News

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  6 March 2025
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Bangsamoro: dialogue initiatives to counter the increase in violence in the Muslim region Zamboanga City (Agenzia Fides) - The increase in violence in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), in the south of the Philippines, is a factor that worries society, public opinion and religious le ...
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  6 March 2025
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - “Insecurity prevails in Bukavu where not a night goes by without three or four bodies found on the street” Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - "Not a night goes by in Bukavu without finding three or four bodies on the street. Bodies also emerge from the lake," report local church sources in Bukavu, the capital of the Congolese provinc ...
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  6 March 2025
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - Father Sylvester Okechukwu killed on Ash Wednesday, a few hours after his kidnapping Abuja (Agenzia Fides) – A Catholic priest was kidnapped and then killed in northern Nigeria. He is Father Sylvester Okechukwu, parish priest of the church of St Mary Tachira, Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State ...
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  5 March 2025
  GENERAL AUDIENCE - Pope Francis' Catechesis on the Childhood of Jesus: "Mary and Joseph felt the pain of parents with a missing child" Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Virgin is a pilgrim of hope, in the strong sense that she becomes the “daughter of her Son”, the first of His disciples. Mary brought into the world Jesus, Hope of humanity; she nou ...
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  5 March 2025
  AMERICA/HAITI - “Educating to create a supportive and fraternal community”: literacy school for young people and adults Jeremie (Agenzia Fides) – “I have returned to Jeremie for a few days to stock up on supplies so I can continue with community activities. With the March 8th celebration approaching, the parish, together with the wome ...
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  5 March 2025
  AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - Peace agreement at risk after arrest of two people linked to Vice President Machar Juba (Agenzia Fides) - The peace agreement in South Sudan is at risk following the arrest of Lieutenant General Gabriel Doup Lam, a senior military officer linked to First Vice President Riek Machar, whose home has been ...
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  5 March 2025
  ASIA/MYANMAR - In Kachin State: Catholic pastoral center bombed Banmaw (Agenzia Fides) - The pastoral center on the grounds of the Catholic Church of St. Michael in Nan Hlaing, in a rural area of the diocese of Banmaw (northern Myanmar), was hit and destroyed by a bombing raid by the ...
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  5 March 2025
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - Killings, kidnappings and forced labor are taking place in the areas occupied by the M23 Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - Killings, kidnappings and forced labor are taking place in Kamanyola, the village in the Ruzizi Plain (in the province of South Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo) that is on ...
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  4 March 2025
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - Dramatic kidnapping of a priest and a seminarian Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - A dramatic kidnapping of a priest and a seminarian took place in Nigeria. Father Philip Ekeli and seminarian Peter Andrew were captured by armed men who entered the Catholic Church of St. Peter in ...
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  4 March 2025
  ASIA/CAMBODIA - Apostolic Prefect Figaredo: a border wall is not the solution to the fight against human trafficking Battambang (Agenzia Fides) - The Thai government has announced that it will study the feasibility of building a wall along the border with Cambodia to prevent illegal border crossings. According to the Bangkok government ...
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  4 March 2025
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - South Kivu: Front lines between the M23 and the "Wazalendo" militias run through the Ruzizi plain Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - The front line between the M23 guerrillas and the "Wazalendo" militiamen runs through the Ruzizi plain (in the province of South Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo). Accordin ...
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  4 March 2025
  ASIA/CHINA - The Bishops of Shanghai and Hong Kong pray together for the Pope's health at the Marian Shrine of Sheshan Sheshan (Agenzia Fides) – “I was here with Bishop Joseph Shen Bin to pray for Pope Francis.” With these words, Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Bishop of Hong Kong, describes the central moment of his recent visit to ...
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  4 March 2025
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - The Bishops: “Do not close schools for five weeks during the Ramadan period” Abuja (Agenzia Fides) – The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria have expressed concern about the maintenance of the secular nature of the country in relation to the proposal of some northern states of the Federation ...
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  4 March 2025
  ASIA/KUWAIT - Workshops and Seminars in the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia: "Women Pilgrims of Hope in a Synodal Church" Kuwait City (Agenzia Fides) – The AVONA Women's Program (AWP) in the Vicariate of Northern Arabia continues its mission in Kuwait with a conference and workshop held in four parishes: Our Lady of Arabia in Ahmadi, St ...
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  3 March 2025
  ASIA/CHINA - Lent in the Catholic community in Beijing: a daily work of charity Beijing (Agenzia Fides) - The parish of the Cathedral of the Diocese of Beijing invites the Catholic faithful, as "pilgrims of hope" in the Holy Year, to a "daily work of charity for the entire Lent (from March 5 to Apri ...