When Pope Francis offers Mass during international trips, an image of the Marian devotion of the country he is visiting is usually placed near the altar. On Nov. 24 the image used at a papal Mass in Nagasaki had an additional significance: It is a sculpture of Mary that survived the explosion of the atomic bomb in 1945. They call ...

Pope Francis meets with youth in Japan Nov. 25, 2019. Credit: Vatican Media. By Hannah Brockhaus If people neglect prayer and the interior life, they are at risk of becoming spiritual zombies, who seem fine on the outside, but on the inside are lonely and lacking life, Pope Francis said Monday. Speaking to around 900 young people in Tokyo’s Cathedral ...

Pope Francis says Mass in Tokyo, Japan Nov. 25, 2019. Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA. Amid the confusion and anxiety often found in modern society, Christ offers us the perspective and freedom to order our lives properly, Pope Francis said at Mass in Tokyo on Monday. “Worldly attitudes that look only to one’s own profit or gain in this world, and a ...

By Amaka Olua Students of the Catholic Diocese of Awka owned St Dominic Savio Seminary, Akpu, have recorded a 100% pass in the 2019 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). This was contained in the report signed and presented by the Academic Dean of the seminary, Rev Fr. Augustine Nnadi, at the Parent-Teacher-Development-Association Meeting (P.T.D.A) on November 17. Fr Nnadi disclosed ...

By Ikeugonna Eleke The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB says it will chase away from Ebonyi State all members of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association who foment trouble for indigenes of the state. A release by Emma Powerful, the spokesperson of the group, which was made available to Fides in Awka, stated that the group had done it before in ...

. . . Commissions Chapter Office By Abuchi Onwumelu The Apex Socio Cultural Igbo Organization, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Anambra State Chapter, led by Ichie Damian Okeke-Ogene, last Wednesday paid a sensitization cum familiarization visit to Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State where it inaugurated its executive, with Mr Uzo Ekemezie as chairman. They also commissioned the LG office of ...

. . . Advocates for National Suicide Prevention Strategy By Ifeoma Ezenyilimba The Federal House of Representatives has called on the Nigerian Government to, as a matter of urgency, adopt a national suicide prevention strategy to reduce the high rate of suicides in the country. The House made the call following a Motion on the urgent need to address the ...

By Jude Atupulazi The immediate past elected councilors in Anambra State who served between 2014 and 2017 have said they have nothing personal against the Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, but are only agitating for the payment of their legitimate entitlements. The former councilors, as well as former supervisors and local government secretaries, are currently at the Industrial Court in ...

By Abuchi Onwumelu The 2019 Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Anambra State Council Media Games, has ended with Fides Media Chapel winning the female table tennis competition through Miss Uchechukwu Enem. The games started on 18 November and ended on the 28th. The Games started on the 18 November and ended on the 28. Eight out of the twenty chapels ...

By Abuchi Onwumelu The Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, has inaugurated a 51-man Anambra State 50 Year Development Plan Committee tagged, ”Vision 2070”, with former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, as chairman. Inaugurating the committee, Obiano, at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, charged them to deliver within 9 months, saying that the plan ...

By Jude Atupulazi The immediate past Governor of Anambra State and Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Peter Obi, has congratulated the award-winning author, Chimamanda Adichie, on her recent United Nations Foundation’s Global Leadership Award for her work on literature. Obi was speaking to Airport correspondents at the international wing of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, ...

By Emeka Umeagbalasi The detailed criminal indictment of Allen Ifechukwu Atthan Onyema (Air Peace Boss), Ejiroghene Eghagha and their ‘other associates ‘known and unknown’ by the Grand Jury of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, in the Criminal Indictment No. 1:19-CR-464, dated 19th November, 2019, is a clear indication that America is not ...

By Sunny A. Ijomah The wife of Governor of Anambra State and founder of Caring Family Enhancement Initiative (CAFE), an NGO, Dr. (Mrs.) Ebelechukwu Obiano said that “No Woman should be Subjected to Violence because women represent everything that edifies humanity.” Mrs. Obiano made the plea in a special message in Awka signed by Deputy Chief Press Secretary to the ...

Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and productivity, says there must be penalty for positing false information on social media. In a series of tweets on Monday, the former human rights activist said activists who oppose the bill seeking to regulate social media should stop blocking people who irritate them on the platforms. He also said they should apologise ...

By Sunny A. Ijomah The long awaited dream of concession of Onitsha River Port may be a dream come true, going by the statement of the new Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, Chief George Moghalu. Chief Moghalu, who during his familiarisation tour of the Onitsha River Port lamented that the port which was commissioned in 2013 by ...

By Sunny A. Ijomah No fewer than 10 persons were wounded Saturday afternoon, while goods worth millions of naira were destroyed, following a stampede that resulted due to sporadic shooting by unknown gunmen at the Bridge Head Drug Market, known as Onitsha Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers Union, OPPMDU Onitsha. Our correspondent gathered that trouble resulted Saturday afternoon at about ...

The leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has alleged that the police and army on Monday invaded the house of his lawyer, in Anambra State. In a statement authored by himself and made available to our correspondent in Awka, the Anambra State, Kanu said three IPOB members were killed in the alleged onslaught. He called on ...

By Cosmas Ebebe (First Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2019) (Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Resp Psalm Ps 122: 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7. 8-9; Rom 13:11-14; Mathew 24: 37-44.) 1. Invitation The season of Advent begins today. It is also the beginning of the Church’s new Liturgical year. In today’s reading, the prophet Isaiah (God’s spokesperson) invites us, “Come, let us go…” ...

By Chioma Nnagbo Our recipe for this week is ‘Ukodo’. Ukodo in Delta State is simply yam and unripe plantain pepper soup porridge. It is essentially a pottage, a stew of meat and vegetable, it is sometimes cooked with Lemon grass or scent leave. The best pepper soup spices to use for this food is from delta state. Kai, leaving ...

By Mike Nnamah Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fall, but the righteous shall live by faith: Hab 2:4. At that time; the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith”. And the Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed you could say to this sycamore tree, “Be rooted up, and ...