Asia

• 22 July 2005
  ASIA/TAIWAN - Honorary citizenship awarded to 8 missionaries of the Sisters of Mary of the Holy Cross on the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first four women religious from Europe Tai Tung (Fides Service) - “They love Taiwan as if it were home and they have spent the best years of their life, some 20 and some 40 years, serving the people of Taiwan” This was the motivation for the honorary citi ...
• 22 July 2005
  AMERICA/UNITED STATES - Strike the demand and create programmes to reinsert victims of sexual exploitation: video conference at US Embaasy in Rome Rome (Fides Service)- On July 21 during a conference on “Supply and demand: Behind the Business of Trafficking in Persons” the director of the US State Deparment’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Person ...
• 22 July 2005
  ASIA/TAJIKISTAN - Tajikistan Catholic mission organises Summer activities for children and young people: camps and excursion are opportunities for evangelisation and education to human and spiritual values Dushanbe (Fides Service) - Pastoral work in the Summer for the Catholic mission in Tajikistan does not take a holiday indeed it is even more intense. Besides routine pastoral activities the four Incarnate Word Missionari ...
• 21 July 2005
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - The Catholic Bishops defend freedom of religion and human rights threatened by proposed anti-conversion laws: concern after the attack on Holy Cross church in Anuradhapura diocese Colombo (Fides Service) - The Catholic Bishops of Sri Lanka are profoundly concerned about a spreading anti-Christian movement among extremists groups of the the Buddhist majority and two prosposed laws which represent a ...
• 21 July 2005
  ASIA/IRAQ - “A clear sign of civilisation” says Iraqi priest Fr Nizar Semaan commenting the nation’s 3 minutes silence to commemorate victims of terrorism Baghdad (Fides Service)- “A clear sign of civilisation” said Iraqi Catholic priest Fr Nizar Semaan in Mosul with regard to yesterday’s 3 minutes silence held all over the country to commemorate the victims of terro ...
• 21 July 2005
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - “We must offer hope to the world and promote a culture of life”: Bishops issue pastoral letter on bio-ethics and stem cell research Seoul (Fides Service) - “The embryo is life. We have all been embryos. We have no right to meddle with human life” Bishop Francis Xavier Ahn Myong-ok, president of the Korean Bishops’ Commission for the Doctrine of ...
• 21 July 2005
  ASIA/CHINA - The Sisters of the Immacolate Heart of Mary continue to welcome new vocations: three sisters make perpetual vows, eight others take temporary vows Lin Fen (Fides Service) - The Congregation of Sisters of the Immacolate Heart of Mary in Li nFen diocese, Shan Xi province of mainland China continues to welcome new vocations. Recently on the same day that three new Sis ...
• 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 ...