News

• 13 October 2003
  VATICAN - POPE SAYS AT ANGELUS: “LOOKING WITH GRATITUDE AT THE PAST I TURN PARTICULARLY TO YOUNG PEOPLE…I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THEM FOR BEING CLOSE TO ME IN THESE 25 YEARS AND I WANT THEM TO KNOW THAT I CONTINUE TO RELY ON THEM” Vatican City (Fides Service) – Thanksgiving for 25 years of Pontificate and personal thanks to youth: these were the two themes of Pope John Paul II’s meditation before praying the Angelus Prayer with the people gath ...
• 13 October 2003
  EUROPE/ITALY - ROME CITY COUNCIL HOLDS SPECIAL SESSION TO MARK POPE JOHN PAUL II’s 25 YEARS OF PONTIFICATE Rome (Fides Service) – On Monday 13 October Rome City Council will hold a special session to mark the 25 years of pontificate of Pope John Paul II. The programme will include an introduction by the City Council preside ...
• 13 October 2003
  EUROPE/GERMANY - MISSION SUNDAY – “TRUSTING IN THE WORD”: IN THE YEAR OF THE BIBLE THE PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES IN GERMANY LOOK TO CATHOLICS IN THE PHILIPPINES TO HELP GERMAN COMMUNITIES TO GROW Aachen/Munich (Fides Service) – The 2003 October mission campaign launched by the Pontifical Mission Societies in Germany has been planned to fit the framework of the Year of the Bible being celebrated in local Churche ...
• 13 October 2003
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - OPPOSITION TO PRESIDENT MUGABE ANNOUNCES WAVE OF STRIKES TO PROTEST GOVERNMENT ECONOMIC POLICY WHICH HAD LED THE COUNTRY TO COLLAPSE Harare (Fides Service) – In Zimbabwe the Opposition is planning series of strikes to protest against President Robert Mugabe’s economic policies. “The country is collapsing” opposition leaders say “the people ...
• 13 October 2003
  ASIA/KOREA - SCANDALS SHAKE SOUTH KOREA PRESIDENCY: ROH ANNOUNCES REFERENDUM ON HIS GOVERNMENT Seoul (Fides Service) - South Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun has proposed a national referendum on his rule in mid-December after admitting he had lost confidence in his ability to govern. In office for only eight months ...
• 13 October 2003
  AFRICA/SENEGAL - CARDINAL SEPE CLOSES SECAM/SCEAM PLENARY: CHURCH IN AFRICA EVANGELISE YOURSELF AND HELP WITH THE CHURCH’S UNIVERSAL MISSION Dakar (Fides Service) – The Plenary of the Symposium of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Madagascar SCEAM/SECAM held in Dakar, Senegal attended by 150 Bishop delegates of African Bishops’ Conferences cl ...
• 13 October 2003
  VATICAN - 25 YEARS OF PONTIFICATE: “KAROL WOJTYLA CHAIR” INSTITUTED AT THE JOHN PAUL II PONTIFICAL INSTITUTE FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, PONTIFICAL LATERAN UNIVERSITY Dakar (Fides Service) – To mark the 25th year of pontificate of Pope John Paul II, on 14 October a Karol Wojtyla Chair will be inaugurated at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Marriage and the Family, at the Po ...
• 13 October 2003
  ASIA/INDIA - KARNATAKA, DISQUIETING SIGNAL ON THE EVE OF MOTHER TERESA’S BEATIFICATION: MURDER OF CATHOLIC PRIEST LIVING IN ASHRAM COMMUNITY CENTRE, ASSASSINS PROBABLY HINDU FUNDAMENTALISTS Dakar (Fides Service) – In India Hindu fundamentalists continue to target Christians. The most recent victim was Catholic priest Sanjeevananda Swami who lived in a Catholic Ashram in Belur, near Kolar in the archdioces ...
• 13 October 2003
  AMERICA/BOLIVIA - POLICE CLASH WITH PROTESTERS: 22 KILLED IN EL ALTO CITY, AT LEAST 60 INJURED IN THE ANTI-GAS WAR AGAINST THE GOVERNEMNT PLAN TO EXPORT NATURAL GAS Rome (Fides Service) – At least 22 people were killed and at least 60 injured in clashes between police and protesters in uprisings which have bloodied Bolivia for the past 48 hours, in particular in the capita, La Paz ...
• 13 October 2003
  AMERICA/COSTA RICA - 12,885 CASES OF DENGUE: INFECTION SPREADING, CONCERN FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN THE RAINS START? Rome (Fides Service) – Costa Rican Health Ministry recently communicated alarming developments in the epidemic of Dengue in Costa Rica. Of 12,885 cases of infection reported, 38 are suffering from acute haemorrhage fev ...
• 13 October 2003
  VATICAN - “A WOMAN IN LOVE WITH JESUS” : POSTULATOR OF MOTHER TERESA’S BEATIFICATION CAUSE FR KOLODIEJCHUK, SPEAKS TO FIDES Vatican City (Fides Service) – Mother Teresa was “a woman in love with Christ” says Fr Brian Kolodiejchuk Postulator of the beatification cause of Mother Teresa who will be beatified on 19 October. Father Brian, a ...
• 11 October 2003
  CATHOLIC CHURCH STATISTICS - (valid to 31 December 2001) Vatican City (Fides Service) – Fides Service statistics offer an overall view of the Catholic Church in the world as registered on 31 December 2001. Our figures are taken from the Church’s Annual Book of Statistics ( ...
• 10 October 2003
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - WORLD MISSION SUNDAY - ROSARY PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR PEACE AND EVANGELISATION AT THE END OF THE YEAR OF THE ROSARY: BISHOPS DEDICATE THE ROSARY IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER TO PRAYING FOR THE CONTINENTS OF THE WORLD Manila (Fides Service) - During the 87th Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines Assembly held last July 5-7, 2003, the Bishops approved the following Rosary Prayer Intentions to be prayed all over the Philippine ...
• 10 October 2003
  EUROPE/POLAND - WORLD MISSION SUNDAY –YEAR OF THE ROSARY: THOUSANDS OF ROSARIES FOR THE MISSIONS AND THE POPE “THE GREATEST MISSIONARY OF OUR TIME” Warsaw (Fides Service) – In preparation for World Mission Sunday, the diocesan Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies took part in a three day spiritual retreat followed by a missiology session on “The mission ...
• 10 October 2003
  FIDES WEB SITE SPECIAL PAGE FOR WORLD MISSION SUNDAY To celebrate WORLD MISSION SUNDAY this year October 19th see special Fides page on www.fides.org You will find: • Pope John Paul II’s message for World Mission Sunday and the messages of previous years • Pres ...