News

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  9 January 2017
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - The Archdiocese of Manila strengthens the commitment for the rehabilitation of drug addicts Manila (Agenzia Fides) - The Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, signed an agreement which establishes a partnership between the Archdiocese of Manila and "Fazenda da Esperança" ("Farm of Hope"), a specia ...
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  9 January 2017
  ASIA/IRAQ - Christian neighborhood of Mosul freed. Chaldean priest: not all refugees will return Mosul (Agenzia Fides) - On Sunday, January 8 the Iraqi regular army regained control of al Sukkar, an area in eastern Mosul once inhabited mostly by Christian families. This is what local sources reported to online magaz ...
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  9 January 2017
  AMERICA/BRAZIL - The situation in prisons: a time bomb that could explode at any time Manaus (Agenzia Fides) - "Talking about prisons means talking about a factory of torture, which produces violence and creates monsters. It is a stressful environment and barbarism is constant," says Father Valdir João S ...
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  9 January 2017
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - The rebellion of the military has subsided, but a climate of violence remains, as denounced by the Church Abidjan (Agenzia Fides) - Calm has returned in the Ivory Coast where the military in revolt had caused panic in several cities of the Country including the economic capital, Abidjan. The revolt started from Bouake, the s ...
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  9 January 2017
  AFRICA/EGYPT - President al Sisi: I will build the largest church in the nation Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - It will be the largest Coptic Church of Egypt, it will be inaugurated by 2018 in the new capital which is being built on the margin of Cairo's metropolis, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Si ...
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  9 January 2017
  AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - "Presidential pardon for political prisoners" requested by the Archbishop of Juba Juba (Agenzia Fides) - "I ask the President to pardon and forgive all political prisoners as well as others arrested for minor offenses, other who may have been arrested because of rumors mongering and propagandaI" asked ...
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  5 January 2017
  AFRICA/KENYA - Controversy on the use of the manual voting system instead of the electronic system Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - Kenya is waiting for the decision of the Senate Legal Affairs Committee to confirm or not the amendment voted by Parliament on December 22. The Bill provides for use of a manual backup in identi ...
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  5 January 2017
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - A missionary: "A death sentence every day" Manila (Agenzia Fides) - "There are over 6,000 deaths, suspected marijuana drug dealers or other drugs, and 1,000 people killed, only on the basis of a suspect, in the last month. For some it may be a great success: it i ...
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  4 January 2017
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - A Christian arrested for alleged blasphemy Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - Babu Shahbaz, a Christian from the village of Kamahan, near Lahore, was arrested by the police for alleged blasphemy. As Fides learns, on December 30 a formal complaint was filed to the police ag ...
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  4 January 2017
  AFRICA/CONGO - Environment: Bishops denounce deforestation and pollution of rivers Brazzaville (Agenzia Fides) - Forests disappear little by little due to the over-exploitation of timber and reforestation policy throughout the national territory", denounce the Bishops of the Republic of Congo (Congo Br ...
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  4 January 2017
  ASIA/INDIA - The Sisters of Loreto: 175 years on mission in South Asia Calcutta (Agenzia Fides) - The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM), which brings together the religious better known as "Sisters of Loreto", celebrates 175 years of missionary presence in South Asia. "With immens ...
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  4 January 2017
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - President Nkurunziza: "I may stand for re-election in 2020" Bujumbura (Agenzia Fides) - Towards a fourth term of President Pierre Nkurunziza? This is what the same Head of State of Burundi hinted and also stressed the possibility of amending the Constitution to obtain a fourth te ...
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  3 January 2017
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Land-grabbing and assault on Pakistani Christians in Sindh Hyderabad (Agenzia Fides) - For Christians in Pakistan the new year opens with a painful issue: mafia organizations in cahoots with the police in Sukkur, in the district of Hyderabad (Sindh province in southern Pakistan) ...
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  3 January 2017
  AFRICA/DR CONGO - Further negotiations are needed to put into practice the agreement on December 31 Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - The agreement reached on December 31 between the majority and opposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo need other agreements in order to be applied. Local observers are convinced of this ...
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  2 January 2017
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Christmas festivities and education for the children of the Christian couple burned alive for blasphemy Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - The Pakistani Christian couple Shama and Shahzad Masih, beaten and burned to death for alleged blasphemy in November 2014, have three children Suleiman, Sonia and Poonam who celebrated the Christ ...