News

• 20 March 2006
  AMERICA - Viral haemorrhaging fevers have 80% mortality rate. Diagnosis kit for Ebola, Marburg and other infective diseases Rome (Fides Service) - Laboratory researchers on infective diseases at Columbia University have developed a quick test to identify viral haemorrhaging fevers like those caused by the Ebola and Marburg viruses. Increasi ...
• 20 March 2006
  AMERICA - Work continues on Central American Mission Ad Gentes Centre for formation and new mission commitment Tegucigalpa (Fides Service) - The Central American Mission Ad Gentes Centre soon to be opened is a fruit of the 2nd American Mission Congress CAM 2 held in Guatemala in November 2003 and a Central American Mission Plan t ...
• 20 March 2006
  ASIA/INDIA - Parish priest killed in archdiocese of Goa Goa (Fides Service) - A Catholic Fr. Eusebio Ferrao, aged 61, parish priest of St Francis church at Macasana in the southern part of the state of Goa, south west India, was found dead on 18 March. The body was found by ...
• 20 March 2006
  VATICAN - The Pope celebrates Mass with workers: “Work is of primary importance for the realisation of the person and the development of society which is why it must be organised and undertaken with full respect for human dignity and as a service to the common good.” Vatican City (Fides Service) - Work is important for self realisation but on no account should it be seen as the ultimate purpose of life Pope Benedict XVI said on Sunday 19 March, the feast of St Joseph, during Mass cel ...
• 20 March 2006
  VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI receives Bishops of Cameroon: may the ecclesiological and spiritual intuitions of Ecclesia in Africa give “new impulse to the salvific mission which the Church received from Christ” Vatican City (Fides Service) - The tenth anniversary of the post-synodal Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa which Pope John Paul II signed and consigned to Africa’s Catholics in Yaounde in September 1995 was the main focus ...
• 20 March 2006
  AFRICA/CAMEROON - In the wake of the exhortation “Ecclesia in Africa” Catholic Bishops say country’s political and social forces must guarantee democracy, transparency, peace, social justice Rome (Fides Service)- “The Church in Cameroon had made progress and continues to do so. Vocations are flourishing and people take part in liturgical celebrations en masse and with enthusiasm” says Mgr Patrick Lafon, ...
• 20 March 2006
  AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - Water for life project: Amici di Raoul Follereau association shares well digging project in Mozambique Rome (Fides Service) - According to the UN-Kyoto report 2003 some 2.5 billion people in the world have no access to clean water. Every year at least 2 million die of diseases caused by bacteriological pollution. Lack of ...
• 18 March 2006
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - The Pope appoints Vicar Apostolic of Bontoc-Lagawe Vatican City (Fides Service) - The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI on 18 March 2006 appointed Vicar Apostolic of Bontoc-Lagawe Apostolic Vicariate in the Philippines Rev. Rodolfo Fontiveros Beltran until now Vicar general ...
• 18 March 2006
  AFRICA/KENYA - Italian missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception di Ivrea alleviate suffering at Kadem Leprosy and TB Clinic Rome (Fides Service) - In the 1970s Kenya still had three large leper colonies at Alupe, Kadem and Mombasa. Until the mid 1980s more than 800 new cases of leprosy were registered every year. In 1989, according to the Wor ...
• 18 March 2006
  ASIA/INDIA - Only 10% of the population has access to healthcare. Catholic nun at successful Jivadara therapy centre treats poor villagers with chronic diseases Kerala (Fides Service) - In southern Kerala a Catholic nun Sr Mary Eassy runs a centre for holistic Jivadara therapy for poor villagers suffering from chronic diseases. Assisi Holistic Research Centre at Panavalli, nea ...
• 18 March 2006
  OCEANIA/AUSTRALIA - Brisbane archdiocese borrows two African priests Brisbane (Fides Service) - The Archdiocese of Brisbane in Australia asked the diocese of Umuahia in Nigeria to lend it a couple of priests for a while. The inter-continental twinning agreement is taking shape: Nigerian B ...
• 18 March 2006
  ASIA/CHINA - Celebrating Catholics brave snow and ice to witness profession of 6 local Franciscan Missionaries of Mary San Yuan (Fides) - Ice and snow in the north western Shaan Xi province of China did not keep local Catholics from taking part in a Mass for the final profession of six local Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. During Mass ...
• 18 March 2006
  VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI receives participants at the Plenary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications “I urge you to renew your efforts to assist those working in the world of media to promote what is good and true, especially in regard to the meaning of human and social existence, and to denounce what is false” Vatican City (Fides Service) - On Friday 17 March in the Sala Clementina in the Vatican when he received the participants at the Plenary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications Pope Benedict XVI said “I ur ...
• 18 March 2006
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - Three months ahead of long awaited elections Democratic Congo swings between hope and despair for situation in eastern region Kinshasa (Fides Service)- The international community has confirmed its commitment to support general elections in DR Congo on 18 June. The head of MONUC the UN Mission in Congo Jean-Marie Guehenno said there is sufficie ...
• 18 March 2006
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Catholics in Pakistan welcome new UN Human Rights Council Lahore (Fides Service) - Several Catholic organisations in Pakistan have welcomed the institution by the new United Nations general assembly of a standing Human Rights Council hoping it will promote greater respect for ...