News

• 28 June 2004
  ASIA/CHINA - Evangelisation reaches remote villages thanks to team of women religious and catechists led by a priest Shan Xi (Fides Service) - Although far from any town the Catholic community Xin Jiang, Shan Xi province is very active. In view of mission the parish priest divided the surrounding villages into three zones for itineran ...
• 28 June 2004
  VATICAN - At the Angelus prayer the Pope recalls history-making meeting of Paul VI and Orthodox Patriarch Athenagora I of Constantinople in 1964 and urges Catholics to pray “for full unity of Christians”. Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “On 29 June we celebrate the feast of Saints Peter and Paul and for the occasion I will have the joy of welcoming once again to the Vatican His Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarc ...
• 28 June 2004
  AFRICA - More than 30 million small arms in 44 countries Sub-Saharan Africa: we are concerned experts say but “the problem can be solved” Rome (Fides Service)-According to an annual report issued by the independent organisation Small Arms Survey there at least 30 million small arms in Africa. The organisation, which studies the diffusion and impact of smal ...
• 28 June 2004
  EUROPE/SWITZERLAND - Every year 1.8 million die due lack of access to clean water, 40% of child deaths are due to diseases caused by environmental conditions. World Health Organisation issues Atlas on the health of children in the world. Rome (Fides Service) - Every year air and water pollution and other dangers in the environment kill more than three million of the world’s children under five. Industrialisation, increase in urban population, climate ...
• 26 June 2004
  ASIA/TAIWAN - National Council of the Apostolate of the Laity stresses the importance of mission cooperation Taipei (Fides Service) - Taiwan’s National Council of the Apostolate of the Laity recently held a fruitful 10th assembly in Taipei. The daylong assembly was presided by Archbishop Joseph Cheng, Archbishop of Taipei who ...
• 26 June 2004
  VATICAN - The Pope addresses European Symposium of University Docents: “The family is the future of Europe. We can say that the family is the mirror of society and therefore also of the new Europe which is being built ” Vatican City (Fides Service) - “The family is the future of Europe. We can say that the family is the mirror of society and therefore also of the new Europe which is being built. The evolution of the family is and will ...
• 26 June 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - From Congo swept once again by the winds of war the last tesimony of a Xaverian missionary Uvira (Fides Service)- “He wanted to die here among the people he served for more than 30 years” Italian Xaverian missionary, Father Luigi Lo Stocco, director of Radio Maria “Wa Amani” in Bukavu in the east of De ...
• 26 June 2004
  AFRICA - United Nations High Commission for Refugees reaffirms commitment to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS Rome (Fides Service) - With the signing of a memorandum-agreement the United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNHCR has become the tenth co-sponsor of UNAIDS, the United Nations programme to fight HIV/AIDS, in the am ...
• 26 June 2004
  EUROPE/SPAIN - “It is not a question of ‘doing’ many things, however important they may be, but rather of spreading the spirit born from Christ’s command: Go and announce the Gospel to all men and women ” Spanish Diocesan Directors of the PMS say at the conclusion of their annual meeting Madrid (Fides Service) - A path of missionary formation for children and young people, reflection on mission ad gentes in the new cultural and social situations, integration of missionary work achieved by Church Movement ...
• 26 June 2004
  OCEANIA/SOLOMON ISLANDS - Prime Minister praises Christians for contribution past and present to growth of the nation: celebrations mark 100 anniversary of arrival of first Catholic missionaries in these remote Pacific islands Honiara (Fides Service) - Gratitude to Christian missionaries who in the past and present contributed to the growth of the nation was voiced recently by Solomon Islands Prime Minister. Sir Allan Kemakeza commended the V ...
• 26 June 2004
  AMERICA/COLOMBIA - 500 years of evangelisation or 500 years of slavery? Colombian Bishops concern for project which threatens to undermine the evangelisation of indigenous peoples Rome (Fides Service - “We face the concerning phenomenon of the penetration of certain ideologies which claim to defend the indigenous peoples, but in fact manipulate them" Archbishop Iván Antonio Marín López, Arch ...
• 25 June 2004
  AFRICA/ZAMBIA - Radio Liseli new channel of hope opened by Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Lusaka (Fides Service)- A new Catholic radio station has been inaugurated in Zambia. Radio Liseli in an initiative of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. According to DIA a local news agency the radio has two obje ...
• 25 June 2004
  AMERICA/LATIN AMERICA - Every year thousands of children die due to lack of clean water and basic healthcare Rome (Fides Service) - Every year in Latin America and the Caribbean more than 36,000 children under five die of diseases caused by lack of clean water and basic health-care. Another 14,500 die because of pollution in ...
• 25 June 2004
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - “In Burundi all the warring parties are guilty of crimes against civilians” Human Rights Watch denounces Bujumbura (Fides Service)- “Everyone is pleased with the progress towards peace but they seem to forget that outside the capital for hundreds of thousands of people war continues ” Alison Des Forges, head of the Afri ...
• 25 June 2004
  ASIA/IRAQ - “Zarqawi the terrorist wants to free Iraq from foreign invaders? Well he should be the first to go, seeing he is not Iraqi and he is shedding the innocent blood of Iraqis” a priest in northern Iraq told Fides Baghdad (Fides Service)-“Who asked him to come here to “defend” our people and carry out his heinous attacks on innocent civilians?”. Father Nizar Semaan, Iraqi Catholic priest in Mosul north Iraq is dismayed by ...