News

• 3 February 2007
  EUROPE/PORTUGAL - “Flame of Life” after pilgrimage across Lamengo diocese will be placed at the feet of Our Lady of Fatima to whom the Cause for Life is entrusted Fatima (Agenzia Fides) - A "Flame of Life" initiative has been launched by the Youth Pastoral Office of the diocese of Lamego in Portugal, on the occasion of a national referendum on abortion on 11 February. The initiati ...
• 3 February 2007
  ASIA/CHINA - Death of China’s longest living Bishop ever: Bishop Giuseppe Meng Ziwen 103 years, 20 spent in forced labour: “without those years in detention my health would never have been as strong. Everything I did was a gift from God”. Nanning (Agenzia Fides) - On 7 January Bishop Giuseppe Meng Ziwen, Archbishop of Nanning, Guangxi province of China 2,767 km south west of Beijing, died at the age of 103. China’s longest living bishop ever was born on ...
• 3 February 2007
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Suwon Diocese launches Family Sanctification Movement Suwon (Agenzia Fides) - The Evangelisation Office of the diocese of Suwon has officially approved a new locally formed Church Movement for the Sanctification of the Family which will start its activity on Ash Wednesday 2 ...
• 3 February 2007
  OCEANIA/SOLOMON ISLANDS - Melanesian spirituality, good basis for proclaiming the Gospel among the “dark skinned people of Oceania” Honiara (Agenzia Fides) - Melanesia culture and spirituality, a holistic understanding of human and divine, was a good basis for announcing the Good News of Jesus Christ. In fact only 150 years since the first attempts a ...
• 2 February 2007
  VATICAN - Jews, Christians and Muslims called “to recognise and intensify the bonds which unite them”: Pope Benedict XVI addresses Foundation for Inter-religious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue delegation Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - During the morning of February 1, Benedict XVI received a delegation from the Foundation for Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Research and Dialogue, led by their president, Metropolitan A ...
• 2 February 2007
  VATICAN - May the shared ecclesial patrimony of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches direct our steps towards full communion: Pope Benedict XVI receives Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On Thursday 1 February in the Vatican, the Pope received members of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, which is currently holding it ...
• 2 February 2007
  EUROPE/GT BRITAIN - Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster expresses disappointment that Catholic adoption agencies will not be exempt from considering same sex couples as possible adoptive parents London (Agenzia Fides) - “We are deeply disappointed that no exemption will be granted to our agencies on the grounds of widely held religious conviction and conscience" Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor Cormac, Archbishop of W ...
• 2 February 2007
  AMERICA/UNITED STATES - The Holy See decides not to adhere to new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which makes unacceptable references to ‘reproduction health’ Washington (Agenzia Fides) - Made public today was a talk delivered by Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, concerning a Convention on the Rights of Persons with D ...
• 2 February 2007
  AMERICA/CHILE - Free ‘day after pill’ is not the solution the country deserves, “because it attacks human life when it is most helpless” says President of Catholic Bishops’ Conference Rancagua (Agenzia Fides) - “Protection of life at every stage is an essential value for human life and human dignity” said Bishop Alejandro Goic Karmelic of the diocese of Rancagua and president of the Catholic Bisho ...
• 2 February 2007
  ASIA/HOLY LAND - 70 new homes for poor Christians: Franciscans help Christ’s followers stay in the Holy Land Jerusalem (Agenzia Fides) - During the Season of Lent, in view of Palm Sunday, the Franciscan Custodians of the Holy Land will build 70 new homes in Jerusalem for poor Christian families living in ever more difficult con ...
• 1 February 2007
  VATICAN - Barnabas, Silvanus and Apollos, co-workers of St Paul, “shine in the host of witnesses to the Gospel, bright examples of selflessness and generosity”: the Pope’s weekly catechesis Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - St Paul “was a man who welcomed collaboration” and in the Church “rather than try to do everything himself”, he relied on the help of many companions: some of these “who played an ...
• 1 February 2007
  VATICAN - WORDS OF DOCTRINE -Ministers, in other words, servants of the Church Rev Nicola Bux and Rev Salvatore Vitiello - Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - We recently saw yet another attempt by some clumsy “news man”, to invent a scoop anonymously recording and diffusing answers given by priests in the confessional. The recorded answers a ...
• 1 February 2007
  VATICAN - 2 February, Day for Consecrated Life: “Like lighted candles, always and everywhere shine with the love of Christ, Light of the world” Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “We are all aware of the treasure which the gift of the consecrated life in the variety of its charisms and institutions represents for the ecclesial community. Together let us thank God ...
• 1 February 2007
  AFRICA/BENIN -Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, Dean emeritus of the College of Cardinals and first African bishop called by the Pope to an important post in the Roman Curia celebrates 50th anniversary of ordination as a Bishop with special Mass of Thanksgiving Ouidah (Agenzia Fides) - Fifty years ago on 3 February 1957 Cardinal Bernardin Gantin was ordained a bishop having been appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the archdiocese of Cotonou in Benin on 11 December 1956. To mark this ...
• 1 February 2007
  AMERICA/ARGENTINA - 11 February 12 dioceses celebrate 50 anniversaries Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) - February 11 2007 is an important date in Argentina because 12 dioceses will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of foundation. On 11 February 1957 Pope Pius XII with the Bull "Quandoquidem ...