News

• 22 December 2004
  AMERICA/ECUADOR - Summer time Christmas, widespread devotion to the Baby Jesus and solidarity with the poor Quito (Fides Service) - Snow and ice would seem to be essential elements at Christmas. But not everywhere. In Ecuador people go to midnight Mass in the heat of the Summer night. People here love coloured lights, music, f ...
• 22 December 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO- UN peacekeepers prevent third war in Congo. Missionaries wish tormented country a Christmas of peace Bukavu ( Fides Service)- “At last the UN mission MONUC has acted and prevented what everyone feared would be a third war in Congo” a local source in Bukavu, main town of south Kivu eastern Democratic Congo, told Fide ...
• 22 December 2004
  AMERICA/MEXICO - Mexicans revive “Las Posadas” tradition commemorating the journey Mary and Joseph made to Bethlehem and their unsuccessful search for a room at the Inn Mexico City (Fides Service) - Mexico is rich in Christmas traditions, including “las Posadas” (the Inns) which dates to the 16th century and commemorates the journey Mary and Joseph made to Bethlehem and their unsuc ...
• 22 December 2004
  AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - After lengthy counting of votes FRELIMO is declared the winner. Jimmy Carter and other international observers denounce irregularities. The new President confirms policy for national peace Maputo (Fides Service) - Armando Guebuza member of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) party in power for 20 years, won presidential elections with almost 64% of the votes. The result was announced yeste ...
• 22 December 2004
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Poverty, unemployment, natural disasters: trouble seems never ending for the Philippines: in his Christmas Message the Archbishop of Manila recalls Christian hope Manila (Fides Service) - “Christmas is always our recalling of God’s love for us expressed in his son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. But its celebration is influenced yearly by prevailing spiritual, economic, so ...
• 21 December 2004
  VATICAN - The Pope exchanges Christmas greetings with the Curia: “Let us be ever more aware that communion with God and unity among men, beginning with believers, is our priority commitment” Vatican City (Fides Service) - “Thank you for your presence and for the affection with which you surround my person. As the years pass the need for the help of God and of others makes itself ever more keenly felt. Than ...
• 21 December 2004
  ASIA/TAGIKISTAN - “Exterior signs of Christmas are still visible here as in other regions but perhaps precisely because of restrictions under the dictatorship, the spirit of Christmas has deepened”: Superior of the Catholic Missio Sui Iuris of Tagikistan reports on local Christmas traditions Dushanbe (Fides Service) - “The season of Advent in preparation for Christmas in the Catholic community Tagikistan has retained all its special significance which sad to say I never saw in my years of ministry in the ...
• 21 December 2004
  ASIA/HOLY LAND - Christmas : promise of life, joy and peace for the people of Israel and Palestine . Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem issues Christmas Message Jerusalem (Fides Service) - Security, wellbeing, happiness for the people of Israel and Palestine can be founded only on peace: this is the sense of a Christmas Message issued by Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michael Sabb ...
• 21 December 2004
  AMERICA/PERU - “This Christmas let us live solidarity and sow hope in our country” : Christmas wish of the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference Lima (Fides Service) - Bishop Hugo Garaycoa Hawkins of Tacna and Moquegua, President of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference, together with Bishop Juan José Larrañeta Olleta, OP, Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Pu ...
• 21 December 2004
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - attack on church isolated episode: Catholic community hopes for a peaceful Christmas free of tension social or religious Colombo (Fides Service) - The recent destruction of St Michael’s Catholic church in the archdiocese of Colombo was an isolated episode which raised concern among the local Catholics although would not seem to be a fore ...
• 21 December 2004
  ASIA/TURKEY - Nativity Scene popular with Muslim children too: on Christmas Day, a working day, young and old flock to the Catholic church in Antioch to see the Babe in the Manger Antioch (Fides Service) - “Christmas is at the door. In Antioch, southern Turkey it comes in silence, without decorations on streets or in shop windows, without the rush of last minute of shopping for presents, but wit ...
• 21 December 2004
  AFRICA/SUDAN - Darfur: break down in negotiations. Caritas Internationalis worker sends dramatic testimony on life in refugee camps in this region: “situation is “schizophrenic”:” Khartoum (Fides Service)- There has been another break down in negotiations for peace in Darfur: the last session is today 21 December in Abuja, capital of Nigeria. African Union mediator, Nigerian President Olesegun Oba ...
• 20 December 2004
  VATICAN - The Pope’s reflection at the Angelus prayer: “May Mary help us to live Christmas as an opportunity to savour the joy of giving ourselves to others, the needy in particular” Vatican City (Fides Service) - “The festivity of Christmas, perhaps the most loved by popular tradition, is rich in symbols connected with different cultures. The most important is certainly the Nativity Scene as I sai ...
• 20 December 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - A journalist “investigates” the birth of Jesus: who was that Child in the manger? Rome (Fides Service) - “Inchiesta su Gesù Bambino” (Investigation on the Child Jesus) is the title of a book in Italian by Andrea Tornielli on sale since 16 December. The first edition sold out in two days and a sec ...
• 20 December 2004
  AFRICA/CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - The Pope creates new Diocese of Alindao and appoints first Bishop Vatican City (Fides Service) -The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, on 18 December 2004, created the diocese of Alindao (Central African Republic), with territory taken from the diocese of Bangassou, making it suffragan o ...