and therapy communities join forces to fight a phenomenon which is medical and psychological, but also cultural, social, ethic and political. To mark UN Anti-Drugs Day ...
• 23 June 2003
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - NEGLECT AND IGNORANCE CAUSED LATEST NIGERIAN OIL TRAGEDY SAYS ARCHBISHOP ONAIYEKAN OF ABUJA Abuja (Fides Service) – “This is the umpteenth tragedy caused by neglect on the part of those responsible for protecting one of the largest oil installations in Nigeria” Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuj ...
• 23 June 2003
  ASIA/MALAYSIA - NEW NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES BISHOP JAMES CHAN Vatican City (Fides Service) - Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, has appointed (6 June 2003), National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Malaysia, Sing ...
• 23 June 2003
  ASIA/INDONESIA - NEW NATIONAL DIRECTOR PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES REV. PATRICK PA SVD Vatican City (Fides Service) - Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, has appointed (13 June 2003) National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Indonesia Reve ...
• 20 June 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC CONGO - FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY IN NORTH KIVU. DESPITE UNILATERAL CEASE-FIRE CALLED BY REBELS MORE VIOLENCE IS FEARED Kinshasa (Fides Service) – Tension is still high in North Kivu, in the eastern part of Democratic Congo DRC, where rebels of the Congolese Group for Democracy (RCD-Goma) have declared a unilateral cease-fire. Local sou ...
• 20 June 2003
  AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - WORLD REFUGEE DAY: ASSISTANCE AND FORMATION FOR A BETTER FUTURE: SCALABRINI REFUGEE SERVICE IN AFRICA Cape Town (Fides Service) – Shelter, food, medical assistance, schooling, professional training are some of the services offered by the Scalabrini Refugee Service in Cape Town, South Africa, a large port destination of ...
• 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 ...