News

• 4 March 2005
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Bishops’ Commission for Communications promotes plan to increase awareness among the faith in this Year of the Eucharist Seoul (Fides Service) - During a recent meeting to discuss activities in 2005 the Commission for Social Communications of the Korean Catholic Bishops Conference, presided by Bishop Paul Choi Duk-ki of Suwon, agreed to gi ...
• 4 March 2005
  AMERICA/ DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Catholic street children, many of them in poor health, share the Pope’s suffering and pray for him every day Santo Domingo (Fides Service) - "Since the Holy Father was admitted to hospital, former street children benefiting from a youth pastoral programme "Yo también” in the archdiocese of Santo Domingo, have prayed for him ...
• 4 March 2005
  EUROPE/SPAIN - “Since the Pope was admitted to hospital a second time, prisoners themselves have been intensifying prayers for his recover ” prison chaplain in Valencia tells Fides Valencia (Fides Service) - "With the prisoners we prayed for the Pope the first time he was admitted the Gemelli hospital in early February with symptoms of influenza. When they heard he had gone back to hospital a secon ...
• 4 March 2005
  EUROPE/RUSSIAN FEDERATION - Worshippers in Moscow’s Catholic cathedral shed tears as they pray for the Pope. Also at times like this the Pope shows the strength of his faith and sends us a message: "Be strong in your faith", Catholic Archbishop Kondrusiewicz tells Fides. Moscow (Fides Service) - “The faithful gathered for Sunday Mass at the Mother of God Cathedral on Sunday prayed for the health of the Pope with deep emotion. Many tears were shed and in the end I had to interrupt my ho ...
• 4 March 2005
  ASIA/IRAN - Iranian president Mohammad Khatami sends the Pope “best wishes” Teheran (Fides Service) - Public opinion in Iran is showing great interest with regard to the health of Pope John Paul II. From Teheran president Mohammad Khatami sent the Pope “best wishes” speedy recovery and local ...
• 4 March 2005
  ASIA/SYRIA - Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims united in concern and prayers for the Pope Damascus (Fides Service) - In Syria, where the Pope’s landmark visit to the Great Mosque in Damascus (6 May 2001) is still a vivid memory, Orthodox Christians and Muslims are united with Catholics in concern and prayer ...
• 4 March 2005
  ASIA/HOLY LAND - Pope’s illness prompts special prayers and gestures of inter-religious friendship: he is truly a great Pontiff, a great ‘bridge-builder’ says Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land Jerusalem (Fides Service) -Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Holy Land send messages of affection and concern and assure their prayers for Pope John Paul II, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM superior of the Francisc ...
• 4 March 2005
  ASIA/CHINA - Overseas Chinese communities share news of improvement of Pope’s health; official Church reports news about the Pope, Chinese Catholics all over the world pray for the Holy Father Rome (Fides Service) - The Pope’s suffering unites all Catholics in China, those of the official Church and those of the underground Church. The bulletin of the Official Church is giving regular reports on the Pope� ...
• 4 March 2005
  AMERICA/PERU - Quechuas in Peru : “We want the Holy Father to know at this time of suffering that he has the support of our humble prayers offered for his recovery” Lima (Fides Service) - Quechua speaking Catholics in Lima as individuals and as a community are praying intensely for the Pope since they first heard that he had been admitted to hospital Fr. Juan Serpa parish priest at ...
• 4 March 2005
  AFRICA/RWANDA - “Community prayer is an important means to promote reconciliation in Rwanda” says Pallottine Father Filipeck Rome (Fides Service)- “I have been in Rwanda since 1980 and was here at the tragic time of the genocide. The mission where I was working was attacked and it is a miracle that I was not killed” Pallottine Father Stani ...
• 4 March 2005
  EUROPE/ITALY - Inmates in Rome’s Regina Caeli prison pray for the Pope and in a letter to the Pontiff in hospital they “express their love for a man who opened their eyes to a horizon of light, hope, love, freedom and salvation in Jesus Christ” inspector general of Italian prison chaplains tells Fides Rome (Fides Service) - Mgr. Giorgio Caniato, inspector general of Prison Chaplains in Italy told Fides that “the prisoners are very fond of the Holy Father and they are very sorry that he is in hospital”. They pray f ...
• 3 March 2005
  VATICAN - “It is urgent that in parish communities and church associations and movements adequate formation be guaranteed so that the liturgy and the richness of its language may be better known and lived to the full” the Pope says in a message to the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Vatican City (Fides Service) - From the Gemelli hospital Pope John Paul sent a message to African born Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, on the ...
• 3 March 2005
  AMERICA/NICARAGUA - Epidemic of dysentery in Nicaragua continues to spread: 33,655 cases in eight weeks Rome (Fides Service) - The Ecuadorian health ministry declared a “local health emergency” following a vertiginous 100 per cent rise in cases of dysentery. The epidemic is affecting the whole of central America in ge ...
• 3 March 2005
  EUROPE/ALBANIA - Disabled people and terminally ill patients at Missionaries of Charity Home in Tirana pray for Pope John Paul II Tirana (Fides Service) - The terminally ill, the suffering, the elderly at the Home for the Poor run by Missionaries of Charity in Tirana in Albania understand the Pope’s present situation in hospital and they are pra ...
• 3 March 2005
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - Orphans and abandoned children pray daily Rosary in spiritual communion with the Pope Colombo (Fides Service) - Young inmates at Nochchiyagam Home and Training Centre a home for children in need in the diocese of Anhuradhapura, run by the Salesian Fathers are offering their daily rosary for the Pope: a m ...