News

• 27 May 2004
  ASIA/INDIA - National paper front page cartoon offends India’s Christians: Catholic Bishops protest New Delhi (Fides Service) - India’s Christians were deeply offended by a cartoon with regard to the recent elections in India published by a national newspaper. Strong protest was voiced by the country’s Catholic Bis ...
• 27 May 2004
  AFRICA/CONGO RD - Confusion reigns in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the scene of fighting for the past few days Bukavu (Fides Service)- The situation in Bukavu, in southern Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC) where there has been fighting for some days now between troops loyal to the central government in K ...
• 26 May 2004
  VATICAN - The Pope’s weekly teaching at the general audience: God is Judge, but he is also Saviour; he condemns evil and rewards fidelity and justice but above all love.. Vatican City (Fides Service) - “In this prayer we hear the pulsing hearts of the just who await in hope the coming of the Lord to render more luminous the vicissitudes of humanity often immersed in the shadows of sin, ...
• 26 May 2004
  VATICAN - Renewal in the Spirit movement welcomes call to pray with the Pope to invoke copious outpouring of the gifts of the Spirit upon the whole Church Vatican City (Fides Service) - Last Sunday during the Regina Caeli prayer Pope John Paul II invited those who will be present in Rome on Saturday May 29 to join him for Solemn celebration of Vespers on the vigil of the F ...
• 26 May 2004
  EUROPE/SPAIN - “New evangelisation will be possible only when Christians let themselves be filled by the Holy Spirit with love for Jesus to enable them to become builders of ecclesial communion, overcoming activism and willing to be a reflection of the Risen Lord at every moment of life””. Pentecost Sunday Day of Lay Catholic Apostolate Madrid (Fides Service) - On Pentecost Sunday 30 May the Church in Spain will celebrate a Day of the Apostolate of the Laity and Catholic Action with the motto "Christian laity, builders of hope". This invitation is addre ...
• 26 May 2004
  AMERICA/PERU - The Rosary, nourishment for evangelising mission. “Instead of speeches and explanations of spiritual themes people need to experience the living God and this is only possible through prayer ” says Bishop of Chosica. Lima (Fides Service) - The Rosary is “nourishment for the Church’s evangelising mission” because it its from and contents it offers the praying person to experience the presence of God, Contemplating the life, deat ...
• 26 May 2004
  AMERICA - At least 300 killed and hundreds missing in floods raging through Dominican Republic and Haiti Rome (Fides Service) - According to the community of Camillian Brothers in Haiti, at least 300 people were killed in violent floods in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, two countries which share the Caribbean island of ...
• 26 May 2004
  AFRICA/MALI - 70% of children infected by waters of Niger River and risk long term damage to vital organs. More than 250 million people in the world have Bilharziosis Rome (Fides Service) - In developing countries dirty water causes 240 times as many deaths and diseases than in developed countries. In Mali 70% of the children have Bilharziosis, a disease caused by water infested with ...
• 26 May 2004
  OCEANIA/SOLOMON ISLANDS “The media and the family - A risk and a richness ”: forum for media and pastoral operators in Solomon Islands reflects on Pope John Paul II’s message for the Church’s World Communications Day marked this year on 23 May. Honiara (Fides Service) - Pastoral and media operators gathered with priests, laity, families and religious to take part in a forum to reflect on Pope John Paul II’s message for this years Day of Social Communications ...
• 26 May 2004
  ASIA/TAIWAN - In rich societies the custom to exclude the aged must be overcome: commitment of Church in Taipei Taipei (Fides Service) - Taipei is rightly proud of its Catholic Home for the Aged opened by the Jesuit fathers. Twenty years ago Jesuits gave the home to the archdiocese handing it to the then Archbishop Matteo Kia. Tod ...
• 26 May 2004
  ASIA/CHINA - Highlight of celebrations for Marian month of May in China: Feast of “Mary Help of Christians” at Dong Lu shrine Dong Lu (Fides Service) - On May 24 feast of Our Lady help of Christians the Marian Shrine in Dong Lu, Hebei province was overflowing with pilgrims from many parts of China and overseas. As elsewhere in the world the fea ...
• 26 May 2004
  AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - The unknown plight of Great Lakes refugees in South Africa: an Italian Scalabrini missionary reports to Fides Cape Town (Fides Service) - Cape Town has at 35,000 refugees from central African countries mainly from Democratic Congo, Rwanda, Burundi. “We have no exact figures because in the case of families the police assign one ...
• 26 May 2004
  AFRICA/MALAWI - Opposition calls for repeat of 20 May elections. Protests and violence. Catholic media are threatened Lilongwe (Fides Service)- Protests and denouncement of electoral fraud continue in Malawi after Bingu wa Mutharika the leader of the party in power was declared the winner of presidential elections on May 20, (see Fides ...
• 26 May 2004
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Korean fidei donum priests will be sent on mission to the United States to care for overseas Catholics Seoul (Fides Service) - The respective Commissions for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples of the Korean Bishops’ Conference and the American Bishops’ Conference have agreed on the status and life of Kore ...
• 26 May 2004
  ASIA/INDIA - Chain suicides among farmers in Southern India ruined by poor harvests and heavy bank debts: Caritas comes to aid of stricken families Hyderabad (Fides Service) - Caritas and other Catholic humanitarian agencies are striving to help impoverished farmers in the southern Indian state of Andrha Pradesh stricken by bad harvests and who have resorted to comm ...