News

• 13 June 2005
  EUROPE/SPAIN - Bishops of Spain support 18 June pro-family demonstration: Spain faces a matter of the utmost moral and social importance to which citizens must respond with clarity and decision Madrid (Fides Service) - The Spanish Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CEE) has given full support to the demonstration organised by the Spanish Family Forum (FEF) June 18, to protest against the proposed amendment to the ...
• 13 June 2005
  EUROPE/ITALY - Overseas Catholics in Italy unite to support Italian believers: “With their abstention Italian Catholics protected life and remained faithful to Church teaching” Rome (Fides Service) - The Italian Catholic world demonstrated great unity in the referendum battle. And the results show that Catholics are united with regard to fundamental values starting with the supreme value of lif ...
• 13 June 2005
  AFRICA - “The G8 decision to cancel debts of the poorest countries is excellent news”: Fides hears from the voice of the Church in Africa Rome (Fides Service)- Local Catholics and missionaries in Africa expressed satisfaction tempered with prudence as to the application of debt reduction after a decision by the G8 to cancel the debts of 18 countries in Afr ...
• 13 June 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - UN High Commission for Refugees organises repatriation of Angolan refugees from Democratic Congo Kinshasa (Fides Service)- As part of its voluntary-repatriation programme for Angolan refugees in the next two weeks the United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNHCR is planning an airlift to help 303 Angolans retur ...
• 11 June 2005
  VATICAN - Benedict XVI addresses Bishops of South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho: “Catholics in your region constitute a minority. This presents many challenges which require dedication on the part of the Church to tend the flock effectively and, at the same time, remain faithful to her missionary commitment” Vatican City (Fides Service) - “Catholics in your region constitute a minority. This presents many challenges which require dedication on the part of the Church to tend the flock effectively and, at the same time, rema ...
• 11 June 2005
  AFRICA/LESOTHO - “The Catholic Church is the country’s first institution for education” Bishops from Lesotho on ad limina visit to Rome told Fides Rome (Fides Service)- “Catholic schools are the most numerous” a group of Catholic Bishops from Lesotho told Fides in an interview on June 10 in the Vatican. Bishop Bitsoane Evaristus Thatho Bitsoane of Qacha’s Nek ...
• 11 June 2005
  AFRICA/LESOTHO - Info: Rome (Fides Service) - Lesotho is a constitutional parliamentary monarchy styled after the British system. It has an area of 30,355 sq. km and a population of 2,100,000: 32.50% Catholic; 35% Anglican and Lutheran; 29.77% ...
• 11 June 2005
  EUROPE/GERMANY - World Youth Day will emphasise ecumenism Cologne (Fides Service) - The 20th World Youth Day organised by the Catholic Church to be held in Cologne Germany 11 - 21 August will have a strong ecumenical dimension and include various ecumenical activities. On 17 Au ...
• 11 June 2005
  AMERICA/BRAZIL - “The tendency to equal homosexual unions with the natural family is a sign of a serious crisis in civilisation. Society must resist this pressure and guarantee special protection for the family based on the union of a man and a woman” Secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Brazil told Fides Brasilia (Fides Service) - “In Brazil militant groups well articulated and well financed are exercising strong pressure to approve laws to legalise abortion, same sex unions, elimination of the abnormal foetus. One ha ...
• 10 June 2005
  AFRICA/NAMIBIA - “The local Church contributes towards national development in Namibia, oasis of stability in southern Africa” Catholic Bishops tell Fides Rome (Fides Service)- “Namibia is an example of stability for the whole of Africa” a group of Namibian Catholic Bishops told Fides yesterday in an interview in the Vatican. Archbishop Liborius Ndumbukuti Nashenda of ...
• 10 June 2005
  VATICAN - Benedict XVI receives delegation of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations: “The spiritual patrimony treasured by Christian and Jews is itself the source of the wisdom and inspiration capable of guiding us toward a future of hope Vatican City (Fides Service) - “In the years following the Council, my predecessors Pope Paul VI and, in a particular way, Pope John Paul II, took significant steps towards improving relations with the Jewish people. I ...
• 10 June 2005
  VATICAN - Cause for beatification and canonisation of Pope John Paul II to open on June 28 in Rome’s Cathedral St John in the Lateran Vatican City (Fides Service) - The cause for the beatification and canonisation of Pope John Paul II will officially open in the cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of St John in the Lateran on Tuesday 28 June. The news was ...
• 9 June 2005
  VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI delivers important address on the Family to open Rome’s diocesan Ecclesial Congress (part III) “We must not only strive to overcome relativism in our work of forming people, we are also called to counter its destructive predominance in society and culture.” Rome (Fides Service) - We give the third and last part of Pope Benedict XVI’s important address on the Family delivered in St John’s Basilica Cathedral on 6 June to open Rome’s diocesan Ecclesial Congress on the su ...
• 8 June 2005
  VATICAN - At his general audience the Pope teaches on Psalm 110: “Prayer is contemplation of the mystery of God and the marvels he works in the history of salvation” Vatican City (Fides Service) - In Psalm 110, a hymn of praise and thanksgiving we find many words that “describe God and his attributes and his work of salvation … prayer is therefore contemplation of the mystery of ...
• 8 June 2005
  ASIA/HOLY LAND - New magazine for Palestine’s Christian youth “to instil hope and help them say no to hatred and war” Bethlehem (Fides Service) - Juthouruna (Our Roots) is the name of a new magazine mainly for Christian youth presented yesterday 7 June in Bethlehem at the local Catholic Action Hall. “At last we have our first issue, a ...