One of my favorite news agencies is Fides News, a service associated with the Catholic Church's Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. Fides carries news from all over the world, giving an "on the ground" Catholic perspective on world events. From natural disasters, wars and famines to new seminaries, schools and hospitals and addresses from bishops in third world countries, Fides gives an account of what's going in the world and how the Church is ministering to those those affected by these events.

Here's a sample of some recent news items, follow the links for the whole stories:

• From the Democratic Republic of Congo
  Repeated violence in east Congo is causing tens of thousands to abandon homes and fields. Warned that food supplies will soon run out the United Nations World Food Programme has launched an urgent call to international donors to give more funds assist these suffering people. The situation is most serious in Gety, in Ituri province, where 38,000 displaced persons are sheltering. On July 14 WFP took two week food rations from its stores at Bunia to distribute to 30,000 people in Gety, but now its supplies are almost finished and more funds are urgently needed.

• From Israel
  St John of God Catholic Hospital in Nazareth was the first to give emergency treatment to victims of an attack on the town a week ago in the present conflict. At about 5pm on Wednesday 19 July, re-named Nazareth’s black Wednesday, without any warning three Katyusha rockets suddenly landed in the Bilal district of the Arab part of the town hitting a mosque in front of which several children were playing.

• From East Timor
  If more young men ask to serve the Lord and consecrate their lives to service of the Church and the people in East Timor, there is still hope for the youngest democracy in Asia, despite conditions of political and social instability. The occasion of the solemn profession of new Salesians di Camilo Boavida and Venancio Fatima Freitas was in fact a festive event for the whole community in Baucau. People put aside their daily worries and anxieties to share in the joy of the two young men called by God to follow in the footsteps of Saint John Bosco.

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