News

• 23 January 2007
  AFRICA/RWANDA - Important step towards abolition of death penalty Kigali (Agenzia Fides)- After comprehensive consultation with the different social and political realities in the country, the Rwandan government approved a proposed Bill to abolish capital punishment. The decision was r ...
• 23 January 2007
  EUROPE/SPAIN - It fails to admit the existence of truth and good, it ignores the existence of God and the transcendent, it imposes an ideology of gender: reasons for rejecting Education to Citizenship proposed new compulsory School Subject Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - The Professionals for Ethics Association warns that the subject Education to Citizenship which the Spanish government intends to make compulsory “interferes with the moral formation of childre ...
• 23 January 2007
  ASIA/ SRI LANKA - Conflict spirals, thousands more flee for their lives, surge of civilian suffering Colombo (Agenzia Fides) -Recrudescent civil strife in Sri Lanka is causing widespread suffering among the local people. For weeks the regular army has been trying to flush out from their bases Liberation Tigers of Tamil ...
• 23 January 2007
  ASIA/INDIA - Electoral motives prompt approval of anti-conversion law in Himachal Pradesh New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) - There are political motives behind the approval of the anti-conversion law in the north west Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. A local Church source told Fides that the local governing Congres ...
• 22 January 2007
  AMERICA/CANADA - “Suffering is not useless. And it does not diminish human dignity which depends neither on the quality of our lives nor on our autonomy…human dignity finds its source in God who created us in his image and likeness”: Leaflet in preparation for World Day for the Sick 11th February Ottawa (Agenzia Fides) - On the occasion of the World Day of the Sick which will take place on February 11, 2007, the Catholic Organisation for Life and Family COLF co-sponsored by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bi ...
• 22 January 2007
  VATICAN - “Ecumenism is a profound dialogical experience, listening and speaking to one another, getting to know one other better; this is a task for everyone, especially spiritual ecumenism based on prayer and sharing among Christians as far as this is possible at the moment”: the Pope’s reflection at the Angelus Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On Sunday 21 January, in the middle of the "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity", before leading from his study window the recitation of the midday Angelus prayer with the crowds gathered in ...
• 22 January 2007
  VATICAN - “It is necessary to proclaim the integral message of Salvation, so it may impregnate the roots of culture and be incarnated in present day Latin America in order to respond better to its needs and legitimate aspirations.”: Pope Benedict XVI addresses participants at Pontifical Commission for Latin America plenary Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On Saturday 20 January in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received the 50 participants in the plenary session of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America presided by Cardinal Giovanni Battista ...
• 22 January 2007
  VATICANO - The Holy See Press Office statement following Meeting on the situation of the Catholic Church in China. Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy See Press Office today released the following statement at the close of a meeting held in the Vatican from January 19 to 20, on the situation of the Catholic Church in China. "Pop ...
• 22 January 2007
  AMERICA/ DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - "Catholics must realise that the reception of all three of the Sacraments of Christian Initiation is necessary for the life of the Lord’s disciples”: Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on the occasion of the Feast of the national Patron Saint, Our Lady of Altagracia Santo Domingo (Agenzia Fides) - “The Sacraments of Christian Initiation” are the subject of a Pastoral Letter issued by the Bishops of the Dominican Republic on the occasion of the feast of the National Patron Saint ...
• 22 January 2007
  ASIA/INDIA - Italian Sisters of Charity of Saint Bartolomea Capitanio and Saint Vincenza Gerosa mark 170 years at the service of the Gospel in India Calcutta (Agenzia Fides) - The Italian Sisters of Maria Bambina (the Child Mary), or Sisters of Charity of Saint Bartolomea Capitanio and Saint Vincenza Gerosa, the first to evangelise in the Indian state of West Benga ...
• 22 January 2007
  ASIA/NEPAL - New temporary Constitution fails to placate tension and protest. The local Catholic community drafts a new pastoral plan looking ahead with hope Kathmandu (Agenzia Fides) - “Tension and protests cannot be placated The country is still blocked by a farmers strike in the east of the country. The farmers are protesting against the new constitution which they say ...
• 22 January 2007
  AFRICA/TANZANIA - Cardinal Pengo elected new President of the Symposium of the Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Madagascar Dar es Salaam (Agenzia Fides)- Cardinal Polycarp Pengo Archbishop of Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania was elected President of the Symposium of the Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Madagascar SECAM at the end of a ...
• 22 January 2007
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Fr. Lucio Bula, Scalabrini missionary who disappeared on 31 December alive and well Manila (Agenzia Fides) - Scalabrini missionary Fr. Lucio Bula who disappeared 31 December 2006 in the area of Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, has been seen in Manila alive and well, according to local Church sources. The same ...
• 22 January 2007
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - Catholic Justice and Peace Commission says national doctors strike must stop "an agreement must be reached because the people are the ones who are suffering” Harare (Agenzia Fides)- Ever more serious the consequences of a strike of medical staff in Zimbabwe. While the authorities have decided to send army doctors and nurses to serve in civil hospitals, the Justice and Peace C ...
• 20 January 2007
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - The Pope appoints Auxiliary Bishop of di Awka Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI on 20 January 2007, appointed Rev. Paulinus Chukwuemeka Ezeokafor until now Rector of Awka minor seminary, Auxiliary Bishop of the diocese of Awka (Nigeri ...