News

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  5 September 2017
  AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Agreement for the ceasefire between ELN and government Quito (Agenzia Fides) - With a press conference in Quito,the Colombian government and representatives of the National Liberation Army (ELN) yesterday announced the bilateral ceasefire until January 2018. The Foreign Mini ...
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  5 September 2017
  ASIA/IRAQ - Muqtada al Sadr in the Vatican? So far no official request (and no invitation) Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - Announcements and rumors which have circulated in the past few days regarding a next visit to the Vatican by Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al Sadr and his possible encounter with Pope Francis have ...
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  4 September 2017
  EUROPE/SWITZERLAND - Formation at the center of Scalabrinian Family meeting Solothurn (Agenzia Fides) - In the current political climate, where irreconcilable conflicts, injustice and fears for security prevail which push towards self-defense and closure, there seems to be an increasing need for ...
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  4 September 2017
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - The Church in Pakistan proclaims the Year of the Eucharist Multan (Agenzia Fides) - "We want to make the Eucharist the center of our Christian life, our families and our homes": with this spirit, the Catholic Church in Pakistan celebrates 2018 as a special "Year of the Eucharist ...
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  4 September 2017
  AMERICA/COSTA RICA - Emigrants from Africa and Asia increase, Church denounces the governments’ indifference San José (Agenzia Fides) - A boat carrying emigrants from Africa and Mongolia sank on Friday 1 September in the waters off Northwest Costa Rica, resulting in one death and a child is missing, according to El Heraldo new ...
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  4 September 2017
  AMERICA/MEXICO - "The judicial system has lost credibility" denounces Mgr. Muñoz Zamora Coatzacoalcos (Agenzia Fides) - "We must try to make sure that this justice is not blind and takes into account the social conditions of people, otherwise these institutions completely lose their credibility", emphasized ...
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  4 September 2017
  ASIA/IRAQ - Still tensions between the Chaldean Patriarchate and some Christian political acronyms Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - The Chaldean Patriarchate responded with an official note to the recent criticisms publicly addressed to Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako by the Chaldean National Congress, a political acronym found ...
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  4 September 2017
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - A priest in southern Nigeria kidnapped and killed Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - A Nigerian priest, Fr. Cyriacus Onunkwo, was kidnapped and killed in the state of Imo, southern Nigeria. According to the police, in the late afternoon of 1 September Fr. Onunkwo’s car was bloc ...
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  4 September 2017
  AFRICA/KENYA - Arson caused fire in a high school in Nairobi that killed 9 students Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - Nine pupils at Moi girls' boarding school in Kibera, Nairobi were killed in a fire during the night of September 2 (see Fides 2/9/2017). Today Education Minister Fred Matiang'i updated the toll ...
• 1 September 2017
  AFRICA/CAMEROON - Appointment of the Rector of "Saint Augustin" Major Seminary in Maroua Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On June 22, 2017 Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, appointed, rev. Alin Djeckabe, of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Garoua as Rector ...
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  1 September 2017
  AMERICA/MEXICO - Fourth border Bishops' Meeting: "Need to avoid the criminalization of migrants" Tapachula (Agenzia Fides) - Migration has now become a "humanitarian crisis" on the southern border of Mexico with the Central American area: is one of the conclusions drawn up by the Bishops who participated in the Fou ...
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  1 September 2017
  AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Mgr. Barreto writes to President Santos: "Social investments are needed to stop violence" Quibdo (Agenzia Fides) - Once again the Bishop of the Diocese of Quibdo, Mgr. Juan Carlos Barreto, wrote to the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, asking him to stop the violence in the area of Chocò. In his let ...
• 1 September 2017
  AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - Resignation of the Bishop of Aliwal and appointment of the apostolic Administrator Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Today Pope Francis has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Aliwal, South Africa, presented by His Exc. Mgr. Michael Wüstenberg, and appointed His Exc. Mgr. ...
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  1 September 2017
  AFRICA/KENYA - Kenya’s Supreme Court nullifies result of presidential vote. "New election must be held within 60 days" says the Supreme Court Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - Kenya’s Supreme Court has nullified the result of last month’s presidential election which according to the Independent Election Commission (IEBC), outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta had secu ...
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  1 September 2017
  ASIA/SYRIA - Member of the Sutoro Brigade killed in Qamishli. Archbishop Hindo: Russia and the US do not support Kurdish autonomist projects Hassakè (Agenzia Fides) – On Thursday August 31 a clash between militiamen in the north-east Syrian city of Qamishli caused the death of a member of Sutoro self-defense groups, often accredited by the media as "Christ ...