News

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  24 August 2024
  VATICAN - Sister Inês Paulo Albino new Secretary General of the Pontifical Society for Missionary Childhood Vatican City (Fides News Agency) - The Holy Father Francis has appointed Reverend Sister Inês Paulo Albino, A.S.C., Counsellor of the Institute of Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ, as Secretary General of the Pont ...
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  24 August 2024
  ASIA/INDONESIA - "Differences in the relationship with God are not cause for struggle: this is what we teach in schools". Interview with the Minister for Religious Affairs by Paolo Affatato Jakarta (Fides News Agency) - A painting occupies an entire wall in the office of the Minister of Religious Affairs, in the Ministry building, in the center of Jakarta. The large canvas depicts the f ...
• 23 August 2024
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - North Kivu: truce breached, but negotiations continue with Angolan mediation Kinshasa (Fides News Agency) - Violations have been reported in the ceasefire in North Kivu (in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo), which took effect on August 4 (see Fides 8/8/2024). The agreement negotia ...
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  23 August 2024
  ASIA/INDONESIA - Waiting for Pope Francis, along with the Muslim brothers. An interview with Ignazio Suharyo, Cardinal of Jakarta (I/II) by Paolo Affatato Jakarta (Fides News Agency) – Every year, on the Islamic feast of the Sacrifice, the Catholic community of Jakarta gifts the Muslim community a cow. And the imam of the great mosque advises everyon ...
• 22 August 2024
  AFRICA/SUDAN - Uphill road for peace talks in Geneva; three humanitarian corridors reopened Khartoum (Fides News Agency) – The reopening of three crossing points for humanitarian aid is so far the only (albeit important) result of the peace talks for Sudan currently underway in Geneva. Representatives of th ...
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  22 August 2024
  OCEANIA/PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Among the seminarians waiting for the Pope: "The missionaries have sown the seeds" by Fabio Beretta Port Moresby (Fides News Agency) – "What does God want from me?". There is joy and many expectations among the young seminarians of Papua New Guinea: in a few days' time they will meet Pope Francis. ...
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  22 August 2024
  ASIA/INDONESIA - Following Jesus in the Land of "Pancasila". An interview with Cardinal of Jakarta Ignazio Suharyo (I/II) by Paolo Affatato Jakarta (Fides News Agency) – Entering the Jakarta cathedral complex - named after Our Lady of the Assumption - is a display with the image of Pope Francis counting down, telling the faithful how m ...
• 21 August 2024
  AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - Kidnappings for ransom on the rise Addis Ababa (Fides News Agency) – Kidnappings for ransom are on the rise in several regions of Ethiopia. These are carried out by criminal gangs as well as guerrilla movements that use ransom money to finance themselve ...
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  21 August 2024
  VATICAN/GENERAL AUDIENCE - The Pope: Christians spread the fragrance of Christ, not the stench of their own sins Vatican City (Fides News Agency) - "We are, before God, the fragrance of Christ". Pope Francis quotes Saint Paul and asks Catholics to commit so people may feel "the fragrance of the Spirit of Christ" surrounding each be ...
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  21 August 2024
  EUROPE/UKRAINE - This is how the Orthodox Church connected with the Moscow Patriarchate has been banned from Ukraine by Chiara Dommarco Kiev (Fides News Agency) – On Tuesday, August 20, the Verkhovna Rada, the unicameral Parliament of Ukraine, approved, in its second reading, Bill 8371, entitled "On the protection of the constitut ...
• 20 August 2024
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - Concern for the fate of the 20 medical students abducted on August 15 Abuja (Fides News Agency) - Still no news of the 20 medical students abducted on August 15th in Benue State, in east-central Nigeria. The students were en route to the annual national congress held by the Federation of C ...
• 19 August 2024
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - "The crisis in North Kivu is not just neglected but tolerated" says the UN Humanitarian Coordinator to the DRC Kinshasa (Fides News Agency) - "6 humanitarian operators were killed and 11 kidnapped between January and June of this year, with upwards of 200 incidents which directly targeted humanitarian operators on the field", sai ...
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  19 August 2024
  AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Eln proclaims an "armed strike". The bishops: "Violence is never the answer" Bogota (Fides News Agency) - The stalemate in peace negotiations and the dialogue crisis between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the government have plunged Colombia into an increasingly tightening spiral of viole ...
• 19 August 2024
  AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - The governor of Unity State bans forced marriages Juba (Fides News Agency) - Enough with forced marriages for women and girls. This is what Riek Biem, governor of Unity State in South Sudan, has established. "I am the governor of this State and I declare today: let us s ...
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  18 August 2024
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO - Sixty years after martyrdom, the missionaries of Uvira proclaimed Blessed Uvira (Fides News Agency) – Blessed are the Xaverian missionaries killed out of an odium fidei during the Mulelist uprising against the Congolese Government. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Archbishop of Kinshasa, r ...