News

• 
  18 April 2026
  ASIA/HONG KONG - Diocese celebrates 80th anniversary: Mission and charitable service to the most vulnerable Hong Kong (Fides News Agency) – “Eighty years ago, on this very day, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the elevation of Hong Kong from an Apostolic Vicariate to the rank of a diocese. We are grateful for the selfless dedica ...
• 
  18 April 2026
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Right to housing: Federal Court defends poor families in slum settlements in Islamabad and Rawalpindi Islamabad (Fides News Agency) – Archbishop Joseph Arshad of Islamabad-Rawalpindi described the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling, which calls on the Islamabad-Rawalpindi city government to "develop a comprehensive ...
• 
  17 April 2026
  AMERICA/CUBA - Bishops defend the Pope against attacks and stand with the people in the midst of crisis: “A beacon of light amid so much darkness” Santa Clara (Fides News Agency) - The bishops of Cuba have expressed their “deepest communion and filial affection” for Pope Leo XIV in a letter dated April 13, 2026, in which they express their closeness to the Pont ...
• 
  17 April 2026
  AFRICA/KENYA - Bishops lament shortage of marriage certificates and delays in civil registration Nairobi (Fides News Agency) – “For some time now, we have been experiencing difficulties in the legal process of civil registration and legalization of marriage,” the bishops of Kenya affirmed in a statement releas ...
• 
  17 April 2026
  ASIA/INDIA - Indian Christians support Pope Leo XIV’s call for lasting peace New Delhi (Fides News Agency) - “As Indian Christians, we wholeheartedly support the Holy Father’s call for a ceasefire, dialogue, and the restoration of peace in the Middle East. The Pope’s voice, rooted in the G ...
• 17 April 2026
  AFRICA/GABON - Confirmation of the Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On March 19, 2026, Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches), confirmed Father Hajjar Ma ...
• 
  17 April 2026
  AFRICA/CAMEROON - The Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood's commitment to "invisible children" Bafia (Fides News Agency) – In the Diocese of Bafia, approximately 20,000 children live without birth certificates. Children whose birth certificates do not exist. Children who, for the State, civil society, and the Ch ...
• 
  16 April 2026
  LEO XIV IN AFRICA - Pope Leo: Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic or political gain Bamenda (Fides News Agency) – It is the people who suffer the consequences of wars ordered by the powerful, and religion must not be instrumentalized to justify conflict, was the message of Pope Leo XIV during his meet ...
• 
  16 April 2026
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Catholic politician Navid emphasizes Pakistan's continued mediation efforts in the war in the Middle East to achieve peace for the benefits of all Rome (Fides News Agency) - “I am proud that Pakistan has done its utmost to bring together all the actors involved in the war in the Middle East and invite them to a negotiating table in Islamabad. Of course, this is n ...
• 
  16 April 2026
  AFRICA/SUDAN - Tragic toll after three years of war: Over 150,000 dead and 14 million displaced Khartoum (Fides News Agency) – Three years have passed since the start of the war in Sudan, and there seems to be no end in sight. The conflict, which broke out on April 16, 2023 (see Fides, 17/4/2023), remains in a st ...
• 
  16 April 2026
  LEO XIV IN AFRICA - Pope Leo to the authorities in Cameroon: May energies be unleashed for peace and the construction of the common good Yaoundé (Fides News Agency) – Politics must be at the service of the common good, avoiding corruption that “disfigure authority and strip it of its credibility.” The words of Pope Leo XIV, spoken yesterday, April ...
• 
  16 April 2026
  EUROPE/SLOVAKIA - The European Conference of the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood: creativity and new evangelization with children and adolescents Bratislava (Fides News Agency) - The meeting of the “European Conference of Missionary Childhood,” known as CEME, French acronym for Conférence de l’Enfance Missionnaire Européenne), held in Bratislava from Sunda ...
• 
  16 April 2026
  ASIA/MYANMAR - Burmese Bishops express their solidarity with the Pope: "Lay down weapons, open hearts, and seek the difficult but necessary path of dialogue and peace" Yangon (Fides News Agency) - Following the verbal attack by US President Donald Trump, the Burmese bishops of the Bishops' Conference of Myanmar express their solidarity with Pope Leo XIV. They praise the Pope “amid th ...
• 
  15 April 2026
  AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - Cardinal Brislin in response to President Trump: "Pope Leo XIV represents the position of the entire Catholic Church" Johannesburg (Agenzia Fides) – Verbal remarks by US President Donald Trump about Pope Leo XIV are "a cause for great concern," according to Cardinal Stephen Brislin, Archbishop of Johannesburg, in an article published ...
• 
  15 April 2026
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - WYD 2027: From barbed wire, the "Cross of Peace" - a symbol of reconciliation between North and South Korea Seoul (Agenzia Fides) – According to the Archdiocese of Seoul, a striking symbol will accompany the events of World Youth Day 2027 in Seoul, which will focus intensively on the division between North and South Korea: a ...