{{Short description|Roman Catholic official publication}} {{italic title}} '''''AsiaNews''''' is an official press agency of the Catholic Church's Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME).<ref name="Fazzini">{{Cite book|title=The Red Book of Chinese Martyrs: Testimonies and Autobiographical Accounts|first=Gerolamo|last=Fazzini|publisher=Ignatius Press|year=2009|pages=341, 349}}</ref><ref name="Help" /> The editor-in-chief of AsiaNews is Father Bernardo Cervellera,<ref name="Pigozzi">{{Cite book|title=Pope John Paul II: An Intimate Life: The Pope I Knew So Well|first=Caroline|last=Pigozzi|publisher=Hachette Book Group|year=2008|page=125}}</ref> a PIME missionary<ref name="Fazzini" /> who also heads Agenzia Fides, the official news agency of the Vatican.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Summary of World Broadcasts: Asia, Pacific, Issues 3484-3497|author=BBC|author-link=BBC|publisher=BBC Monitoring|year=1999|page=G-4}}</ref> Prominent British Bangladeshi journalist and human rights activist William Gomes worked for Asia news.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Christian-human-rights-activist-abducted-and-tortured-in-Bangladesh-21898.html | title=Christian human rights activist abducted and tortured in Bangladesh }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Christian-convert-from-Islam-and-family-threatened-with-death-16456.html | title=Christian convert from Islam and family threatened with death }}</ref>
==Description== The Catholic press agencies MISNA and Zenit republish news from AsiaNews. <ref name="About"/> Originally available in the Italian language, the website has since expanded into English and Chinese in 2003 to enhance the "missionary aspect of our news agency".<ref name="About"/> AsiaNews's intended audience is Chinese university students, who it believes are "curi[ous] about Christianity" and may save China from being "a soulless market or ... dictatorship". It describes its presence as "urgent" because of what it calls the "empowerment" of atheism in Chinese schools and the "persecution" of Christians in China.<ref name="About">{{Cite web|url=http://www.asianews.it/news-en/About-us-127.html|title=www.asianews.it Now Available in English and Chinese|first=Bernardo|last=Cervellera|date=2003-02-04|accessdate=2011-04-19|publisher=AsiaNews.it| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110516214929/http://www.asianews.it/news-en/About-us-127.html| archivedate= 16 May 2011 <!--DASHBot-->| url-status=live}}</ref> AsiaNews describes itself as "a great accomplishment in evangelization, which is the work of God"<ref name="Help">{{Cite web|url=http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&page=9|title=Help AsiaNews|accessdate=2011-04-19|publisher=AsiaNews.it| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110516221346/http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&page=9| archivedate= 16 May 2011 <!--DASHBot-->| url-status=live}}</ref> and as "bolster[ing] the [Roman Catholic] Church's mission in China".<ref name="About"/> The AsiaNews has professional correspondents from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vatican, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, and Russia, among other countries.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.asianews.it/en.html Official website]
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Category:Asian news websites Category:Christian missions in China Category:Catholic Church in China Category:Vatican City news websites