News

• 6 November 2012
  ASIA/SYRIA - The Christian community asks for the release of an Armenian singer and seven others kidnapped Aleppo (Agenzia Fides) - Sam Ghannoum is a young 28-year-old Christian Armenian songwriter. He comes from an Armenian family who live in a suburb of Aleppo. He is known in the community for his compositions made of easte ...
• 6 November 2012
  AFRICA/MADAGASCAR - One out of 7 women is sexually exploited: poverty allows prostitution to spread Antananarivo (Agenzia Fides) - In less than 20 years, the number of registered prostitutes in the main port city of Madagascar, Toamasina, where about 200 000 people, has risen from 17,000 in 1993 to 29,000 in 2012. It i ...
• 6 November 2012
  AMERICA/CUBA - "Hurricane Sandy hits Cuba: houses and churches destroyed, lack of food, electricity and telephone line, but nobody talks about it": dramatic testimony from Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba (Agenzia Fides) - For several days the media have been documenting the devastating force of Hurricane Sandy in its passage in New York and other U.S. cities. Little or nothing is said instead of the dama ...
• 6 November 2012
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - "We thank the Lord because during the Centenary of the arrival of Light in our lands, we enter the Year of Faith": the 100 years of the Ecclesiastical Province of Owerri Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - "The missionaries arrived for the first time in this area about 100 years ago, so this is why we wanted to celebrate the arrival of the Light of Christ, the Light of Salvation, in our land," says ...
• 6 November 2012
  AFRICA/SOMALIA - Thousands of displaced people, homes destroyed and livestock drowned: Somaliland flooded by rain Hargeisa (Agenzia Fides) - The torrential rains that have hit in recent weeks are forcing thousands of people of Middle Eastern regions of Somaliland to abandon their homes. More than 4000 families of 9 villages in the r ...
• 6 November 2012
  ASIA/MALAYSIA - Religious leaders "no" to hudud: "Do not exploit religion for political reasons" Kuala Lumpur (Agenzia Fides) - "Our position is clear: we want to maintain the status quo and support the current Constitution, which guarantees minorities and does not make Malaysia an Islamic state. We are opposed to a ...
• 6 November 2012
  AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - Appeal for a moratorium on the death penalty: 200 people on death row in inhuman conditions Juba (Agenzia Fides) - An appeal for a moratorium on the death penalty in South Sudan was launched by Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and a series of local groups of civil society. In a joint stateme ...
• 6 November 2012
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - School burned in Lahore: blasphemy-Pakistani Muslims "lose their control" Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - "It is really shocking that Farooqi Girls High School in Lahore was burned to the ground because a teacher was accused of blasphemy. No one should be allowed to take the law into one’s own hand ...
• 5 November 2012
  VATICAN - Cardinal Filoni in Nigeria for the centenary of the Evangelization of the Ecclesiastical Province of Owerri Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will make a pastoral visit to Nigeria for the centenary of the Evangelization of the Ecclesiastical ...
• 5 November 2012
  ASIA/SYRIA - An Archbishop calls for "prayers and practical help to avoid the destruction of Syria" Damascus (Agenzia Fides) - "The Church and the Monastery of Santa Maria in Deir Ezzor, on the banks of the Euphrates River, were destroyed by an explosion on Saturday, October 27. It is an event that shocked us and so we ...
• 5 November 2012
  AMERICA/VENEZUELA - The Year of Faith begins in Venezuela with an appeal for an amnesty for political prisoners Caracas (Agenzia Fides) - The Archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, launched an appeal to the national government to take the necessary measures in favour of political prisoners: "We insisted on this issue ...
• 5 November 2012
  ASIA/CHINA - The memory of the dead, especially the examples of their faith, in order for us to live a life of faith and witness Shi Jia Zhuang (Agenzia Fides) - The memory of the dead, especially the examples of their faith that they gave us, help us to live a life of faith and witness: is the main theme that marked the commemoration of the dead ...
• 5 November 2012
  AMERICA/PARAGUAY - Year of Faith and national reality: 196th Assembly of Bishops Asuncion (Agenzia Fides) - The Bishops of Paraguay gather for their 196th Ordinary Plenary Assembly which starts today, November 5 until Friday, November 9, at the headquarters of the Episcopal Conference in Asuncion. Ac ...
• 5 November 2012
  AFRICA - "Silent Emergency": each year over a million children die from malnutrition Kampala (Agenzia Fides) - The lack of food continues to cause deaths every year, over a million children under 5 years of age in Sub-Saharan Africa. Deaths due to malnutrition in this region are exacerbated by drought an ...
• 5 November 2012
  AFRICA/KENYA - Attack during a church service within the police station: for the Coadjutor Bishop of Garissa: "It is a political act, not a religious one" Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - The attack which took place yesterday, November 4, was aimed at the Sunday celebration of the Christian interfaith community Utawala in Garissa in eastern Kenya, 140 km from the border with Soma ...