News

• 20 January 2004
  ASIA/MACAO - YOUNG PEOPLE LEAD WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY: “STRIVING TO LIVE AS TRUE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD TODAY ” Macao (Fides Service) – Christians in Macao started the Week of Prayer for the Unity of Christians with an inter-confessional meeting. Organised by the local Catholic and Anglican Churches, the meeting was held on Sund ...
• 20 January 2004
  ASIA/TAIWAN – “LUNAR NEW YEAR IN CHINA WILL BE DEDICATED TO EVANGELISATION” SAYS CARDINAL PAUL SHAN. CHURCH IN CHINA THANKS THE POPE FOR HIS SUNDAY HAPPY NEW YEAR MESSAGE Kaohsiung (Fides Service) – “The Church in Taiwan will be dedicating the new year to new evangelisation ”, Cardinal Paul Shan Kuo-hsi, Bishop of Kaohsiung told Fides Service. “Parishes have been asked to draft a ...
• 20 January 2004
  AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - SLOWLY CALM RETURNS TO GAMBELLA AFTER FIERCE ETHNIC CLASHES. CONCERN FOR 16,000 PEOPLE IN FLIGHT TOWARDS SUDAN Gambella (Fides Service)- “The situation is slowly returning to normal” said Reverend Angelo Moreschi Prefect of the Apostolic Prefecture of Gambella in Ethiopia. Gambella is situated about 800 km west of the capital ...
• 20 January 2004
  AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU – POLITICAL PRIORITIES COMMON GOOD AND DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON FOR PORTUGUESE SPEAKING BISHOPS Bissau (Fides Service )- “The common good must be given first place by political parties”. This was the sense of an intervention by Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, Tomaz da Silva Nunes, at a Conference “Ethics and Poli ...
• 20 January 2004
  ASIA/INDIA APPARENT CALM RETURNS TO JHABUA, BUT THE BISHOP IS CONCERNED; HINDU FUNDAMENTALISTS CONTINUE DEFAMATION CAMPAIGN AGAINST CATHOLICS: BEATEN PRIEST SERIOUSLY INJURED Jhabua (Fides Service) – After days of tension and violence the situation appears to have returned to normal in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh state on the border with Gujarat. In the past few days Jhabua has been the scene of ...
• 20 January 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - SUNDAY 25 JANUARY: 51ST WORLD DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH LEPERS. THURSDAY 22 FIDES DOSSIER WITH INFORMATION AND TESTIMONY Rome (Fides Service ) – Sunday 25th January is the 51st World Day of Solidarity with Lepers, an initiative started in 1954 by Raoul Follereau, who was determined to eliminate not only leprosy but all forms of exclusion ...
• 20 January 2004
  ASIA/CHINA - GLOBAL FESTIVITIES FOR LUNAR NEW YEAR IN CHINA AND OVERSEAS Beijing (Fides Service) – January 22 marks the beginning of festivities for Lunar New Year this year, which for Chinese speaking people the world over has become a globalised event. Chun Jie or the Spring Festival, is ...
• 20 January 2004
  ASIA/CHINA - TRADITIONS AND SYMBOLS IN CHINA FOR LUNAR NEW YEAR: SPRING CLEANED HOMES, PAID BILLS, RED DECORATIONS AT THE WINDOW WELCOME GOOD FORTUNE AND PROSPERITY Beijing (Fides Service) – For the Chinese, Lunar New Year of Spring festival is the most important holiday of the year. The new year is calculated according to the moon, hence its name Lunar. It is a sign that Winter ...
• 19 January 2004
  VATICAN - THE POPE SAYS AT ANGELUS: “IN A WORLD THIRSTING FOR PEACE, IT IS URGENT FOR CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES TO UNITE TO ANNOUNCE THE GOSPEL TOGETHER. IT IS INDISPENSABLE FOR THEM TO BEAR WITNESS TO DIVINE LOVE WHICH UNITES THEM AND FOR THEM TO BE BEARERS OF JOY, HOPE AND PEACE Vatican City (Fides Service) – A heartfelt call to “pray intensely” for full unity among Christians of different confessions “meditating on the Gospel’s gift of peace and the duties it involves” was launched ...
• 19 January 2004
  VATICAN - “WE MUST FIND WITHIN US THE COURAGE OF PEACE. WE MUST IMPLORE FROM ON HIGH THE GIFT OF PEACE AND THIS PEACE WILL SPREAD LIKE OIL WHICH SOOTHES, IF WE WALK WITHOUT RESTING THE PATH OF RECONCILIATION.”: THE POPE’S CALL ON THE OCCASION OF A VATICAN CONCERT FOR RECONCILIATION BETWEEN JEWS, CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS Vatican City (Fides Service) – “The wish which we all together express is that men may be purified from the hatred and evil which continuously threaten peace and are able to reciprocally hold out their hands unaware ...
• 19 January 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - PARISH, COMMUNICATION AND MISSION THE FOCUS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE STANDING COUNCIL OF THE ITALIAN BISHOPS CONFERENCE WHICH OPENS TODAY Rome (Fides Service) – Today, 19 January, the Standing Council of the Italian Bishops’ Conference CEI will open its annual assembly in Rome. The opening address will be given by the chairman Cardinal Camillo Ruini, ...
• 19 January 2004
  AFRICA/TUNISIA - BISHOPS OF NORTHERN AFRICA: “THE WITNESS OFFERED BY THE CHURCH IN MAGHREB IS NOT SEEN AS AGGRESSION BY THE LOCAL PEOPLE ”. ARCHBISHOP FOUAD TWAL ELECTED PRESIDENT OF CERNA. Tunis (Fides Service) - “In Christian-Muslim relations in Maghreb we have good reason to think that the witness to the Gospel of Christ offered by the Church, through which the local society receives the Good News, is ...
• 19 January 2004
  ASIA/IRAQ – IN ADDITION TO BOMB BLASTS: THE GHOST OF ORGANISED CRIME IS BACK IN IRAQ Baghdad (Fides Service) - “Not only suicide bombings like yesterday’s attack are the cause of instability in Iraq ” a local Church source in Baghdad told Fides with regard to the latest bomb blast yesterday Sunday ...
• 19 January 2004
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - IS PEACE IN BURUNDI CLOSER? LAST RESISTING GROUP OF REBELS SITS AT NEGOTIATING TABLE WITH GOVERNMENT Bujumbura (Fides Service)- “If an agreement is reached between the FLN and the government Burundi’s dream of peace will come true” say local church sources in Bujumbura, where hope grows now that peace talks have ...
• 19 January 2004
  AMERICA/VENEZUELA - “WE MUST BE AUTHENTIC SERVANTS OF THE POOR”: VENEZUELAN BISHOPS’ STATEMENT ON PEACE Caracas (Fides Service ) – “We must be authentic servants of the Poor” was the title of a statement issued by the Bishops of Venezuela at the end of the 81st Ordinary Assembly of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Confer ...