News

• 22 May 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - BIO-DIVERSITY AND RELIEF OF POVERTY – CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY DAY Rome (Fides Service) – UNEP, the United Nations Environment Programme, as made 22 May International Biological Diversity Day ” to spread awareness and knowledge on questions related to bio-diversity. The theme this y ...
• 22 May 2003
  AFRICA/ANGOLA - TEN YEARS AFTER LIBERALISATION OF EDUCATION, STATE AND CHURCH REACH AGREEMENT TO PROVIDE BETTER SCHOOLING FOR ANGOLAN YOUTH Luanda (Fides Service) – “Much has been done, much remains to be done” says Bishop Luis Para Perez de Onaitra, President of the Angolan Catholic Bishops’ Commission for Education in the opening address at the 1st ...
• 22 May 2003
  AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - "DO NOT FORGET THAT 12 MILLION ETHIOPIANS RISK STARVATION” SAYS FATHER CESARE BULLO ANIMATOR OF A CAMPAIGN IN AID OF ETHIOPIA Addis Ababa (Fides Service) – “It is true that there are many emergencies in the world, but we cannot forget the 12 million Ethiopians who risk starvation” Father Cesare Bullo Salesian co-ordinator in Ethiopia tell ...
• 22 May 2003
  AMERICA/PARAGUAY - “THE CHALLENGE IS TO RE-LAUNCH EVANGELISATION IN ORDER TO REVIVE PEOPLE'S HOPE”: FINAL MESSAGE OF CELAM ASSEMBLY. ELECTION OF NEW DIRECTION COMPLETED Tuparenda (Agenzia Fides) – The 29th assembly of the Council of Latin American Bishops’ Conferences held in Tuparenda Ypacaraí (Paraguay), issued a message addressed to all the local Churches in Latin America and th ...
• 22 May 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - IDEOLOGICAL NATIONALISM OF EXTREMIST GROUPS STRIKES MISSIONARIES. NEW AHAD ASSOCIATION PROMOTES SOCIAL HARMONY. EVER STRONGER INDIAN BISHOPS’ NO TO ANTI-CONVERSION LAW IN GUJARAT New Delhi (Fides Service) – Christian missionaries in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, are threatened and impeded in their mission to evangelise. A local Catholic priest, Father Matthew Vattakunnel, denounces that a ...
• 22 May 2003
  ASIA/CHINA - MEDICINES SANS FRONTIERS COMMITTED TO FIGHTING SARS IN CHINA Beijing (Fides Service) – After missions in Vietnam and Hong Kong, De Dan Sermand, head of the NGO Medicines Sans Frontiers MSF group assigned to deal with SARS, arrived in Beijing on 8 May. The main objective of the ...
• 22 May 2003
  AFRICA/MOROCCO - ARCHBISHOP VINCENT LANDEL OF RABAT OFFER FIDES A PERSONAL REFLECTION ON THE EXTREMIST ATTACKS: “NOT CLOSED DOORS BUT MORE INVESTMENT IN OUR COUNTRY MUST BE EUROPE’S REACTION, OTHERWISE THE INFERNAL CYCLE WILL NEVER END Rabat (Fides Service) – After the May 16 terrorist attack in Casablanca the whole kingdom is in a state of shock. No one imagined that such a thing could ever happen in this country. But what is even more concerning is ...
• 21 May 2003
  VATICAN - POPE ASKS ITALIAN BISHOPS FOR STRONG COMMITMENT TO NEW EVANGELISATION AND HANDING ON THE FAITH TO THE NEW GENERATIONS Vatican City (Fides Service) – “The formation of the Christian and the handing on of the faith to the new generations are of decisive importance, made all the greater in the present social and cultural context, in wh ...
• 21 May 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - SALESIANS RE-STYLE WEB PORTAL: MORE SPACE FOR INFORMATION ON THE WORLD OF YOUTH, DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLES, MISSION Torino (Fides Service) – On Saturday 24 May, Feast of Mary Auxiliatrix from whom the Salesians draw their inspiration, in Torino where the Congregation was founded by Saint John Bosco the Rector Major Rev. Pascual Chav ...
• 21 May 2003
  VATICAN - PLENARY ASSEMBLY OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE EVANGELISATION OF PEOPLES: THEME, FORMATION IN MISSION TERRITORIES Vatican City (Fides Service) – The Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples starts its Plenary Assembly today 22 May at the John Paul II Hall, Pontifical Urban University. Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the ...
• 21 May 2003
  AMERICA/PARAGUAY - COMMUNION AND SOLIDARIETY: THE CHURCH’S ANSWER TO GLOBALISATION IN CELAM’S GLOBAL PLAN 2003-2007 Tuparenda (Fides Service) – A global Plan 2003-2007, approved on 15 May by the 29th assembly of the Council of Latin American Bishops’ Conferences (CELAM), has as its title: “Towards a Church, house and school of c ...
• 21 May 2003
  ASIA/PAKSITAN - CENTENARY OF FRANCISABAD ST FRANCIS CITY, A LITTLE ASSISI IN PAKISTAN, CHRISTIAN OASIS IN A MAINLY MUSLIM LAND Faisalabad (Fides Service) – A hundred years ago Belgian Capuchin Father Philip came on mission to Pakistan and built a village to which he gave the name of St Francis and which is known locally as Francisabad. Today t ...
• 21 May 2003
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - IN WAR TORN CONGO A MIRACLE…CARITAS PEACE CONVOY RE-UNITES SEPARATED FAMILY MEMBERS Kinshasa (Fides Service) – A humanitarian river convoy carrying persons displaced by war to be re-united with families has safely arrived at its destination Bena-Dibele. The convoy, organised by Caritas Congo, left Kin ...
• 21 May 2003
  EUROPE/SWITZERLAND - SMOKERS ALARM IN DEVELOPING REGIONS, TOBACCO ALREADY KILLS 5 MILLION EVERY YEAR. HISTORY MAKING AGREEMENT TO CLAMP DOWN ON SMOKING Geneva (Fides Service) - The 192 members of the World Health Organization today unanimously adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) aimed at curbing tobacco-related deaths and disease. This is the firs ...
• 21 May 2003
  EUROPE/UKRAINE - “BELIEVERS MUST USE EVERY POSSIBLE LEGAL MEANS TO AVOID THE LOSS OF HUMAN LIFE AND THE HUMILIATION OF HUMAN DIGNITY” SAYS VICE -PRESIDENT OF THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY FOR LIFE ADDRESSING INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM ON BIO-ETHICS Kiev (Fides Service) – Scientists, scholars and journalists from Ukraine, Italy, Poland, Croatia and Belo-Russia took part in a Scientific Symposium promoted by a Ukrainian charitable organisation the Pro-Human Dignity ...