Africa

• 12 December 2008
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - Cardinal Maradiaga, President of Caritas Internationalis, expresses his concern for the whereabouts of human rights activists kidnapped in Zimbabwe Harare (Agenzia Fides) - “News of the abduction of Jestina Mukoko is disturbing. She is a respected human rights defender and valued partner of Caritas. Ms Mukoko and all other human rights defenders that have been abd ...
• 12 December 2008
  AFRICA/MALAWI - “The increase in grain prices is hurting families,” a missionary from Malawi says Lilongwe (Agenzia Fides) – The startled citizens are asking themselves, “Will famine return?” says Fr. Piergiorgio Gamba, a Monfortian missionary who has been working in Malawi for decades, in a brief update sent t ...
• 11 December 2008
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - “We have overcome the cholera,” President Mugabe says, while South Africa declares a health emergency in the area bordering Zimbabwe Harare (Agenzia Fides) – While Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe announces that the cholera epidemic has been “stopped,” South Africa is declaring a health emergency in the area of the country that borders Zimbabw ...
• 10 December 2008
  AFRICA/SIERRA LEONE - “There are encouraging signs, but the country is in need of aid from all of us,” a missionary from Sierra Leone says Freetown (Agenzia Fides) - “After the peaceful and democratic elections of last year, it is evident that all Sierra Leone is making an effort to change the bad habits and negative aspects of the past and build a better ...
• 10 December 2008
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - External pressures mount, calling for Mugabe's resignation; however real danger is the army Harare (Agenzia Fides) – It is not so much the requests from leaders of various important nations (including in Africa) that he let go of the reigns, as it is the alarming signs coming from the army, that worry Zimbabw ...
• 9 December 2008
  AFRICA - The French dioceses take up a collection for Africa, in a concrete effort to respond to Benedict XVI's desire that Africa not be forgotten Paris (Agenzia Fides) – Solidarity with the African churches will be at the heart of the celebration of Epiphany, which will be celebrated in France on Sunday, January 4. “We are all invited to support the African ...
• 9 December 2008
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - Week for Peace in Congo ends, as talks between Nkunda's rebels and the Congolese government open in Nairobi Rome (Agenzia Fides) – The Week for Peace in Congo, begun on December 2, closed on December 7, with a Mass held at 1pm in Rome, at the Church of the Nativity (the Congolese National Church), celebrated by its Chaplain, ...
• 5 December 2008
  AFRICA/GHANA - Presidential elections: the Bishops exhort the faithful of Ghana to participate and to refrain from acts of violence, fanaticism, intolerance, and threat Accra (Agenzia Fides) – The Presidential and Parliamentary elections set to take place on Sunday, December 7 are a test not only for the local democracy, but for all Africa. This is the opinion of many experts on Afric ...
• 5 December 2008
  AFRICA/MALAWI - Famine looming on the horizon after several years of plentiful harvests: a missionary offers his testimony Lilongwe (Agenzia Fides) - “After so many promises saying that famine was now something of the past, we now see the hard truth reemerging in our day-to-day lives: all of a sudden the newspaper says that the tragedy is ...
• 5 December 2008
  AFRICA/MORROCO - At the command of the Apostle Paul: 8 outlines on the Bible for holding group encounters on the First Letter to the Thessalonians and the First Letter to the Corinthians Rabat (Agenzia Fides) – The Diocese of Rabat has distributed a series of informational sketches on the Bible, entitled “The Year of St. Paul – Bible Studies on the First Letter to the Thessalonians and the First Le ...
• 4 December 2008
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - Testimony of a missionary from Goma: “The people are still afraid, living as if they were in a foreign land, in distrust and anxiety - especially at night.” Goma (Agenzia Fides) - “In spite of the fact that for the past few days, the media's interest in this part of the world has died down, the conflict continues in the region of Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Co ...
• 4 December 2008
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - Government declares health emergency on account of cholera, while the loyalty of the military remains in question Harare (Agenzia Fides) – Authorities in Zimbabwe have declared a health emergency on account of the cholera epidemic that has been plaguing the country for several months (see Fides 2/12/2008). Local healthcare centers ...
• 4 December 2008
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - Talks underway for the crisis in eastern Congo, as missionaries organize a solidarity campaign in Rome in support of the Congolese people Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – It seems that the moment of democracy has come in the dramatic crisis of North Kivu , in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. In Goma, the capital of the province, in which military and para ...
• 3 December 2008
  AFRICA - “The stranger is not to be seen as a threat, but as our brother in Christ,” Bishops of Africa and Europe state at the close of the Liverpool Seminar on Migration Liverpool (Agenzia Fides) – Migration is a global phenomenon that requires a greater pastoral attention on the part of the Church and her pastors, the European and African Bishops said in their final message issued at ...
• 3 December 2008
  AFRICA - Vocations are growing in Africa: Spiritual Directors in Africa's seminaries tell Fides their experiences Rome (Agenzia Fides) - “ We have many vocations, including to the religious life, both masculine and feminine. In relation to the formation of diocesan priests, we have decided to improve resources by creating provinci ...