News

• 27 January 2005
  VATICAN - “Dear brothers and sisters, during Lent, aided by the Word of God, let us reflect upon how important it is that each community accompany with loving understanding those who grow old.” The Pope’s message for Lent 2005 focuses on the elderly: a resource to be valued in society and in the Church “It is necessary to raise the awareness in public opinion that the elderly represent, in any case, a resource to be valued. For this reason, economic support and legislative initiatives, which allow them not to be excl ...
• 26 January 2005
  ASIA/KAZAKSTAN - Sancta Maria Mater Ecclesiae Inter-diocesan major seminary instituted; Rector appointed Vatican (Fides Service) - Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, on 14 January 2005 signed a decree with regard to the institution of Sancta Maria Mater Ecclesiae Inter-d ...
• 24 January 2005
  ASIA/JAPAN - Japanese Catholics and Lutherans ever closer to full unity: Universal ‘Joint Declaration’ on Justification now in Japanese Tokyo (Fides Service) - “Toward Reconciliation and Union” was the theme of an ecumenical Service held in Tokyo aimed at consolidating dialogue and communion between the Catholic and Lutheran communities in Japan and ...
• 22 January 2005
  VATICAN - The Pope appoints new secretary adjunct of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, President of the Pontifical Mission Societies Vatican City (Fides Service) - The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, on 22 January 2005, has appointed secretary adjunct of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and President of the Pontifical Mission Societ ...
• 21 January 2005
  ASIA/JAPAN - Touching the Mass”: in the Year of the Eucharist seminar helps blind Catholics participate more fully at Mass. Tokyo (Fides Service) - “What is happening now? What is the priest doing now?” Blind Catholics found out some of the answers thanks to programme developed by a Catholic-run welfare organisation. “Touching the Mas ...
• 21 January 2005
  ASIA/CHINA - Elderly Bishop Thaddeus Guo Yingong of Datong leaves precious heritage: baptised at the age of 12 he withstood 13 years in re-education camp with faith and courage Datong (Fides Service) - Bishop Thaddeus Guo Yingong of Datong in mainland China, Shanxi province, died at the age of 88 after a long illness at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Hospital. Thaddeus Guo Yingong was born in ...
• 21 January 2005
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - Two years on from peace agreement signed in France in 2003 Ivory Coast divide ever deeper Abidjan (Fides Service)- Ever more deeply divided Ivory Coast is having trouble pushing ahead with its peace process. Two years since peace was signed in France on 24 January 2003 ending civil war started in September 20 ...
• 21 January 2005
  EUROPE/SPAIN - Inter-active internet video game helps children develop spirit of mission Madrid (Fides Service) - On the occasion of Missionary Childhood Day (in Spain 23 January) the Pontifical Mission Societies PMS in Spain are promoting an inter-active video game elaborated by the local Holy Childhood Mi ...
• 21 January 2005
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - Cholera kills five more people bringing the number of cases in the capital in the first two weeks of January to 105 Rome (Fides Service) - Battered by eleven years of civil war in which at least 300,000 people died, Burundi now has to fight an outbreak of cholera. In the capital Bujumbura 105 cases, of which 5 mortal, were registered ...
• 21 January 2005
  AMERICA/MEXICO - “HIV/AIDS is not a punishment from God as some erroneously affirm: “it is a call to work together to spread correct information about the virus and eliminate discrimination against HIV-AIDS patients” : Catholic Bishops of Mexico issue press statement Mexico City (Fides Service) - Besides being an illness AIDS is a social disease with moral, economic, juridical and organisational repercussions on the family, social and national level which affects every country in the ...
• 21 January 2005
  OCEANIA/AUSTRALIA - Year of the Eucharist: Australian Bishops focus on Sunday Mass Sydney (Fides Service) - The Australian Catholic Bishops yesterday issued a program for the celebration of the Year of the Eucharist, focusing on the importance of celebrating Sunday Mass. In a media release issued yeste ...
• 21 January 2005
  AFRICA - Number of cases of polio in 2004 three times higher than previous year. African ministers insist on the need to eradicate the disease which affected 1,037 African children last year Rome (Fides Service) - In 2004 there were three times as many cases of polio as the previous year:1.185 compared to 784 in 2003, most of them Africa, especially in Nigeria one of six countries where polio considered ende ...
• 21 January 2005
  AFRICA/ANGOLA - “Elections? Perhaps in 2006”. Angola’s arduous journey to democracy Luanda (Fides Service)- “There is no date, but Angola should hold its first elections in peacetime in 2006” a local church source in the Angolan capital Luanda which still bears the signs of 25 years of civil war w ...
• 20 January 2005
  OCEANIA/NEW ZEALAND - Responding to new challenges in New Zealand: first ever national meeting for men and women religious Wellington (Fides Service) - The first ever National Meeting for Religious in new Zealand opens today 20 January in Kilbirnie, Wellington bringing together members of 43 different religious congregations present in the P ...
• 20 January 2005
  ASIA/TURKEY - Dialogue and service: a year since the Franciscan Fraternity opened in Istanbul Istanbul (Fides Service) - “A year of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and service”, the members of the Franciscan Fraternity in Istanbul told Fides a year after the official opening of the Fraternity a Istanbu ...