Asia

• 23 May 2003
  ASIA/SRI LANKA - FLOODS LEAVE 250 DEAD AND 44,000 HOMELESS FAMILIES: FEARS FOR ECONOMY IN THE SOUTH: CARITAS FULLY COMMITTED FOR AID Colombo (Fides Service) – Since severe floods hit southern areas of Sri Lanka, “the local Church has been among the first to offer relief with great speed and concern” Archbishop Thomas Yeh Sheng-nan, Nuncio to Sri ...
• 23 May 2003
  ASIA/KOREA - KOREAN CATHOLICS KEEP UP MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL AID FOR IRAQI PEOPLE SUFFERING AFTERMATH OF WAR Seoul (Fides Service) – Korean Catholics’ concern for the Iraqi people who are suffering in the aftermath of the war continues. On April 12 the Caritas Korea Committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference CBCK and t ...
• 22 May 2003
  ASIA/INDONESIA - STUDIES SOON TO BE RESUMED IN THE MOLUCCAS: PATTIMURA UNIVERSITY TO RE-OPEN Ambon (Fides Service) – Pattimura state university in Ambon, capital of the Moluccas province of Indonesia, will resume normal academic activity in the coming month of August. The Indonesian Minister for Social Affairs ...
• 22 May 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - IDEOLOGICAL NATIONALISM OF EXTREMIST GROUPS STRIKES MISSIONARIES. NEW AHAD ASSOCIATION PROMOTES SOCIAL HARMONY. EVER STRONGER INDIAN BISHOPS’ NO TO ANTI-CONVERSION LAW IN GUJARAT New Delhi (Fides Service) – Christian missionaries in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, are threatened and impeded in their mission to evangelise. A local Catholic priest, Father Matthew Vattakunnel, denounces that a ...
• 22 May 2003
  ASIA/CHINA - MEDICINES SANS FRONTIERS COMMITTED TO FIGHTING SARS IN CHINA Beijing (Fides Service) – After missions in Vietnam and Hong Kong, De Dan Sermand, head of the NGO Medicines Sans Frontiers MSF group assigned to deal with SARS, arrived in Beijing on 8 May. The main objective of the ...
• 21 May 2003
  ASIA/PAKSITAN - CENTENARY OF FRANCISABAD ST FRANCIS CITY, A LITTLE ASSISI IN PAKISTAN, CHRISTIAN OASIS IN A MAINLY MUSLIM LAND Faisalabad (Fides Service) – A hundred years ago Belgian Capuchin Father Philip came on mission to Pakistan and built a village to which he gave the name of St Francis and which is known locally as Francisabad. Today t ...
• 21 May 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - SCHOOL FOR 5000 PUPILS; IT SCHOOL FOR 3,000; HOME FOR LEPERS; 300 BED HOSPITAL AND NURSING SCHOOL: HERITAGE LEFT BY ITALIAN MISSIONARY WHO SPENT 50 YEARS ON MISSION IN INDIA Lucknow (Fides Service) – Sacred Heart Catholic school with 5,000 pupils; an Information Technology Institute for 3000 students, a 300 bed hospital which also has a Nurses Training School, and a Leper colony run by fif ...
• 20 May 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - MORE THAN 700 PEOPLE ATTEND PRESENTATION OF ALBERIONE AWARD TO “OUTLOOK” WEEKLY, COMMITTED TO PEACE AND SOCIAL HARMONY IN INDIA Bombay (Fides Service) – The journalism award named after the founder of the Pauline Family, Blessed Giacomo Alberione, beatified 27 April, was assigned to Outlook an Indian culture and news weekly in a ceremony in Bom ...
• 20 May 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - TURA DIOCESE HAS A SCHOOL, A CHURCH AND A SMALL HOSPITAL NAMED AFTER PADRE PIO, MISSIONARY TO THE WORLD Tura (Fides Service) – Padre Pio School in the diocese of Tura in north west India is already fully functioning with intense activity. The local Catholics are deeply devoted to the Franciscan friar, canonised a Saint o ...
• 20 May 2003
  ASIA/TAIWAN - LOCAL CATHOLIC CENTRE FOR SARS EMERGENCY: CARDINAL SHAN SAYS DO NOT BE AFRAID OF ONE ANOTHER Taipei (Fides Service) – While the situation of the SARS emergency on the Island is ever more critical, the Catholic Church in Taiwan has opened a Catholic Centre for the SARS Emergency. The Centre, opened under the pa ...
• 19 May 2003
  ASIA/CHINA - SARS: MORE CATHOLIC CHURCH PERSONNEL VOLUNTEER FOR HOSPITAL PASTORAL, BELIEVERS OF ALL FAITHS MAKE JOINT COLLECTION TO FIGHT DISEASE IN HEBEI PROVINCE ShiJiaZhuang (Fides Service) – Religions in China are making a valuable contribution to the fight against SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. According to information sent to Fides Service by XinDe Faith Catholic b ...
• 19 May 2003
  ASIA/INDONESIA - FROM ACEH: “NOT FIGHTING BUT PATIENCE AND REBUILDING TRUST” THE VOICE OF FATHER FERDINANDO FRANCISCAN FRIAR IN THE ONLY PARISH IN THE PROVINCE Banda Aceh (Fides Service) “We are tragically accustomed to violence. The conflict between the army and the rebels has continued for years with a few brief interruptions. After the imposition of martial law and the sta ...
• 16 May 2003
  ASIA/HONG KONG - PRIESTS VOLUNTEER TO CARRY COMFORT OF SACRAMENTS TO HOSPITALISED SARS PATIENTS Hong Kong (Fides Service) – No less than forty five priests in Hong Kong volunteered to go to SARS assigned hospitals to administer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, in response to a call from the diocese. Af ...
• 16 May 2003
  ASIA/KAZAKHSTAN - CARDINAL SECRETARY OF STATE IN KAZAKHSTAN ON 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF HISTORY MAKING PAPAL VISIT Vatican City (Fides Service) - Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Pope’s Secretary of State, is visiting Kazakhstan from 16-19 May at the invitation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the local Catholic Bishops to mark th ...
• 16 May 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - THE ROLE OF CATHOLIC TEACHERS IN INDIA IS TO BUILD HARMONY BETWEEN CULTURES AND RELIGIONS Bangalore (Fides Service) – Catholic teachers in India have an important role to play in the present social context of polarisation of caste, language, culture and religion: teachers can help create a national consci ...