World Touch Archives - Page 55 of 71

Rome

Pontiff Lauds Aid for Agriculture

Assistance given to rural communities contributes to food security for the whole planet, said Benedict XVI. The Pope affirmed this in an address to members of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, who were marking the 30th anniversary of the Fund’s establishment. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations, was established in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference; the conference was organized in response to the food crises of the early 1970s that primarily affected Africa. The Holy Father affirmed that since its earliest days, the Fund “has achieved an exemplary form of cooperation and co-responsibility between nations at different stages of development.”

www.zenit.org

Africa/Asia

Rise in the Number of Priests and Laypeople

The number of Catholic priests has increased in Asia and Africa but dropped in the Western world, according to the Vatican’s latest statistical yearbook released in February. The number of Catholic priests worldwide rose from 405,178 in 2000 to 408,024 in 2007, after markedly dropping in the previous two decades, reported Radio Vatican and other media.

UCA News

India

Oscars Put Outcasts in the Limelight

India celebrated Slumdog Millionaire’s sweeping success at the Academy Award ceremony. In addition to the movie by director Danny Boyle, which took home eight Oscars, Smile Pinki won for Best Documentary Short Subject, telling the story of a six-year-old girl from the village of Dabai in Uttar Pradesh who becomes a social outcast because of a cleft lip. From the victories of British director Boyle and US documentary maker Megan Mylan, few Indians received also an award: they were composer A.R. Rahman, singer Sampooran Singh Gulzar and sound designer Resul Pookutty.

Nirmala Carvalho

U.S.A.

God has a Role in the “Mediasphere”

God has a role in the media, and the Church should have a voice to evangelize souls through all modern means of communication, says the Social Communications Council president. Archbishop Claudio Celli affirmed this at a conference in Dallas, USA, that was sponsored by the New Evangelization of America. His presentation was titled: “The Role of Mass Communications in Evangelization.”

China

The List of Human Rights Dark Areas

Pro-rights organization listed a number of issues the United Nations should raise with China, whose human rights record went under scrutiny last month, when a UN commission examined the country’s “performance” in Geneva (Switzerland). According to Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), a pro-rights group which has published a list of questions that need answers covering every aspect of Chinese life, the list of problematic issues start with personal freedom.

www.asianews.it / Agencies

Stop Genocide, Bishops Tell Mugabe

President Robert Mugabe, clinging illegitimately to power, is perpetrating genocide, the Catholic bishops of southern Africa have said. He should leave now: “We call on Mugabe to step down immediately.”

www.cisanewsafrica.org

Philippines

Vatican Recognizes First Asian Society of Priests

Canonical recognition was given to the Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP), the first society of priests founded in Asia, now present in 13 countries. Asianews reported that the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Ivan Dias, signed the pontifical decree. MSP was created in 1965 by the Filipino bishops, on the fourth centennial of the nation’s evangelization. Their goal was “to express in the concrete our gratitude to God for the gift of our faith,” sharing it with “the peoples in Asia and the rest of the world.”

www.zenit.org

Sri Lanka

An Anti-conversion Law Presented in Parliament

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is closely following the legal process of the new anti-conversion law that has been presented in recent days to the country’s Parliament. It is a strong measure being taken by the political parties of Buddhist influence, which will now be up for debate. The law, based on the model already approved in several states of India, would “impede the conversion of a person from one religion to the other, if carried out with the use of force, trickery, or fraudulent measures.”

www.fides.org

Philippines

Miners Under Fire Over Rice Shortage

Citing food security and environmental concerns, Philippine bishops have called for a country-wide moratorium on mining as another part-Australian owned mine project in Mindanao comes under fire over fears of damage to agriculture. A moratorium on mining is needed if the country is to avoid a rice shortage in the long term, foreign environment experts have found after a study done in six mining sites across the country, echoing the sentiment raised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

World

Mining Methods Threaten Local Communities

Catholic development network, CIDSE, has slammed current methods of extracting natural resources in Latin America as leading to loss of livelihood, violent conflict, persistent human rights violations and environmental degradation. “Local communities living in areas rich in natural resources are threatened. We demand that their basic social and environmental rights are respected,” CIDSE’s representative at the World Social Forum in Belém, Brazil, Geneviève-Camille Tournon, said. “This includes the right to be consulted and to refuse a project in cases where the social and environmental costs are too high.”

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Category: World Touch