Asia

• 3 January 2005
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - At least twenty lay Catholics and a nun were swept away by the tsunami as they attended Sunday Mass in church: community mourns Sr Bernadette a school sister much loved and appreciated in the diocese of Galle: Nuncio Archbishop Mario Zenari reports to Fides Colombo (Fides Service) - A nun and at least twenty other worshippers were swept away by the fury of the tsunami as they attended Mass on Sunday 26 December at Our Lady of Victories church in Matara, Sri Lanka. So far Sr ...
• 3 January 2005
  ASIA/THAILAND - Priests, religious and lay Catholics in Surat Thani diocese work with rescue and aid team to help tsunami survivors Bangkok (Fides Service) - The local Church in Thailand has joined rescue and aid workers to help victims of the December 26 disaster. The newly appointed Salesian Bishop of Surat Thani diocese Joseph Prathan has opened a ...
• 29 December 2004
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - Jesuit churches and communities offer shelter and assistance to 3,000 seaquake survivors in Batticaloa. In India Jesuit school students join rescue workers Rome (Fides Service) - According to information supplied by the General Curia of the Society of Jesus no Jesuits are reported among the casualties in the south Asia seaquake which affected mainly Sri Lanka, India (Madura ...
• 28 December 2004
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - “This is an enormous tragedy calling for vast international solidarity” says Papal Nuncio in Colombo Archbishop Mario Zenari Colombo (Fides Service) - “This is an immense tragedy, Sri Lanka has never known a disaster of these proportions. The people are shocked and frightened. The provisional death toll is 13,000 and at least one million hom ...
• 28 December 2004
  ASIA/INDONESIA - The help the victims of the tsunami, the local Church works through a network of volunteers in collaboration with other religious groups and civil relief organisations Jakarta (Fides Service) - So far the number of confirmed deaths is 5,000 but according to the local authorities the figure is destined to rise and could be as high as 25,000: this is the situation in Indonesia after the ...
• 28 December 2004
  ASIA/INDIA - “The people have lost everything all that remains is hope, and this they cannot lose” says National Director of Pontifical Mission Societies in India Vatican City (Fides Service) - Mgr. Ignaci Siluvai, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in India, sent the following report to Fides a few hours ago. “ Dear Director! While greeting you for Ch ...
• 28 December 2004
  ASIA - Emergency Asia: Caritas launches appeal Rome (Fides Service) - The number of people killed by the seaquake which struck a vast area of South Asia rises by the hour. The international network of Caritas national offices is co-ordinating initiatives to send re ...
• 22 December 2004
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Poverty, unemployment, natural disasters: trouble seems never ending for the Philippines: in his Christmas Message the Archbishop of Manila recalls Christian hope Manila (Fides Service) - “Christmas is always our recalling of God’s love for us expressed in his son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. But its celebration is influenced yearly by prevailing spiritual, economic, so ...
• 21 December 2004
  ASIA/TAGIKISTAN - “Exterior signs of Christmas are still visible here as in other regions but perhaps precisely because of restrictions under the dictatorship, the spirit of Christmas has deepened”: Superior of the Catholic Missio Sui Iuris of Tagikistan reports on local Christmas traditions Dushanbe (Fides Service) - “The season of Advent in preparation for Christmas in the Catholic community Tagikistan has retained all its special significance which sad to say I never saw in my years of ministry in the ...
• 21 December 2004
  ASIA/HOLY LAND - Christmas : promise of life, joy and peace for the people of Israel and Palestine . Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem issues Christmas Message Jerusalem (Fides Service) - Security, wellbeing, happiness for the people of Israel and Palestine can be founded only on peace: this is the sense of a Christmas Message issued by Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michael Sabb ...
• 21 December 2004
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - attack on church isolated episode: Catholic community hopes for a peaceful Christmas free of tension social or religious Colombo (Fides Service) - The recent destruction of St Michael’s Catholic church in the archdiocese of Colombo was an isolated episode which raised concern among the local Catholics although would not seem to be a fore ...
• 21 December 2004
  ASIA/TURKEY - Nativity Scene popular with Muslim children too: on Christmas Day, a working day, young and old flock to the Catholic church in Antioch to see the Babe in the Manger Antioch (Fides Service) - “Christmas is at the door. In Antioch, southern Turkey it comes in silence, without decorations on streets or in shop windows, without the rush of last minute of shopping for presents, but wit ...
• 20 December 2004
  ASIA/SYRIA - Christmas in Syria: a feast for young people, Christian charity, ecumenism Damascus (Fides Service) - On the occasion of Christmas 2004, Fides asked for a contribution with regard to celebrations in Syria from His Beatitude Gregorios III Laham, Greek Melchite Patriarch of Antioch and the East ...
• 20 December 2004
  ASIA/INDONESIA - Threatened attacks on Churches at Christmas: double security measures in the Moluccas Islands Jakarta (Fides Service) - On Christmas day and all though the Christmas season the Indonesian army will guarantee special protection for all churches in Ambon, capital city in the Moluccas Islands. There is in fact growi ...
• 20 December 2004
  ASIA/CHINA - Catholics in Beijing organise Christmas Party for children with disabilities at Hui Ling Centre Beijing (Fides Service) - Christmas is almost here and there is already an atmosphere of joy and goodwill in Catholic community in Beijing. Local sources told Fides that after Mass on the third Sunday of Advent local and ...