News

• 29 March 2006
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - Catholic Bishops ask UN general secretary to open International Criminal Court for Congo Kinshasa (Fides Service)- “It would be opportune and desirable to have an International Criminal Court (ICC) for Democratic Republic of Congo”. This request was made to Kofi Annan Secretary General of the United Nati ...
• 29 March 2006
  ASIA/VIETNAM - New alarm for spreading AIDS among Asian youth: 30,000 HIV+ children in south east Asia Hanoi (Fides Service) - One billion children and young people in Asia are at high risk for AIDS contagion. This emerged during a meeting on AIDS and Children held in Hanoi organised by UNICEF and UNAIDS and Vietnam. Th ...
• 28 March 2006
  VATICAN - On the first anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II Rome diocese organises evening prayers in St Peter’s Square Rome (Fides Service) - For Sunday 2 April the first anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II the diocese of Rome is organising with his successor Pope Benedict XVI a prayer vigil in St Peter’s Square to thank God ...
• 28 March 2006
  EUROPE/ITALY - To retrace the steps of Pope John Paul who died in Rome a year ago, Italian and Polish military, civilian and disabled athletes will carry The Lolek Flame from his tomb in St Peter’s in Rome on to the Marian shrine in Loreto and home to Krakow in Poland Rome (Fides Service) - To mark the first anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II The Lolek Flame will be symbolically lit at the tomb of the Pope in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica on 28 March and then carried b ...
• 28 March 2006
  AMERICA/VENEZUELA - Pro Life-Venezuela forum calls for more synergy between organisations working to protect human life at every stage Caracas (Fides Service) - As part of initiatives for the Pro-Life Week in Venezuela (see Fides 18/3/2006), organised by the Venezuelan Bishops’ Family and Childhood Commission numerous pro-life organisations and groups ...
• 28 March 2006
  AMERICA - Minutes of 1st Conference of Church Movements and New Communities held in Bogota 9-12 March available on the Internet Bogota ( Fides Service) - The general secretariat of CELAM and the department for ecclesial communion and dialogue have made available on the Internet the minutes of the 1st Conference of Church Movements and New Commun ...
• 28 March 2006
  VATICAN - Planning and building God’s house. Contribution by Bishop Mauro Piacenza, President of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. “The Altar” Vatican City (Fides Service) - “The altar on which the sacrifice of the cross is made present in sacramental signs is also the Lord’s table at which the people of God are called to participate when they are gathered ...
• 28 March 2006
  AFRICA/MALAWI - Important changes and debates as Malawi struggles to win the fight with famine Lilongwe (Fides Service) - “An important week-long meeting of the Malawi Constitutional Review starts today 28 March” says Italian Monfort missionary Giorgio Gamba in Malawi. “This event will mark the beginning ...
• 28 March 2006
  AFRICA/KENYA - Aid for drought affected people is coming but more is needed to save 11 million people in east Africa at starvation risk Nairobi (Fides Service)- Kenya has started a cereal import programme to help feed 5 million hungry people in the north east of the country. This was announced by President Mwai Kibaki who said food supplies distributed s ...
• 28 March 2006
  ASIA/CHINA - At Immaculate Conception parish in Beijing 100 catechumens ready to become members of the Church this Easter Beijing (Fides Service) - There are over 100 catechumens at the Immaculate Conception parish in Beijing opened by the great 17th century Italian missionary Matteo Ricci SJ preparing to receive the Sacraments of Christian ...
• 27 March 2006
  The Pope’s missionary prayer intention April 2006: “That the Church in China may engage in its mission to evangelise with serenity and full freedom” Comment by Rev. Ambrogio Spreafico, rector of Urban University Rome (Fides Service) - “Go out into the world and preach the Gospel to all creatures” Jesus said to his disciples after his Resurrection. This missionary mandate has animated the Church from the very beginning. This ...
• 27 March 2006
  VATICAN - At the Angelus prayer the Pope remembers persecuted Christians and martyr missionaries “the Consistory was an event which made us feel closer than ever to Christians who are persecuted for their faith” Vatican City (Fides Service) - At midday on Sunday 26 March, following his morning visit to the Roman parish of God the Merciful Father, Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study to pray the Angelus with thousands ...
• 27 March 2006
  VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI pastoral visit to parish of God the Merciful Father: “despite our unworthiness, we are the objects of the infinite mercy of God. God loves us with a love which we might call “obstinate” and he holds us close in his inexhaustible tenderness Rome (Fides Service) - On the fourth Sunday of Lent, 26 March Pope Benedict, the Bishop of Rome, made a pastoral visit to one of his parishes, the parish of God the Merciful Father built at the request of Pope John Paul ...
• 27 March 2006
  ASIA/IRAQ - Emmanuel III Delly Patriarch of Babylon of Chaldean Catholics invites believers of the world to fast and pray 3 and 4 April for peace in Iraq” Baghdad (Fides Service) - Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and chairman of the council of Catholic Bishops in Iraq has called on believers of all faiths in Iraq and the world over to fast and pra ...
• 27 March 2006
  AFRICA - African Enchiridion the fruit of long labouring to collect African Catholic Church writings: testimony from author Fr. Oseni Ogunu Rome (Fides Service)- “The idea of writing the "African Enchiridion" (AE) was a gradual and difficult process which began in late 1997, in the course of my academic studies and research in Rome, says Oseni Ogunu aut ...