News

• 10 May 2005
  ASIA/JAPAN - Catholics grow in numbers in the land of the Rising Sun. Catholic immigration is resource for evangelisation Tokyo (Fides Service) - For the first time the number of Catholics in Japan has reached and overtaken the one million mark. According to information in a handbook issued by the Migrant Commission of the Japanese Bishops� ...
• 10 May 2005
  ASIA/INDIA - International campaign to protect rights of Dalit people against all forms of discrimination and violence Madurai (Fides Service) - A day of prayer and fasting has been announced for next week to launch an international campaign to promote respect for the human rights of 20 million Dalit Christians. Hindu and Muslim and Sikh ...
• 10 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Ecclesia in Africa ten years on: 6 dioceses in South and North Kivu look at the situation of evangelisation in east Congo Bukavu (Fides Service)- “A day to note in the records of the local Church in Kivu” said Rev. Jean Baptiste Ruhangamugabu, Secretary of the Kivu Provincial Assembly of Catholic Bishops (APEKI) with regard to a meeting ...
• 10 May 2005
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - Agreement over appointment of Internal minister and disarmament of civilians: peace in Burundi makes progress Bujumbura (Fides Service)- “We must be patient, the path is long but there have been positive developments, over the past few days, most promising for the peace process” a local Church source in Burundi told Fides wi ...
• 9 May 2005
  VATICAN - During his midday Regina Cæli on Sunday 8 May, Communications Day the Pope says: “each one must play his part to guarantee in every form of communication, objectivity, respect for human dignity and concern for the common good” Vatican City (Fides Service) - From his study window overlooking St Peter’s Square on Sunday 8 May, Pope Benedict XVI recalled that it since it was the feast of the Ascension (in Italy) and elsewhere the Sunday neares ...
• 9 May 2005
  AMERICA/BRAZIL - New homes for street children and girl-mothers in Borba Prelature in the Amazon region of Brazil thanks to “Padre Pio missionary in the world” programme Rome (Fides Service) - Bishop Josè Alfonso Ribeiro of the apostolic prelature of Borba, in the heart of the Amazon forest, in Rome to pray at the tomb of Pope John Paul II, shared with Fides the exciting news of a new m ...
• 9 May 2005
  VATICAN - Benedict XVI is installed in the Chair of the Bishop of Rome: “"The bishop of Rome sits in his cathedra to bear witness to Christ. Thus the cathedra is the symbol of the 'potestas docendi,' that authority to teach which is an essential part of the mandate to bind and to loosen conferred by the Lord on Peter” Vatican City (Fides Service) - In the early evening of Saturday 7 May the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI presided the celebration of the Eucharist for his installation in the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of St John in ...
• 9 May 2005
  VATICAN - Benedict XVI receives first ad limina visit: addressing the Bishops of Sri Lanka he stressed the need to fight child abuse and guarantee the rights of children “so often simply forgotten or shamelessly exploited as soldiers, labourers, or innocent victims in the trafficking of human beings.” Vatican City (Fides Service) - On Saturday 7 May in the morning in his private library Pope Benedict XVI received the Catholic Bishops of Sri Lanka on their ad limina visit, the first to take place since his election, as ...
• 9 May 2005
  EUROPE/FRANCE - PMS Assembly - The Saintly Cure d’Ars and Pauline Jaricot: two models for Mission Lyon (Fides Service) - On Sunday 8 May the participants at the general annual assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies, taking place in Lyon, made a pilgrimage to Ars, not far from Lyon, where Saint Jean Marie Vianne ...
• 9 May 2005
  ASIA/INDONESIA - In Aceh severely affected by the December tsunami International Organisation for Migration opens first clinic Aceh (Fides Service) - A small seed of hope has been planted in Aceh, still suffering the consequences of the tsunami last December. The International Organisation for Migration has opened a small clinic here, the first ...
• 9 May 2005
  OCEANIA/SOLOMON ISLANDS - School Games 2005: authentic sport key factor for education to values and integral development of the person Honiara (Fides) - Sport is a valuable means of educating young people to values and can also be a carrier of the Christian message, the Catholic Bishops of Solomon Island said at the School Games 2005 organised by the Do ...
• 9 May 2005
  AMERICA/GUATEMALA - “Encourage in all Christian communities commitment to proclaiming and spreading the Good News of the Gospel at every latitude of the globe”: Pope Benedict XVI tells participants at National Mission Congress Quetzaltenango (Fides Service) - On the occasion of the 2nd National Mission Congress in Guatemala held in Quetzaltenango 6 -8 May, Pope Benedict XVI sent a message to the thousands who took part expressing his affection ...
• 9 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Church in Congo mourns Fr. René de Haes killed in a robbery Kinshasa (Fides Service)- “Lord forgive them for they know not what they do” said the Jesuit provincial Fr. Bafuidinsoni Maloko-Mana when he heard the news that his Belgian confrere Fr. René de Haes SJ had been kil ...
• 9 May 2005
  AFRICA/CÔTE D' IVOIRE - On the one hand there are the interests of extortionists, on the other “no programme” for real development. Peace has stalled” a local mission told Fides Abidjan (Fides Service)- “Hope is last to die but it is sorely tried” a missionary told Fides commenting the failed agreement over the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Rehabilitation process in the country. After 5 ...
• 9 May 2005
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - “Benedict XVI is a man of humility who knows how to listen and he is a very holy man” said Archbishop of Kandy who addressed the Pope on behalf of the Bishops of Sri Lanka Vatican City (Fides Service) - “It was a most touching encounter, not in the least formal. What struck us most about Pope Benedict XVI was his simplicity and his readiness to listen” Archbishop Vianney Fernando of Ka ...