News

• 2 March 2004
  ASIA/KOREA - Commission for the Abolition of the Death Penalty will increase its efforts Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - The Commission for the Abolition of Capital Punishment set up by the Catholic Bishops of Korea will strengthen and extend its activity co-operating with other organisations as well as increasing p ...
• 2 March 2004
  AMERICA/VENEZUELA - Family of lay Franciscans on mission to help alcoholics and to evangelise among Venezuelan youth Caracas (Agenzia Fides) - A family on mission: this is the experience of Marco and Ilaria Petri, a married couple both lay Franciscans from Prato, Italy, who set out two months ago for mission in Venezuela, sent by the S ...
• 2 March 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - Loreto 1-5 September 2004, Catholic Action National Meeting. The Pope will beatify Alberto Marvelli, lay member of AC Rome (Fides Service) - Recently Pop e John Paul II granted a special audience to Paola Bignardi, national president of Catholic Action in Italy and Mons. Francesco Lambiasi, ecclesiastical Assistant General to ACI. The P ...
• 2 March 2004
  VATICAN - In 2003 the Portal of the Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital registered more than one million visitors. Recently a European Union survey put the Portal www.ospedalebambinogesu.it among the ten best sites for user friendliness and innovative services quality Vatican City (Fides Services) - The Portal of Rome’s Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital www.ospedalebambinogesu.it has been included among the 10 first web sites for quality of public services in a recent report “Top ...
• 1 March 2004
  VATICAN - At the Angelus prayer the Pope says “Lent calls us to make a special effort on our spiritual journey” urging those present to make Lent “a generous competition in showing solidarity” with children especially those in most danger and difficulty Vatican City (Fides Service) - On the first Sunday of Lent, 29 February, from his study window overlooking St Peter’s Square, Pope John Paul II prayed the customary Angelus prayer with visitors gathered for the occasi ...
• 1 March 2004
  EUROPE/SWITZERLAND - “We must take care of the brothers and sisters in the faith living in the land of Jesus Christ where Christianity was born” say Bishops of Switzerland calling Swiss Catholic to be generous in giving to the Holy Week collection which this year will go to help Christians in the Holy Land Friburg (Fides Service) - In a Pastoral Letter for Lent the Bishops of Switzerland called on the Swiss Catholic to be generous in giving to the Holy Week collection which this year will go to help Christians in the Holy ...
• 1 March 2004
  AMERICA/NICARAGUA - “Conversion of heart and caring for little ones with love” is the Lenten message from the Bishops Nicaragua. Sunday 14 March collection for abandoned children Managua (Fides Service) - “We are deeply concerned to see children faint with hunger and severely undernourished; children wandering in the streets, victims of drugs and abuse by evil adults”, this is part of a Lente ...
• 1 March 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - “Train doctors and nurses in health-care as well as sociological and cultural subjects” this is the aim of a Masters in Medical Care for Migrants and Refugees, Homeless people and Poor people Rome (Fides Service) - More than one billion people in the world do not receive proper medical treatment. To try to improve the situation and call public opinion’s attention to the fact, the School of Solidarity of the ...
• 1 March 2004
  VATICAN - Papal Message for 19th World Youth Day: “If we want to see Jesus we must let ourselves be seen by him! Dear young people, let Jesus look into your eyes so that you have will have an ever greater longing to see the Light to savour the splendour of Truth.” Vatican City (Fides Service) - “The year 2004 is the final lap before the important appointment of the 20th World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005. I therefore ask you to intensify your spiritual preparation by studying th ...
• 1 March 2004
  AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU - Bishops of Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Cape Verde and Mauritania devote Lenten reflection to children in need Bissau (Fides Service) -“Childhood on our Path of Conversion”, is the title of a Message for Lent issued by the Catholic Bishops of Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Cape Verde and Mauritania. The Bishops trace the profile of ...
• 1 March 2004
  AMERICA/HAITI - Situation still unsettled in Haiti after departure of President Aristide. Local eyewitness reports Port au Prince (Fides Service)- “Growing rumours began to circulate around midnight between Saturday and Sunday” Carlo Maria Zorzi representative of AVSI (Associazione di Volontariato per lo Sviluppo Internazionale) ...
• 1 March 2004
  AFRICA/REPUBLIC OF CONGO - Bishop of Kinkala in south east Congo makes pastoral visit to villagers still suffering effects of war 1998-2003: “Forgiveness is the only path to the Resurrection ” Brazzaville (Fides Service)- Everywhere he went on his 12 day pastoral visit 6-17 February to the district of Mondouli some 75 km south-east of Kinkala in the south west of the region of Pool, Bishop Louis Portella-Mbuyu ...
• 1 March 2004
  ASIA/JAPAN - Bird Flu spreads: confirmed a new area of infection Rome (Fides Service) - Japan had not been affected by bird flu since 1925, but now the situation is serious. The virus was detected in birds at a butcher business in Kyoto. The birds came from a local breeding centre whe ...
• 1 March 2004
  100 anniversary of the birth of Karl Rahner: Pontifical Lateran University organises Study meeting for a critical reading of Rahner’s theology Vatican City (Fides Service) - To mark the 100 anniversary of the birth of Karl Rahner, the Pontifical Lateran University has organised for 4 and 5 March a Study Meeting to give a critical reading of Rahner’s theolo ...
• 28 February 2004
  LENT 2004 - STREET CHILDREN - MENINOS: THE STREET IS THEIR HOME - EUROPE/SPAIN - AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - ASIA/PHILIPPINES - ASIA/MONGOLIA - AMERICA/PERU Vatican City (Fides Service) - Inspired by Pope John Paul II’s message for Lent 2004, entitled “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me” (Mt 18,5) in which the Pope voices concern for the plight of s ...