News

• 28 May 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - Papaboys forum promotes new young opinion movement “Europa Cristiana” Rome (Fides Service) - Europa Cristiana, a new opinion movement of young Catholics in various countries of Europe who want to help the continent re-discover its Christian identity, will be officially launched on Sunday 3 ...
• 28 May 2004
  AFRICA/SWAZILAND - Letter from the African forest: Italian missionary Father Angelo Ciccone fifty years of giving lepers love and hope Mzimpofu (Fides Service) - The precarious conditions which missionaries face in the mission territory to which they are called does not undermine their determination to serve their brothers and sisters in need, indeed th ...
• 28 May 2004
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Education and catechesis and social assistance: Marist Brothers in mostly Muslim area of southern Philippines welcome local novices Kidapawan (Fides Service) - The community of the Marist Brothers in Kidapawan, southern Philippines recently gave a warm welcome to two local novices Brother Jeff Rhey Antiquiza and Brother Albert Munoz. Both young men s ...
• 28 May 2004
  ASIA/QATAR - “Religious freedom antidote to fundamentalism”: 2nd International Conference on Christian/Muslim Dialogue opens in Doha Doha (Agenzia Fides) - Some 300 people have gathered in Doha, Qatar, for the 2nd International Conference on Christian/Muslim Dialogue organised by the commission for relations with Muslims of the Pontifical Council for ...
• 28 May 2004
  EUROPE/ITALY - Smoking kills 13,500 people every day. World No Tobacco Day: various initiatives, ranging from “Feel Free to Say No” campaign promoted by the European Commission, to the 6th national conference “Tabagismo e Servizio Sanitario Nazionale” organised by the Italian Higher Institute for Health Rome (Fides Service) - Monday 31 May is World No Tobacco Day. In the world today there are 1.3 billion people who smoke and 84% live in developing countries. Smoking kills 13,500 people every day. At the world level 47.5 ...
• 28 May 2004
  ASIA/INDONESIA - Vote candidates committed to fighting corruption and promoting social development: Bishops advise Catholic in view of presidential elections on 5 July Jakarta (Fides Service) - “Vote for a president seriously committed to preventing the destruction of nature and who has the courage to work to eliminate corruption and punish the corrupt. We need a national leader who ...
• 27 May 2004
  EUROPE/SPAIN - “We are the Church precisely because we send missionaries…missionaries are most obvious proof that we are Church ” says Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Ma Rouco Varela, in a pastoral letter for Diocesan Mission Day in Madrid. Madrid (Fides Service) -Madrid Archdiocese will celebrate Diocesan Mission Day on Sunday 6 the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity and Pro Orantibus Day for persons consecrated to the contemplative life who offer their life f ...
• 27 May 2004
  AFRICA/SUDAN - Points of peace agreement signed yesterday ending civil war in southern Sudan. Conflict in western region of Darfur still unsolved. Khartoum (Fides Service)- An agreement to end more than twenty years of civil war between the Sudanese government and SPLA Sudan Peoples Liberation Army was finally signed yesterday 26 May at Naivasha, some 70 km from th ...
• 27 May 2004
  AMERICA - Death toll of floods in Dominican Republic and Haiti rises to 2,000. Local Church takes active part in providing relief aid Rome (Fides Service) - “The dimensions of the tragedy on the Caribbean island La Española continue to grow” Father Luis Rosario Peña in the Dominican Republic told Fides. The death toll in the Dominican Republic is ...
• 27 May 2004
  AFRICA/CONGO RD - Fighting in Bukavu east Congo. Uncertainty with regard the dimensions of the episode Kinshasa (Fides Service)-“The situation in Kivu is confused and it is difficult to say what exactly is happening” Xaverian missionaries told Fides. “Shooting continues in the city of Bukavu on the outskirts not far ...
• 27 May 2004
  AFRICA/SENEGAL - Crowds mourn Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum one of 30 African bishops who attended Vatican II. Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples sends local Church message of condolence: “In love with God and mankind, he strove to build peace, harmony and unity in his country”. Dakar (Fides Service) - Crowds gathered in Dakar Cathedral this morning 27 May to pay their last respects to Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum, emeritus Archbishop of Dakar who died at the age of 83 on May 18 in Marseilles, F ...
• 27 May 2004
  ASIA/INDIA - National paper front page cartoon offends India’s Christians: Catholic Bishops protest New Delhi (Fides Service) - India’s Christians were deeply offended by a cartoon with regard to the recent elections in India published by a national newspaper. Strong protest was voiced by the country’s Catholic Bis ...
• 27 May 2004
  AFRICA/CONGO RD - Confusion reigns in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the scene of fighting for the past few days Bukavu (Fides Service)- The situation in Bukavu, in southern Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC) where there has been fighting for some days now between troops loyal to the central government in K ...
• 26 May 2004
  VATICAN - The Pope’s weekly teaching at the general audience: God is Judge, but he is also Saviour; he condemns evil and rewards fidelity and justice but above all love.. Vatican City (Fides Service) - “In this prayer we hear the pulsing hearts of the just who await in hope the coming of the Lord to render more luminous the vicissitudes of humanity often immersed in the shadows of sin, ...
• 26 May 2004
  VATICAN - Renewal in the Spirit movement welcomes call to pray with the Pope to invoke copious outpouring of the gifts of the Spirit upon the whole Church Vatican City (Fides Service) - Last Sunday during the Regina Caeli prayer Pope John Paul II invited those who will be present in Rome on Saturday May 29 to join him for Solemn celebration of Vespers on the vigil of the F ...