News

• 14 October 2003
  JOHN PAUL II AND ASIA Archbishop Oswald Gracias Archbishop of Agra When in Bangkok last December for a meeting of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences Social Communications Commission, I was deeply struck when the representative of the Youth present at the meeting mentioned in ...
• 14 October 2003
  VATICAN - SATURDAY 18 OCTOBER IN THE VATICAN PRAYER VIGIL AND ROSARY IN PREPARATION FOR MISSION SUNDAY AND BEATIFICATION OF MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA Vatican City (Fides Service) – On Saturday 18 October the eve of World Mission Sunday when Pope John Paul II will beatify Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a prayer vigil with the recitation of the Rosary will take place in t ...
• 13 October 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - ROME’S BIO-MEDICO CAMPUS UNIVERSITY MARKS TENTH ANNIVERSARY Rome (Fides Service) - Rome’s Bio-Medical University this year marks in tenth anniversary and it is now a model of public service which combines humanity and professional expertise. On 15 October there will be a solemn ...
• 13 October 2003
  AMERICA/COSTA RICA - 12,885 CASES OF DENGUE: INFECTION SPREADING, WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITH THE START OF THE RAINY SEASON? Rome (Fides Service) – The Health Ministry recently communicated alarming developments in the epidemic of Dengue in Costa Rica. Of 12,885 cases of infection reported, 38 are suffering from acute fever and haemorrhage w ...
• 13 October 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - CARDINAL RUINI GIVES INTRODUCTORY SPEECH AT FIDES ET RATIO SYMPOSIUM AT LATERAN UNIVERSITY Rome (Fides Service) – In his address to introduce the International Symposium “Fides et Ratio encyclical five years on” Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope’s Vicar for Rome diocese, highlighted the document’s eno ...
• 13 October 2003
  EUROPE/ENGLAND AND WALES - MISSION SUNDAY: TODAY NOT ONLY ANGLO SAXONS; MULTI-CULTURAL CATHOLICS IN UNION WITH THE POPE SUPPORT UNIVERSAL MISSION WITH PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES London (Fides Service) – In this third millennium Catholics in England and Wales are no longer only Anglo Saxons, they come from many other cultures and this rich diversity of traditions is harnessed for universal miss ...
• 13 October 2003
  VATICAN - POPE SAYS AT ANGELUS: “LOOKING WITH GRATITUDE AT THE PAST I TURN PARTICULARLY TO YOUNG PEOPLE…I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THEM FOR BEING CLOSE TO ME IN THESE 25 YEARS AND I WANT THEM TO KNOW THAT I CONTINUE TO RELY ON THEM” Vatican City (Fides Service) – Thanksgiving for 25 years of Pontificate and personal thanks to youth: these were the two themes of Pope John Paul II’s meditation before praying the Angelus Prayer with the people gath ...
• 13 October 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - ROME CITY COUNCIL HOLDS SPECIAL SESSION TO MARK POPE JOHN PAUL II’s 25 YEARS OF PONTIFICATE Rome (Fides Service) – On Monday 13 October Rome City Council will hold a special session to mark the 25 years of pontificate of Pope John Paul II. The programme will include an introduction by the City Council preside ...
• 13 October 2003
  EUROPE/GERMANY - MISSION SUNDAY – “TRUSTING IN THE WORD”: IN THE YEAR OF THE BIBLE THE PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES IN GERMANY LOOK TO CATHOLICS IN THE PHILIPPINES TO HELP GERMAN COMMUNITIES TO GROW Aachen/Munich (Fides Service) – The 2003 October mission campaign launched by the Pontifical Mission Societies in Germany has been planned to fit the framework of the Year of the Bible being celebrated in local Churche ...
• 13 October 2003
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - OPPOSITION TO PRESIDENT MUGABE ANNOUNCES WAVE OF STRIKES TO PROTEST GOVERNMENT ECONOMIC POLICY WHICH HAD LED THE COUNTRY TO COLLAPSE Harare (Fides Service) – In Zimbabwe the Opposition is planning series of strikes to protest against President Robert Mugabe’s economic policies. “The country is collapsing” opposition leaders say “the people ...
• 13 October 2003
  ASIA/KOREA - SCANDALS SHAKE SOUTH KOREA PRESIDENCY: ROH ANNOUNCES REFERENDUM ON HIS GOVERNMENT Seoul (Fides Service) - South Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun has proposed a national referendum on his rule in mid-December after admitting he had lost confidence in his ability to govern. In office for only eight months ...
• 13 October 2003
  AFRICA/SENEGAL - CARDINAL SEPE CLOSES SECAM/SCEAM PLENARY: CHURCH IN AFRICA EVANGELISE YOURSELF AND HELP WITH THE CHURCH’S UNIVERSAL MISSION Dakar (Fides Service) – The Plenary of the Symposium of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Madagascar SCEAM/SECAM held in Dakar, Senegal attended by 150 Bishop delegates of African Bishops’ Conferences cl ...
• 13 October 2003
  VATICAN - 25 YEARS OF PONTIFICATE: “KAROL WOJTYLA CHAIR” INSTITUTED AT THE JOHN PAUL II PONTIFICAL INSTITUTE FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, PONTIFICAL LATERAN UNIVERSITY Dakar (Fides Service) – To mark the 25th year of pontificate of Pope John Paul II, on 14 October a Karol Wojtyla Chair will be inaugurated at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Marriage and the Family, at the Po ...
• 13 October 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - KARNATAKA, DISQUIETING SIGNAL ON THE EVE OF MOTHER TERESA’S BEATIFICATION: MURDER OF CATHOLIC PRIEST LIVING IN ASHRAM COMMUNITY CENTRE, ASSASSINS PROBABLY HINDU FUNDAMENTALISTS Dakar (Fides Service) – In India Hindu fundamentalists continue to target Christians. The most recent victim was Catholic priest Sanjeevananda Swami who lived in a Catholic Ashram in Belur, near Kolar in the archdioces ...
• 13 October 2003
  AMERICA/BOLIVIA - POLICE CLASH WITH PROTESTERS: 22 KILLED IN EL ALTO CITY, AT LEAST 60 INJURED IN THE ANTI-GAS WAR AGAINST THE GOVERNEMNT PLAN TO EXPORT NATURAL GAS Rome (Fides Service) – At least 22 people were killed and at least 60 injured in clashes between police and protesters in uprisings which have bloodied Bolivia for the past 48 hours, in particular in the capita, La Paz ...