Asia

• 20 July 2005
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - Catholic church in diocese of Anuradhapura sacked and torched - Buddhist fundamentalist extremists cause rising tension and concern Colombo (Fides Service) - A Catholic church in the diocese of Anuradhapura centre north Sri Lanka has been sacked and set on fire by a group of masked extremists. Fides only just received the news of the incident which h ...
• 20 July 2005
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - This is the first attack on a church in Anuradhapura diocese. “We refuse to be trapped in the spiral of violence. Christians are for peace and harmony” the Bishop told Fides Anuradhapura (Fides Service) - It was Holy Cross church in Pulasthigama, diocese Anuradhapura which was sacked and burned to the gound on Saturday 16 July the local Bishop Norbert Andradi told Fides, adding that this unp ...
• 20 July 2005
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Growing extremism in the Muslim majority in Pakistan: growing fear in Christian minority Lahore (Fides Service) - The July 7 terrorist attacks in London brought religious fundamentalism in Pakistan once again to the attention of international media. The government of Paksitan promised to exert stricter contr ...
• 19 July 2005
  ASIA/CHINA - Summer holidays in a parish and opportunity to evangelise the young Beijing (Fides Service) - On 20 July the Summer oratory for children opens at Holy Saviour parish also referred to as Bei Tang or north church, one of many parishes which offer Summer activities for children ever more po ...
• 19 July 2005
  ASIA/INDONESIA - Moluccas ports open again: locals hope for return of tourists to boost poor economy Ambon (Fides Service) - The word tourism has been banned in the Moluccas for years, since civil strife began in 2000 and dashed all hopes of seeing the arrival of foreign visitors. Indeed for security reasons the ports w ...
• 18 July 2005
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Mission via SMS: mobile messages with Gospel verses, spiritual thoughts, local Church information Seoul (Fides Service) - In Korea, as all over the world, mobile phones are not only popular they have become essential for most people. In view of this recently a parish in Seoul archdiocese had the idea of using this mo ...
• 15 July 2005
  ASIA/INDIA - Catholic Bishop visits flooded areas in Gujarat and calls for solidarity Ahmedabad (Fides Service) - The number of dead and homeless as a result of serious flooding in a vast area of western Indian continue sto rise. The floods are said to be the worst in recent years. The most affected area ...
• 15 July 2005
  ASIA/TAIWAN - 24 graduates from the Institute of Theology at Fu Ren Catholic University receive their mandate for pastoral work in the local Church Taipei (Fides Service) - At Fu RenCatholic University in Taipei 24 graduates from the Institute of Theology, 4 religious, 9 deacons, 3 Sisters and 8 lay men and women recently concluded their studies and are now ready fo ...
• 14 July 2005
  ASIA/HONG KONG - Catholic papers and books useful for hospital pastoral care Hong Kong (Fides Service) - The Hong Kong diocese Kong Ko Bao says that Sr. Antonietta d’Onofrio,coordinator of the pastoral department at the Northern District Catholic Hospital in Hong Kong finds Catholics newpapers ...
• 14 July 2005
  ASIA/INDONESIA - Government and Aceh rebel separatists start peace talks Helsinki (Fides Service) - Representatives of the Indonesian government and separatist rebels from the province of Aceh, Sumatra are meeting in Helsinki, Finland to establish a set of shared principles on which to elabor ...
• 14 July 2005
  ASIA/MONGOLIA - “Come and see” new springtime of faith: the Church in Mongolia calls local young people and adults Ulanbator (Fides Service) - The little Church in Mongolia is growing fast. When the first Missionaries arrived in 1992 following the dark years of communist atheism, there were no Catholics in the country and they starte ...
• 14 July 2005
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Formation for laity and families urgently needed to bear witness to Gospel values in Korean society Seoul (Fides Service) - The new millennium puts new challenges to the family which is the cradle of life and must be protected from attacks by a materialist and rationalist culture which wants to manipolate it and subjec ...
• 13 July 2005
  ASIA/IRAQ - “It is possible to guarantee security while respecting both the freedom of individuals and the principles of democracy” Fr Nizar Semaan tells Fides Baghdad (Fides Service) - “It is possible guarantee security while respecting both the freedom of individuals and the principles of democracy” said Fr. Nizar Semaan, in Mosul northern Iraq, commenting discussion in E ...
• 13 July 2005
  ASIA/JAPAN - Catholic schools at the service of evangelisation in Japan Tokyo (Fides Service) -Catholic schools are a channel for evangelising in Japan. This emerged after a meeting of 190 Catholic educators who gathered in Tokyo for the 18th general meeting of the Commission for Catholic Sc ...
• 13 July 2005
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Prayer and reciprocal respect to bring Christians and Muslims closer in Pakistan and the rest of the world Lahore (Fides Service) - “We must respect people whose faith is different from our own. We were created by God with differences and he appreciates differences which are always a resource” said Pakistani Muslim leader ...