News

• 27 March 2004
  DOSSIER AMERICA/COLOMBIA - “Children involved in armed combat, are not only subject to maltreatment and abuse they are also targets for assassins”: National Pontifical Mission Societies Director in Colombia told Fides. Bogota (Fides Service) - “In the first two months of this year, according to General Ospina, army chief commander, 44 children were killed in combat: 19 belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), 5 ...
• 27 March 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC R. CONGO - Rev. Marcel Madila appointed auxiliary Bishop of Kananga Vatican City (Fides Service) - The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has, 27 February 2004, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Kananga (Democratic Republic of Congo) Rev. Marcel Madila, Rector of the John Paul ...
• 26 March 2004
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - Ivory Coast is ever more divided after clashes with police and demonstrators yesterday in which 25 people were killed and many injured. The saddest thing is that no one thinks of the good of the nation Abidjan (Fides Service)- At least 25 people were killed and many more injured during clashes between the police and demonstrators yesterday 25 March in Abidjan, economic capital of Ivory Coast where a planned Opposition ...
• 26 March 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - “Children helping Children… across all five Continents”: a CD-ROM to fund 5 solidarity projects with the Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood. Rome (Fides Service) - “Children Helping Children”, the motto of the Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood, is the title of a CD-ROM with the song ‘Eccomi, manda me!’, performed by the ‘Le Matite Colorate� ...
• 26 March 2004
  AMERICA/ECUADOR - 101 child workers rescued from heavy labour at refuse dumps: Santo Domingo de los Colorados city council committed to eliminate child labour Quito (Fides Service) - It is estimated that between 500 and 1000 children in Ecuador, aged 5 to 7, are employed in collecting and handling refuse. In its Convention number 182 the International Labour Organisation lists ...
• 26 March 2004
  EUROPE/KOSOVO - “Could it be that to create more violence someone is trying to turn ethnic clashes into religious conflict?” preoccupied people in Kosovo are asking after destruction of Serb Orthodox churches Pristina (Fides Service)- There is growing concern in Kosovo after recent clashes between Serbs and Albanians during which Albanians destroyed several Serb Orthodox churches. According to local sources “the violence ca ...
• 26 March 2004
  ASIA/INDIA - Catholics in Aizawl celebrate centenary of the first local baptism and community: it was the Salvatorian Fathers who first planted the seed of the Gospel among these peoples Shillong (Fides Service) - Exactly one hundred years ago a small group of missionaries went to a remote area of Assam state in north east India to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with the local people. “It was the ...
• 26 March 2004
  ASIA/HOLY LAND - A Catholic seminarian in Jerusalem describes daily life in the Holy Land Jerusalem (Fides Service) - A Polish seminarian studying in Jerusalem tells Fides about life in the Holy Land: “We are sort of semi-clandestine and often have to stay inside the seminary to avoid being arrested and rep ...
• 26 March 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - Four hundred thousand people in flight in northern Uganda: “Africa Mission - Cooperation and Development” provides emergency humanitarian aid. Rome (Fides Service) - With each passing day, the tragedy of civilians in northern Uganda assumes ever more serious dimensions. The central government in Kampala would appear to be unable to counter effectively the inten ...
• 25 March 2004
  AFRICA/ BURKINA FASO - “Religious and the terminally ill ”: a reflection by a Camillian Religious who accompanies terminally ill AIDS patients to their last breath Rome (Fides Service) - AIDS is a sad and painful reality all over the world with different implications according to the geographical setting, Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and in Africa according to country and pe ...
• 25 March 2004
  AMERICA/COLOMBIA - National Day of the Unborn Child: “Love, the Cradle of Life ”. Bogota (Fides Service) - On the feast of the Annunciation, the liturgical commemoration of the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Church in Colombia celebrated a National Day for the Unborn Child. The objective of the Da ...
• 25 March 2004
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - At least 11 people killed Opposition demonstration interrupted: crucial hour for Ivory Coast Abidjan (Fides Service)- “The city is holding its breath, all strategic points are heavily manned ” local Church sources in Abidjan told Fides. Today, March 25, Ivory Coast Opposition parties had staged a demonstrati ...
• 25 March 2004
  AMERICA/PERU - “Protect life at every stage, combat any danger which threatens the life of the unborn child”: Peruvian Bishops’ Family Commission issues message for ‘Day for the Unborn Child’ Lima (Fides Service) - “Catholics must be aware of their duty to protect life at every stage and to combat any danger which threatens the life of the unborn child”. This affirmation was made by the Bishops of Peru in ...
• 25 March 2004
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - Bishops concerned about tension, call for cancellation of Opposition demonstration scheduled for today March 25 Abidjan (Fides Service)- “It is very sad to see that most of the words about peace are anything but peaceful!”. This was affirmed by the Catholic Bishops of Ivory Coast with regard to the climate of tension in the co ...
• 25 March 2004
  VATICAN - “Witnesses and martyrs inspire us to pray, encourage us in the apostolate, confirm us in the faith: the story of heroic witnesses of faith and martyrdom in the Eastern Catholic Churches in the 20th century Vatican City (Fides Service) - “Knowledge of history is fundamental for identity. Some Eastern Catholic Churches were so harshly persecuted that they lost personnel, property, memory and the faithful had to go to the o ...