For a year, the “war of the generals” has been raging across an already weakened country. The population is in agony and the small Christian community is shrinking away.

Seminary looted and vandalised, as security situation worsens in Haiti

ACN will be joining the day of prayer for the people of Haiti on 22 March

On 23 February 2024, Pope Francis appointed Father Aurelio Gazzera, a long-time friend and partner of ACN, as Coadjutor Bishop of the diocese of Bangassou in the Central African Republic. The 61-year-old Italian Carmelite priest has worked for 33 years as...

Missionaries, priests, and religious sisters have been forced to flee remote towns and villages to Pemba and other large cities, which are overwhelmed with displaced people.

The Church in Patagonia faces unique challenges, marked by vast distances, great diversity, and a lack of resources. One of the bishops overseeing the development of the Church in this expansive territory of Argentina is Mgr. Roberto Álvarez, who recently...

The pilgrimage was instituted in 1884 by Fr. Machado, the Venezuelan priest in the Diocese of La Guaira, after returning from a trip to the famous shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. Tony Pereira, a lay member of the current organizing committee, spo...

On the first anniversary of the earthquake, a bishop in Aleppo calls for an end to sanctions and appeals to people not to forget the country

ACN stands united with the Pope in urging the immediate and unconditional release of the religious sisters from the Congregation of Saint Anne and calls for an end to the violence plaguing Haiti.

During a visit to the headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Miguel Angel Nguema Bee of Ebibeyin recounted the moving story of José Si Esono, the first catechist martyred in Equatorial Guinea, whom the local Church would like to see beati...

Three weeks after extremists murdered more than 300 people, burnt down entire villages, and destroyed food supplies in coordinated attacks in Nigeria’s Plateau State, none of the perpetrators have been held accountable.

Thanks to the generosity of Aid to the Church in Need’s benefactors, a growing Catholic school in Erbil was able to open a new kindergarten to accommodate the increasing number of children. Education is vital for the survival of Iraq’s long-suffering Chri...

By evangelizing and assisting the Ticuna indigenous people, the Capuchin friars, with support from Aid to the Church in Need, are helping to preserve the Amazon rainforest.

Nineteen clerics have been released and expelled from the country, joining dozens of others who faced exile in recent years. Restrictions on religious freedom persist in a nation where four out of nine dioceses now have bishops residing abroad, according...

Thirteen priests and one religious brother lost their lives in 2023, with half of the deaths seemingly unrelated to persecution. While arrests increased, kidnappings of clergy decreased compared to 2022, still posing a significant concern, especially in A...

Ninety-seven-year-old benefactor sells religious art to help suffering Christians

In yet another assault by Muslim Fulani bandits on settled communities, Christians find themselves displaced and in despair due to the lack of security and government response.

Regina Lynch, the Executive President of Aid to the Church in Need, emphasises the concerning rise in religious freedom violations globally. However, she also highlights the positive response to ACN campaigns, such as Red Wednesday and One Million Childre...

To celebrate Christmas this year, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is providing 45,000 gifts to needy children in Syria and Lebanon. In Syria, 35,000 children and in Lebanon, 10,000 children will receive Christmas presents in the form of urgently needed cl...

Supported by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the Academy of Catholic Leaders seeks to equip individuals for undertaking political responsibilities. The year 2023 has left a lasting impact on the future of Latin American politics. The electoral calendar e...

Participants in this year’s events heard testimonies from Nigerian, Pakistani, and Middle Eastern bishops, as well as life testimonies by missionaries and victims of persecution. Thousands of people took part in #RedWeek 2023 events in several differen...

In a discussion with the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Marco Antonio Cortez of the Diocese of Tacna y Moquegua, Peru, addressed projects concerning religious communities and the imperative to reach every corner of a country...

Fr Ha-Jo, a German priest with over 30 years of experience in Mali, was kidnapped in Bamako on November 20, 2022. Despite being aware of the risks to his safety, he continued his work in Mali to improve the country's situation and stay with his Christian...

Ciudad Chávez is a neighborhood in the Venezuelan city of Vargas, within La Guaira Diocese, located just a few kilometers from Maiquetía International Airport. Established in 2013 as part of the social program initiated by then President Hugo Chávez, the...

A decade and a half ago, Archbishop Sebastian Shaw encountered much skepticism and little interest in dialogue from Muslim leaders. After years of building trust, he asserts that Islamic leaders themselves are now taking the initiative to speak up for per...

ACN has approved a new aid package for schools in Lebanon and Syria for the 2023-2024 school year, totaling 2.6 million euros. The aid program encompasses school grants for over 16,000 predominantly Christian students from impoverished backgrounds in 176...

A project supported by ACN has been yielding positive results in southwest Nigeria, where Christian and Muslim leaders collaborate to promote peace in Osun State. This Catholic-led initiative is making a significant impact in a country known for interreli...

The abduction of priests and religious in Nigeria has become so commonplace that new cases barely register. Although most end up being released, forming a lucrative business for criminals, there have also been cases of fatalities, leaving Catholics in con...

Mexico City/Königstein - Mexico is known as one of the world's most violent and perilous countries. According to a report on crime in Mexico by the National Citizen's Observatory, there were 15,560 victims of intentional homicide in the first half of 2023...

Stewardship of the Australian founded Friends of the Suffering Souls (FoSS) was formally handed to the Australia New Zealand international Catholic organisation, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) this week.

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) expresses its deep concern and regret at the escalation of violence in the Holy Land, which has caused the loss of more than a thousand lives and left thousands more injured.

Governments in the West must intervene to demand justice be done for the victims of the “worst incident of persecution against Christians” in Pakistan – according to a priest who was on the scene when the atrocity took place.

“Many of our Latin American benefactors are not wealthy, but they realise there are Christians whose situation is worse than theirs”

The money sent to Syria will help restore critical Church infrastructure and continue to provide aid to those in need.

What should have been a symbol of hope for Christians in Iraq turned into a moment of despair. ACN asks all its benefactors to pray for those who died or were hurt, but also for the Christian community as a whole.

The support package for 464 families includes immediate relief items, renovation of homes and the purchase of vehicles for those whose livelihoods were destroyed in the attacks.

The Archbishop of Imphal, in Manipur, India, says that violence is still taking place in the state and misses the lack of sufficient response from the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Auxiliary Bishop of Lviv (Lemberg), Bishop Edward Kawa, has described the drone attacks on the west Ukrainian city of Lviv, in the early hours of 19 September, as "an attack on the poorest and most needy.”

A local missionary says Christians were separated from their Muslim neighbours and slaughtered in cold blood.

Patriarch Youssef Absi, of the Melkite Catholic Church, thanks ACN for the support it has given to Christians in Lebanon and Syria, but says that there will be no stability in the Middle East without justice for Palestine.

Interview with Bishop Philippe Abbo Chen, the first native head of the Apostolic Vicariate of Mongo, in eastern Chad.

When Basma Adwar had the privilege of meeting with the Pope last June, all she could do was thank him for the scholarship that bears his name and that, thanks to ACN, has allowed her to go to university.

The role of angels in Christian life is at the centre of this year’s prayer campaign

The leader of the Catholic Church in Kyrgyzstan was in Mongolia, where Pope Francis said that the littleness of the local churches is not a limitation, but a resource for the universal Church.

ACN International denounces the latest attack on the Catholic Church in Nigeria, in which a seminarian was burned to death in the diocese of Kafanchan, as well as the kidnapping of another seminarian in southern Kaduna.

A total of 13 clergymen have been kidnapped in Nigeria since the beginning of 2023, fortunately, all were later released.

When the Little Sisters of Mary Immaculate arrived in Dómuè they were received with great celebration. After 40 years, the Church once again has female faces in this huge parish, located in northeast Mozambique.

There were tears of sadness and fear in Pakistan on Sunday (20th August) as a crowd of 700 attended Mass outside their burnt-out church following one of the country’s worst outbreaks of persecution in a generation.

After 21 Christians were killed and more than 10 critically injured by Fulani militants in Plateau State, Nigeria last week, local sources said similar attacks are becoming more common, and perpetrators are rarely held to account.

Prayer, processions, adoration, catechism, but also plenty of fun was the order of the day as thousands of young Christians gathered in Syria and in Lebanon, physically distant, but emotionally united to the multitude who were in Lisbon with Pope Francis.

Nearly 1,000 panic-stricken Christians in Pakistan spent the night in sugar cane fields, having narrowly escaped rampaging mobs who set about targeting their homes, destroying everything down to the last lightbulb.

Up to 15 church buildings have been attacked and hundreds of Christian homes destroyed after extremists went on a rampage in Pakistan.

In some parts of Africa, children who are born with disabilities are considered evil and often killed.

A Catholic archbishop in northeast India, who has seen his diocese at the centre of a wave of deadly attacks, has issued an urgent appeal for prayers “to transform the minds of the people who are led by hatred and religious violence.”

George Akroush is the director of the Project Development Office at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In an interview with ACN, he speaks about the plans for renewing pastoral work among the Christians in the Holy Land.

Tens of thousands of young people took part in a variety of ACN initiatives during World Youth Day in Lisbon (WYD).

“You cross the Amazon jungle, climb 5,000 metres above sea level, in the Andes Mountains, you head into the desert. You are now in what Pope Francis calls ‘the land of saints’”, says Luis Vildoso, director of projects for ACN in Peru.

The leader of Iraq’s largest Christian community has condemned a Presidential order overturning a decree which recognises him as Patriarch, calling the move “offensive” and the climax of a campaign to seize control of the Church’s assets.

Almost exactly nine years after hundreds of thousands of Christians were forced to flee from their homes due to the occupation of their lands by ISIS, efforts continue to rebuild lives and infrastructure.

Just over 60 young men are currently undergoing formation in the propaedeutic Abbot Kaumo seminary of Kasongo, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Interview with the new Ecclesiastical Assistant of Aid to the Church in Need.

Bishop Matthew Kukah, 70, has led the Diocese of Sokoto in northern Nigeria since 2011. He is an outspoken critic of his country’s government for its failure to curb a culture of violence and protect Christians from deadly attacks.

On July 24, His Excellency Jacques Mourad, Syriac Archbishop of Homs, in Syria, with the president & the director of ACN Italy, Sandra Sarti & Alessandro Monteduro, met with Alfredo Mantovano, Undersecretary of State to the Presidency of the Council of Mi...

Many of the Christians who lived in Sudan have fled the country or at least escaped the cities that are engulfed in violence, says a Spanish Comboni missionary who has worked for years in Sudan, in an interview with ACN.

During the six days of World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon, ACN will be carrying out a number of initiatives aimed at raising awareness of Christian persecution around the world and mobilising people to be active in defence of the suffering Church.

A bishop from western Ukraine has told ACN about his struggle to help the 400,000 war-scarred people who have flooded into his region since Russia's full-scale invasion began, in February 2022.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has one of the liveliest Churches in Africa, with 4,602 priests ministering in 1,500 parishes and 11,000 religious supporting their pastoral and social work.

Even leaders of the Hindu nationalist party are beginning to accuse the BJP of complicity in what has become a generalised attack on Christians. ACN continues to monitor the situation closely.

Interview with Ehab and Athraa - A couple from Iraq

With financial and logistical difficulties making it almost impossible for most Lebanese and Syrian Christians to go to Lisbon for WYD, local initiatives are underway to provide participants with as close an experience as possible.

His Eminence Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, Patriarch and the leader of the Chaldean Church, has publicly announced his decision to “withdraw from the patriarchal seat in Baghdad, and go to one of the monasteries in Iraqi Kurdistan."

Christian nurse tells of escape from her torturers.

The Auxiliary Bishop of the Exarchate of Donetsk, Maksym Ryabukha SDB, travels around to visit each and every person in his war-torn diocese. He asks for prayers, especially those whom he is unable to meet in person due to occupation or kidnapping.

This summer ACN will support almost 400 camps and gatherings. Most of this financial assistance will go to Lebanon and Syria.

Russian troops occupied the city of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, at the beginning of March 2022. Nine months later a Ukrainian counteroffensive forced the Russians to retreat from the region of Kherson in early November.

A gathering of almost two thousand young Christians in Iraq provides hope for the future and encourages the new generations to stay and invest in their country and in their community. ACN helped make this project a reality.

8 July will see the consecration of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin, in the city of Maroua, northern Cameroon. This step will conclude the nine-year construction project in the heart of the Maroua-Mokolo Diocese.

International foundation ACN calls for prayers on the occasion of the episcopal ordination, on 29 June, Feast of Sts Peter and Paul, of Mgr. Celso Ba Shwe as bishop of Loikaw, capital of the state of Kayah, in Myanmar.

Despite the extreme poverty of its population, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the main suppliers of rare minerals in the world. The Church is committed to ensuring that miners are treated more fairly.

Local Church sources have little doubt that the clashes that have pitched Hindus against Christians in the state of Manipur are part of a wider agenda to encourage the Hindu base to vote for the ruling BJP party in upcoming elections.

In an uncompromising statement, the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Bukavu, in the far east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), denounce the failure of the government to face up to the challenges with which it is confronted.

In a video, the former governor of Kaduna state admits that his party benefits Muslim communities and does not need the Christian vote. Angered by this stance, Catholic priests have demanded that the current governor distance himself from his predecessor.

One year after the attack on St. Francis Xavier church in Ondo, Nigeria, none of the culprits have been brought to justice. Victims wear their scars as “badges of honour” and their faith is as strong as ever.

An Indian bishop has issued an impassioned plea for the resumption of talks between the government and rebel forces aimed at ending a conflict that has cost hundreds of lives and displaced tens of thousands of people.

ACN had a stand at the latest meeting of the Bishops’ Conference of Brazil, the largest Catholic country in the world.

The attack, which left five other children and one adult wounded, took place on 16 May in a Catholic school in Sangota, in the Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, in north-eastern Pakistan.

A Catholic Archbishop who needs guard dogs in the house, and an armed escort when he travels, speaks of the difficulties of carrying out his mission in his diocese.

At least 500 people have died and thousands have fled, seeking safety in other countries, including Ethiopia, Egypt, Chad, and South Sudan.

Egyptian martyrs remembered by both Orthodox and Catholics.

“I came back happy”, says Barbara Rettig, ACN's head of projects for part of India, as she returned from a trip to West Bengal. “I saw a joyful and hopeful Church... Over there, I felt that faith is joy. People go to Mass. Churches are full.”

Bishop Kyrillos William Samaan was a good friend of ACN and a frequent guest of the international and national offices. He never ceased to intercede for Christians in need, and will no doubt continue to do so.

With inter-religious conflicts in Manipur recently killing over 50 people, an Indian bishop says that the Church is concerned at growing radicalism.

Every day hundreds of people arrive at Necoclí beach, in the Colombian Caribbean.

Sister Gianna has a smile on her face as she speaks about her mission in Kambia, a place with no electricity, or any other basic services.

Priests in war-torn Sudan are remaining to tend to their flocks despite the conflict escalating across Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and throughout the Darfur region.

ACN supports the formation of seminarians all over the world. In Lebanon this is about more than just preparing men to be good priests; it has to do with guaranteeing a peaceful future for the country, and a stable environment for Christians to thrive.

In the extreme conditions of the Congolese prison system, a priest is struggling to protect inmates from hunger and despair. ACN reports from the central prison in Bukavu on the work of the Church among these otherwise abandoned people.

Churches have to be guarded so that Christians can pray in safety.

Nominally, the vast majority of Icelanders belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland.

Ephrem Maalouli & Archbishop Boutros Kassis, who lead the Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox communities in Aleppo, insist that Christians live in hope & continue to feel the presence of their two predecessors who were abducted by Islamist militants.

On Saturday fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a legalised paramilitary group.

“Venezuela has become a country of contradictions. Despite the economic and social crisis, there have been recent openings of casinos and luxury car dealerships”, says Luis Vildoso, head of projects for Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), in the country.

The Head of the Justice Commission sees little progress in religious freedom.

The latest case of violence carried out against mostly Christian farmers in central Nigeria left at least 35 dead in Africa's most populous country.

Attacks on churches, schools, and cemeteries are worrying the Christians of the Holy Land.

How the Church is helping to re-integrate those imprisoned for genocide against the Tutsis.

“Papua New Guinea is a distant and mostly forgotten country”, Father Martín Prado, from Argentina, told ACN during a recent visit to the foundation’s headquarters in Germany.

Twenty years after the fall of the regime led by Saddam Hussein, Christians in Iraq continue to fight for the right to be treated as equal citizens and to live their faith free from persecution. Pope Francis’ visit was a landmark of hope in this pursuit.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu comes from a region famous for interreligious harmony and is married to a practicing Christian. Christians hope he will be an improvement on President Buhari, who has been accused of being soft on radical Islam and Fulani violence.

Two priests were abducted in recent weeks in Haiti, a country in the midst of a deep crisis. While one of them managed to escape after several days in the hands of his kidnappers, the other was released on 23 March.

A moving tribute to Father Imad Daher, who died in the 6 February earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, written by a childhood friend.

“We ask our leaders: Why do you allow your citizens to be killed?”

The Holy Father met this past Wednesday with two young Nigerian Christians victims of jihadist persecution.

Churches in Syria are pressing ahead with projects to repair homes hit by last month’s devastating earthquakes that affected southern Turkey and northern Syria, claiming the lives of more than 50,000 people.

At around midnight on Saturday, 4 March, eight masked and armed men arrived at the chapel of Our Lady of Rays, in the village of California, Araucanía, central Chile, and set it alight.

“As long as we can get on our knees and raise our hands in prayer to God, we shall not be paralysed by fear.”

Three weeks after the earthquake there are still dozens of people sheltering in churches and Church-run schools in Aleppo.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, on 8 March, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has invited two Nigerian Christians to visit Italy.

Fate of Nigeria’s Christians tops agenda of International Religious Freedom summit.

For years ACN has been highlighting the suffering of women, teenagers and young adults subjected to abduction and forced conversion. Many cases go unknown, but shocking testimonies like the story of Kinza Sindhu (14) show the urgency of this topic.

As Africa’s most populous country continues to face a number of challenges and threats, ACN will be dedicating its Lent campaign to Nigeria.

“We are well, thank God, all well. It was frightening, very strong. There is much fear, that is the general feeling, in some cases even panic. And there is good reason to be afraid.”

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) calls for prayers for the Church in Nicaragua and for the Nicaraguan bishop who was convicted of treason on 10 February.

Protestors firebombed several banks in the Christian quarter of Badaro, a suburb of Beirut, on Thursday 16 February. The unrest occurred after 10 days of strike during which the banks refused to open their doors.

Aid to the Church in Need benefactors contributed nearly 15 million AUD over 290 different projects all over Ukraine. A large part of this aid supports those who are dedicated to working with the most needy, thereby benefitting countless others.

Cardinal Beniamino Stella, Pope Francis’ envoy to the 25th anniversary celebration of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Cuba, has asked the regime to free activists who were detained in anti-government protests in July 2021.

Following the devastating earthquakes on 6 February,  ACN has reached out to our project partners in Syria. Here's what they have to say.

As the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine completes its first year, two major figures in the country’s Catholic Church speak about how the war has affected the country and the Church, and their hopes for a post-war Ukraine.

During a visit to the regions affected by the earthquake, the Apostolic Nuncio to Syria says that he saw “a sea of pain”.

Shocked and with their houses destroyed or damaged, many families have taken to sleeping in churches, convents, or even hospitals. Faced with yet another tragedy, Syrians ask for an end to sanctions.

Sister Beta Almendra, a Portuguese Comboni missionary in Wau, South Sudan, can hardly hide her excitement at the visit of Pope Francis, which began on Friday, 3 February.

Aid to the Church in Need has just completed its 14th session of The Night of Witnesses, a series of prayer vigils organised in five French towns to pay tribute to all the priests and religious killed during the year because of their faith.

On 31 January Pope Francis landed in Kinshasa for a short visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He departed for Juba, South Sudan, on 3 February, and then back to Rome on 5 February.

Fr Isaac Azekpili Achi was brutally murdered on January 15, when his home in Kafin Koro was attacked by unidentified armed men. After forcing their way into the residence, the criminals shot Fr Isaac and wounded his colleague, Fr Collins.

ACN had recently cooperated with the parish in which church warden Diego Valencia was murdered

Only days after a terrorist attack on a Protestant church in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Marcelo Oliveira, a Combonian who works as a missionary in the African country, denounced the silence of the international community.

“We must have faith to rebuild the village, and you are a sign of that faith”, Archbishop Thabet told dozens of Dominican sisters gathered for the inauguration of their new Convent of Saint Joseph.

Fr Isaac Achi was reportedly burned by unknown gunmen, and his assistant Fr Colins Omeh sustained gunshot wounds. Reports also emerged of the kidnapping of another priest in Southern Nigeria this Sunday.

Jacques Mourad lived as a prisoner of the Islamic State for five months before managing to escape to freedom. Now he has been appointed Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Homs.

The new Sateré language edition of ACN’s Child Bible is more than an instrument for deepening the faith, it also helps preserve the indigenous people’s language and culture.

Burkina Faso has seen an unprecedented increase in terrorism since 2015 and on 2 January a priest was murdered in the northwest of the country.

During his traditional speech to diplomats, Pope Francis warned of increasing intolerance towards Christians even in countries where they are not a minority.

A recent attack on two Christian villages in northern Mozambique left two people dead and four injured and caused unrest among the local population, with many people leaving their homes in search of safety.

May he rest in peace!

At least 12 priests and five religious sisters were murdered during 2022. Nigeria was one of the most dangerous countries in which to serve the Church, but China, in Asia, and Nicaragua, in Latin America, also had many cases of harassment.

On 1 January, World Day of Prayer for Peace, the bishop brings together leaders to call for an end to the conflict.

Teachers in Lebanon recognise that education is not a job, but a mission. But this mission is getting more and more difficult to achieve as the country continues in its downward spiral of economic crisis.

Mary, Mother of Reconciliation, is a model for Syrian Christians.

The bishops of Sri Lanka have asked the faithful to avoid lavish celebrations this Christmas, as the country faces an uphill struggle after mismanagement led to economic disaster.

More than 30 organizations, including the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, supported by ACN, have urged the government to assess data on incidents of forced conversion and present it to Parliament.

Faced with the dramatic situation in Lebanon and Syria, the international foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has launched a Christmas campaign for emergency assistance to support Christian communities in these two countries.

The Christians of the Holy Land are preparing to celebrate Christmas, more than 2000 years after the birth of Christ.

Christians fear imminent Turkish ground incursion.

One of the many projects ACN funds in Lebanon.

Meditation by Sr Noha from the Borj-Hammoud Nabaa clinic in Lebanon.

Father Youssef Nasr (President of the Secretariat for Catholic schools in Lebanon) recently spoke with ACN about the challenges facing the schools as the country’s severe economic crisis persists.

The Apostolic Nuncio to Australia, Archbishop Charles Balvo, has sent a message of support for the Red Wednesday initiative, organised by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) to call attention to victims of religious persecution.

For many Lebanese Christian students, the University Pastoral service is a lifeline that keeps them in the country, when everything around them seems to give them reasons to give up.

Australia’s capital has joined a select list of cities that have hosted Night of the Witnesses, an Aid to the Church in Need initiative that honours Christianity’s modern-day martyrs and those persecuted because of their faith.

Growing insecurity risks dividing the country, say the Church leaders, pointing to multiple regions where violence has flared and also taking aim at multinational corporations that pillage natural resources.

The terrorist organisation took her father’s life and tried to crush her soul, but with the help of ACN through a Trauma Center in Maiduguri she is back on her feet and even found the strength to forgive those who caused her so much pain.

Before the war, Syria had a vibrant and stable Christian community, but 12 years of conflict and economic crisis forced many to flee.

The announcement that the Holy Father is considering a visit to South Sudan, to take place in February next year, was received “with much joy” by the local Catholic community, says sister Beta Almendra, a missionary in Wau.

Several weeks after the second military coup took place in Ouagadougou on 30 September, the people continue to be sceptical about the country’s future, particularly with respect to Christians, a group that is greatly at risk.

During a recent visit to the headquarters of ACN, in Germany, Melkite Archbishop Georges Masri, of Aleppo, described the serious crisis that is affecting both the population’s health and the Church’s pastoral work.

Cardinal Sandri: “What was a dream is now a reality!”

The Bishop of Mamfe has expressed his gratitude for the release of the priests, laypeople, and a religious sister, but has repeated his condemnation of the attack on the church in which they were taken by rebels.

Two months ago, Maryamu Joseph (16) escaped from Boko Haram after being held for nine years.

“One million children praying the Rosary” will take place on 18 October. Pope Francis asks that participants especially remember Ukraine, and all other countries that suffer from war and misery.

Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, of the Diocese of Makurdi, spoke at an event in the European Parliament saying that Christians in Nigeria need help, “before it becomes too late”.

“The Church has become a victim of the violence”, says Sister Marcela Catozza, a missionary in Haiti. The Italian nun claims that the situation has taken a turn for the worse since June, with churches and institutions coming under attack.

For many Christians in Lebanon technical schools provide opportunities for future employment and a stable environment for local families.

Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad cannot shake the images from his visit to the flood-affected Catholic village of Mariamnagar, in southern Sindh province.

With a long experience of persecution, the Christians of Baghdeda (Qaraqosh) know that the bad times might return, but they believe that “a Church that is not persecuted is a Church that does not carry Christ”.

On September 30, the Church celebrates the memory of Saint Jerome, a doctor of the Church who translated the Bible into Latin.

In the wake of the murder of an Italian nun, the Bishop of Pemba, where the Islamist insurgency began, says that poverty and corruption are at the root of the problem.

The Bishop of Mamfe asks for prayers for the release of nine kidnapped religious and laypeople.

Pakistanis are grateful for Church help as the worst flooding in 30 years leaves many citizens with nothing.

Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai compared Lebanon to a sick person who refuses treatment and so continues to get worse. Action is required, he claims, if the country is to continue to fulfil its prophetic role in the Middle East.

Thursday 15 September, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, will mark the end of the “Console your People” initiative, to beg for peace in Syria and for the protection of all Christians in that country, which was promoted by ACN.

“How can we keep the spirit of Assisi alive?” asks Almaty bishop.

With over a thousand dead, and many more in great need, the Church has mobilised to help victims of flooding in Pakistan.

On the night of Tuesday 6 September an Italian religious sister, aged 83, was brutally murdered in an armed attack on the Chipene mission in the diocese of Nacala.

Pakistan flood victims are to receive help from ACN in response to dire calls for emergency support.

More than 1,700 young people from all corners of Iraq are converging for the largest Christian youth festival of its kind to be held in the country.

The international ecclesiastical assistant of ACN talks about the focus areas of the charity.

During a visit to the international headquarters of ACN, in Germany, Father Honoré Quedraogo, a priest from the diocese of Tenkodogo, in east-central Burkina Faso, spoke of the situation his country is currently facing.

In light of the situation facing the Church in Nicaragua ACN wishes to express its fraternity, friendship and communion in regard to the sad and painful situation suffered by the clergy and the whole Church in Nicaragua.

During a visit to the headquarters of pontifical charity ACN, Bishop Martin Mtumbuka, of the Diocese of Karonga, in Malawi, highlights the vibrancy of the African Church, and speaks about both the success stories and the struggles of the young diocese.

22 August - International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief.

Jules Boutros is the youngest bishop in the world.

22nd August - International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief.

Bishop George died aged 66, of illness, on 8 July, and was buried on 4 August.

With violent actions now taking place in and around Abuja, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama assesses the situation as very serious and accuses politicians of being distant from the people.

On the morning of June 19, dozens of armed members of the Fulani tribe descended on two churches in Rubuh, Kajuru Local Government Area, in southern Kaduna State.

Bishop Oliver Doeme’s diocese suffered the worst of the terrorism inflicted by Boko Haram, yet he says that now this part of the country can be considered peaceful in comparison to the rest.

The sixth anniversary of the murder of the French priest at the hand of jihadists.

Over 90% of the villages in the Diocese of Fada N’Gourma are no longer covered by pastoral support.

Father Mark Cheitnum was deeply engaged in giving a voice to the innocent victims of violence in his diocese. He is the fourth priest to be murdered in Nigeria in 2022.

Aid to the Church in a Need “has been a source of light in a valley of darkness”, says Bishop Wilfred Anagbe.

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has announced a special aid package for priests and religious in Sri Lanka who are suffering the effects of a very serious economic and social crisis.

During a recent visit to the headquarters of the international charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Cardinal Désiré Tsarahazana, Archbishop of Toamasina, Madagascar, insisted on the need to hold on to hope, so as to overcome evil.

The issue of kidnappings and forced conversions of minors belonging to the Christian community and other religious minorities in Pakistan, is a serious problem that the world cannot ignore, says Archbishop Sebastian Shaw, of Lahore.

It has been one year since the historic peaceful protests in Cuba, which took place on 11 July, mobilising millions of people all across the Caribbean nation.

Facing a wave of kidnappings, murders, and violence, Nigerian priests shun violence as an answer and call on prayer.

In the first such incident in the country’s history, several images were destroyed in a church that had recently been rebuilt with the help of ACN.

An Archbishop and Sister from the Middle East issued a stark warning to UK Parliamentarians that Christians in the region are still suffering persecution.

A Nigerian Bishop in mourning travelled to the United States crying out for justice for his country’s persecuted Christians.

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) denounces yet another terrorist attack in Burkina Faso. During the night of 3 to 4 July, more than 20 Burkinabè were killed during an attack in Bourasso, in the Diocese of Nouna (north-west).

Aid to the Church in Need farewells a dear friend.

When young people tell him that they want to leave Lebanon, bishop Jules Boutros tries to remind them that money, safety and education may be important, but only Jesus Christ is indispensable, and that they are needed back home.

The most recent kidnappings come a week after the murder of two priests in this African country that has been rocked by criminality.

The Catholic Church in Nicaragua has suffered over 190 attacks and desecrations in less than four years, as well as persecution of clergy by the regime of president Daniel Ortega, according to a research paper that was sent to ACN.

Fr Vitus Borogo and Fr Christopher Odia were murdered in apparent botched kidnapping attempts. Nigeria continues to be beset by criminality, and many priests have been targeted by bandits.

Solomon Hasdak was shocked to see hundreds of people trying to cram inside the small chapel of the village where he grew up.

Their death raises the number of murdered priests in the past three years to seven.

As thousands gather in Rome for the World Meeting of Families, ACN takes stock of some of the work it has been doing in the field of promoting and safeguarding family life, in different parts of the world.

With the newly installed bishop of Pemba asking the world not to forget about the situation which has left over four thousand dead and 800 thousand people displaced, ACN has committed to a new emergency support package for IDPs.

On 24 June ACN celebrated Benefactors’ Day.

“Postponed, not cancelled, that’s the key word,” says Maxime François-Marsal, head of projects for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The stories behind the numbers.

22 new projects have been approved for funding in Syria, a country that remains very close to the heart of the Catholic Church, as has been repeatedly expressed by Pope Francis, but where Christians are finding it increasingly difficult to survive.

Father Andrew Adeniyi Abayomi is the associate pastor at St Francis Xavier church in Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria, which was hit by a terror attack during Mass on Pentecost Sunday, June 5.

There is still no information on the culprits for the killing of dozens of people who were attending Mass on Pentecost Sunday in Owo, in the Diocese of Ondo in Nigeria.

ACN is deeply shocked by the horrific attack which took place at the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in southwest Nigeria during Pentecost Sunday celebrations which caused the death of many people, including children.

Archbishop Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso, of the Diocese of Kaduna, complains that there is no religious freedom in the north of the country, but dismisses the idea that the conflict between Fulani herdsmen and farmers is a religious issue.

The difficulties in Syria and Lebanon have led to an increase in situations of abuse of children and women, but are also opening up opportunities for women to take the lead in their families and communities.

Many members of the clergy in Nicaragua have suffered for their opposition to the Government and its policies. In March, President Daniel Ortega expelled the ambassador of the Holy See.

An analysis by ACN International, 15 years after the Aparecida Document.

It has been fifteen years since Pope Benedict XVI instituted the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, which is celebrated on May 24, the feast of Mary Help of Christians, patron saint of the country.

Episodes of anti-Christian violence erupted in Sokoto, Nigeria, over the weekend, following the horrific murder of a young Christian student accused of blasphemy.

Israeli security forces are accused of having disrupted the funeral procession of Shereen Abu Aqleh, who was killed while covering an Israeli military operation in the Jenin refugee camp on 11 May.

Pope Francis will be in the Democratic Republic of Congo this year, between 2-5 July. During a visit to the international headquarters of ACN, in Germany, Bishop Timothée Bodika Manyisai, of Kikwit, in midwestern DR Congo, spoke about how Catholics are pr...

ACN is deeply troubled by the terrible murder of Deborah Yakubu, a Christian student who was stoned and then burned at the Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, northern Nigeria.

In one month alone three Catholic priests were kidnapped in Nigeria, two have since been released, but the death of the third has just been confirmed.

On May 15, 2022, Lebanon will go to the polls to elect a new Parliament.

After years of helping rebuild homes and infrastructure, ACN is issuing an urgent call to the international community to help guarantee peace and stability in Iraq.

A Combonian missionary nun living in Wau, South Sudan, believes the upcoming visit by Pope Francis to the youngest country in the world, scheduled for 5-7 July, could have a historic effect on the peace process.

A wave of unrest and kidnappings is causing a breakdown of national life in Haiti according to Mons Launay Saturné, Archbishop of Cap-Haïtien.

In July 2013, Shagufta and Shafqat Emmanuel, a Catholic couple in Mian Channu, a small town 155 miles south of Lahore, Pakistan, were arrested on false charges of blasphemy.

IRAQ’S Christians will pass a momentous milestone on the way toward recovery from genocide by a community of Sisters officially opening their long-awaited school.

Lebanon is a unique country in the Middle East because it is based on a civil constitution, where freedom of conscience and expression are respected.

The Holy Father has asked the authorities of Sri Lanka for the truth about the Easter Sunday bombings of 2019.

One Christian community in Iraq had added cause for rejoicing this Easter when their church opened for services for the first time since the building was desecrated by Daesh (ISIS) militants nearly eight years ago.

After three years and at a cost of 2.5 million dollars, the government of Sri Lanka published an 88-volume report on the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

As the military invasion of Ukraine has reached its 46th day, the Pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has begun the second phase of its emergency aid package to the country.

Burundi, one of the smallest countries in Africa, has been going through a social and political crisis that erupted in 2015.

The Patriarch of the largest Christian Church in Lebanon expresses his most heartfelt gratitude to all the benefactors who make the work of ACN in this country possible. 

On 25 March, in the Cathedral of Rumbek, South Sudan, Italian missionary Christian Carlassare was ordained bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Rumbek, a position that had been vacant for 10 years.

Towards the end of 2021, the Nigerian government announced that members of the terrorist organisation Boko Haram were being disarmed and reintegrated into society.

Regina Lynch recently returned from Damascus, where she represented ACN at a conference of the Catholic Church together with aid agencies serving the people of Syria.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith says the Church waits for answers as the victims continue to carry the scars of the Easter Sunday bombings that killed 269 people in Sri Lanka and injured more than 400 in 2019.

Albania’s Communist regime tried to stamp out religion completely. Decades later, the country continues to suffer from the mass emigration of its younger citizens, due to a lack of opportunities.

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has announced the launching of a large-scale campaign for Catholic schools in Lebanon, to help offset the great economic crisis that has been bleeding the country’s social institutions dry.

The scholarships will allow the Catholic University in Erbil to enrol more than four times as many Christian students as it has already.

Interview with Msgr. Giuseppe Pasotto, a Stigmatine father from Italy, who has been watching over and helping to shape the fortunes of the small Roman Catholic Church in the Caucasus since the fall of the Iron Curtain, first as a missionary, then, since 1...

Despite difficulties and hardship, the Church promises not to abandon its faithful, whatever might happen, just as it stayed with them in Crimea and in Eastern Ukraine.

The Bishops’ Conference of Haiti has released a statement calling on political actors and armed gangs to prevent the country from falling into chaos.

Out of necessity, Viktor breaks up his floor. Now that he and his wife have no steady work, due to the war in Ukraine, he and his sons Wasiliej and Kola proceed to saw the planks into pieces for the stove to heat the house.

Thousands of people took part, either in person or virtually, in the Night of Witness, a series of events on the theme of persecuted Christians organised by the international Catholic pastoral charity and pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (A...

Tributes have been paid to a Christian minister who was killed Sunday 30th January in Pakistan after dedicating his life to persecuted and other suffering Christians.

The conflict-torn north, where hundreds of thousands of people are living in makeshift camps, is one of the areas that is being hit the hardest.

Nohada lives alone in her one-room home in Addousiyyeh, in Lebanon, near the Mediterranean coast. A widow, her only son moved abroad years ago and she survives largely with the help of her neighbour Mariam, who happens to be the only Muslim in the village...

The life of Christians on Iraq’s Nineveh Plains remains precarious, even though much progress has been made in the wake of the ouster of ISIS from the region and the restoration and rebuilding of Christian homes as well as churches and church properties.

The Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross is a Catholic non-profit facility in Beirut that the economic crisis has brought to the verge of collapse.

The crucifix in Pemba diocese before which the refugees from the violence pray.

Co-author of ACN case study describes an increase in the number of attacks.

The number of Catholics in the country is very small (one percent), but the bishops of Kazakhstan addressed various messages to the people so that - with the help of God – the current difficulties will be resolved and peace and harmony return to the count...

In an interview with the Colombian branch of the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need, Sister Gloria Cecilia Narváez, released last October in Mali, spoke about her missionary work, her captivity and her appeal to be a living witness. Here is a...

For Aid to the Church in Need, two sentiments predominate as ACN looks back on the past year.

"Christians suffered 305 incidents of violence in the past nine months this year," said a fact-finding report released Oct. 21 in New Delhi.

Bishops in Jerusalem have warned that the existence of Christianity in the Holy Land is threatened by “a systematic attempt” to drive the community out.

Following a mob attack by right-wing extremists on a Catholic school, a leading cleric has said that Indian Christians will never be safe under Prime Minister Modi’s government.

The persecution of Christians by Muslim extremists in West Africa was discussed at a two-day conference in Burkina Faso recently. Nigerian Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, of the diocese of Makurdi, called for dialogue with Muslims and the establishment of a...

Survivors of persecution supported by a leading Catholic charity met HRH The Prince of Wales at an Advent service in central London dedicated to those who suffer for their Christian faith.

Hardly noticed by the world, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated into war in Nagorno-Karabakh on 27 September 2020.

Liberal Muslims and Christian activists have been expressing concern over Prime Minister Imran Khan's announcement of the establishment of a new body called the Rehmatul-lil-Alameen (‘Mercy for all the Worlds’—a phrase from the Koran) Authority (RAA).

Inspired by the One Million Children Praying the Rosary campaign, a prayer group of ACN benefactors made and donated thousands of colourful decade rosaries for ACN staff to take as small gifts to children on their project visits.

South Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Two-thirds of its population are dependent on humanitarian aid.

The Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia which covers Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia has an estimated 2.5 million Catholics who are mostly migrant workers from different nations and diverse cultures.

Marco Mencaglia has been head of the section for Georgia for the past one-and-a-half years for Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

A bomb attack on the home of a Catholic shopkeeper in southern Iraq has been condemned by the head of the country’s largest Church, who has said that such attacks have driven an exodus of Christians.

"Children are now playing more, running more, jumping more... "

The security situation in Mali has continued to deteriorate in the last few months. The increased violence is affecting above all the country people, given that the Jihadists are preventing the farmers from harvesting their rice fields, burning the fields...

Kidnappings are a hallmark of terrorist organizations in Nigeria, including Boko Haram and Islamic State-West Africa Province, and clergy are increasingly being targeted.

A NEW REPORT RELEASED IN LATE OCTOBER, compiled by various Christian NGOs and titled “Christians Under Attack in India,” records 300 anti-Christian incidents so far in 2021. In one case, two Catholic nuns were forcibly marched to a police station by a mob...

Girls and women from religious minorities continue to be victims of forced conversion and marriage in Pakistan, with a significant number of cases occurring every year.

A large proportion will go to projects related to construction and restoration, or education and religious formation, with much support also for rent and basic food and medical assistance. Without programmes such as these, there is a serious risk of Chris...

Besides rising Islamic fundamentalism and intolerance, Christians in this Asian country have also had to deal with endemic intolerance and were disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic.

There is increasing aggression based on persecution and the lack of religious freedom

According to reports received by Aid to the Church in Need, security in northern Burkina Faso has drastically deteriorated in recent months.

More than a quarter-century may have passed since the Dayton Agreement came into force, but coexistence in Bosnia Herzegovina remains riddled with conflict.

A Catholic missionary has sent out a plea for peace from war-torn Ethiopia.

ON THE EVE OF INDIAN PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI MEETING WITH POPE FRANCIS at the Vatican, a report entitled “Christians Under Attack in India,” compiled by various Christian NGOs, records 300 anti-Christian incidents so far in 2021.

Michael Suleiman is a Maronite Catholic politician who was President of Lebanon between 2008 and 2014, following a decade as commander of the country’s Armed Forces.

The Church accompanies the people as they suffer from a terrible social, economic and political crisis.

Many Pakistanis celebrated the end of the United States military presence in Afghanistan, but others warn of increasing home-grown Islamist violence and extremism.

Amid a spiralling economic crisis and an upsurge in violence, a Middle Eastern Patriarch says that if the West fails to help the Christians in Lebanon the community could soon be extinct.

“Hearts filled with joy” is a phrase that translates the spirit of the Church in Nigeria following the release of three young seminarians who were abducted last Monday.

In commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the murder of Archbishop Christophe Munzihirwa Mwene Ngabo of the diocese of Bukavu, the local Church has denounced the persecution the diocese has been suffering recently at the hands of armed groups. 

Faster progress cannot be made in the aid efforts because the currently precarious situation has stopped all travel to the country.

Three seminarians from Nigeria’s conflict-stricken Middle Belt were kidnapped from their college chapel last night (Monday) and six others were injured.

After more than four and a half years of captivity at the hands of Malian jihadist insurgents, Sister Gloria Cecilia Narváez Argoti, a missionary from Colombia, was freed on Saturday 9 October.

The creation of 'the biggest district of Christians in the Middle East' has been warmly welcomed by a bishop from the area who sees the development as critical for securing the future of the Church in the country.

Children studying at a Carmelite school in Kobayat, near Tripoli in Lebanon, gave thanks recently to the Blessed Virgin Mary for having saved two of their schoolmates from a forest fire, and at the same time called on children around the world to join in...

Father George Mangalapilly, an Indian priest, was recently acquitted of an alleged crime of "forcible religious conversion."

Leah Sharibu is a young Nigerian woman who was captured by Islamist terrorists on 19 February 2018.

The diocese of Tapachula denounces incidents of maltreatment and launches an aid programme for migrants who, it says, are suffering a 'calvary.'

Regina Lynch, project manager at Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, talks about her experience in Lebanon and Syria after a ten-day trip to evaluate the situation and assess new aid projects.

The Catholic Church in Nigeria claims that the Christians in that country are the victims of a process of ethnic cleansing at the hands of Fulani Muslims, with the complicity of the state.

In Sierra Leone, doctors and scientists who dealt with the onset of the current COVID-19 pandemic adapted some measures used during the Ebola epidemic to prevent a repeat of the tragedy that killed 3,590 people between 2014 and 2016 and traumatised the co...

Originally from Pakistan, Sister Shahnaz Bhatti is a member of the congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Jeanne-Antide Thouret. She was serving in Afghanistan until 25 August, when she was able to leave the country through the help of the Italia...

The threat of Daesh (ISIS) and other extremists in Iraq has grown following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan – according to one of the Middle East’s most respected bishops.

In an exclusive interview with the Portuguese national office of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN International), Bishop Antonio Juliasse, the apostolic administrator of the diocese of Pemba, describes the situation his diocese has been going through over t...

Ali Ehsani is 38 years old and a lawyer by profession. After a very long and difficult journey, he arrived in Italy at the age of 13; he was all alone. He had fled Afghanistan after his Christian parents were killed for their faith. His only brother died...

On 6 August 2014, the city of Qaraqosh fell into the hands of IS. The city is located on the Nineveh plains about 25 km outside of Mosul and was once considered the largest Christian city in the country. The Christians living in this region of Iraq were f...

How the pandemic influences the working practice of a Charity.

Father Giovanni Scalese is a priest of the Order of Clerks Regular of Saint Paul (the Barnabites) and the Superior of the Church’s sui iuris mission in Afghanistan. In a recent interview with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN International), he spoke about h...

The Church of the Assumption in the Chilean capital Santiago was one of the churches that was vandalised and burned during the protests of 18 October 2020.

Churches across Pakistan have stepped up security in response to the threat of terrorist attacks following the Taliban’s return to power in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the town of Hazmieh, in the suburbs of Beirut, is a popular destination for Christians of all denominations, and indeed for Muslims as well.

From 5 to 12 September this year the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary will bring together Catholics from all over the world to deepen their faith in the importance of the Eucharist and reflect on the mission of the Church to make Go...

Pope Francis will meet the Roma minority in Košice – the 2nd largest Slovak city – during the papal visit to Slovakia from September 12th to 15th.

Many countries are lacking in resources or basic freedoms. In the West we frequently encounter a lack of faith.

Speaking by telephone to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN International), Cardinal Chibly Langlois, Bishop of the diocese of Les Cayes, described the terrible situation facing his people in Haiti.

On August 19, the 102nd anniversary of the country's independence from British rule, Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Taliban declared Afghanistan as the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” in its official Twitter account.

Pakistan: "The lives of victims accused of blasphemy are forever threatened and many have been killed."

19 August marks the 30th anniversary of the coup carried out by the Soviet military and Communist elites.

ACN Ireland is launching an initiative stressing the importance of the Eucharist and uniting all 26 dioceses in the country.

The international community is shocked at the situation in Belarus, which is marked by the brutal suppression of protests and sanctions.

Seven years after the invasion by the Islamic State (IS) group, young Iraqis are taking their chances and are moving back to their homeland.

It was a low-key, private pilgrimage. On the first Sunday of August Father Pier Luigi Maccalli visited the shrine of Fatima in Portugal to thank Our Lady for his liberation last October, after almost 2 years of captivity at the hands of a jihadist group i...

Lebanese priest pause to remember a turning point in his homeland.

People of Myanmar: Let us raise our hands and pray

The charity approves an overall aid package of over 8 million AUD to help Catholic communities in India cope with the crisis.

Damascus, Syria — Christian Hope Centre, a Syrian organization supported by the Catholic Church, has opened its first ever microprojects program centre in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

“I was lost, and have been found. I was dead, and I am alive again.” These were the words of gratitude expressed by Father León Douyon, a Catholic priest from the town of Ségué in the diocese of Mopti, in Mali, after having been liberated on 13 July this...

With profound grief and sorrow ACN has received the news about the death of Bishop John Hsane Hgyi from Pathein, in Myanmar, due to COVID-19.

"Kolay gelsin,” means “may it come easily."

One in every two Catholics in the world are from Latin America. With almost 500 million Catholics, and despite the ever-growing presence of sects, about 44% of all Catholics in the world live in Latin America.

Sister Francine, kidnapped on July 8 in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Province of Congo, is free again. This was announced by her religious community, the Daughters of the Resurrection, to the worldwide pontifical charity "Aid to the Church in Need" (AC...

The pontifical foundation ACN confirms the release of Father Leon Douyon, Catholic priest from Ségué in the Mopti region of Mali, yesterday afternoon, Tuesday 13 July.

The congregation of the Daughters of the Resurrection appeals to the benefactors of ACN for prayers.

“This sad event marks an unfortunate turning point in the history of our people” the bishops of Haiti deplore. "

“Pray a great deal for me…”

ACN provides future and hope to refugees through pastoral care for children.

Zimbabwe's recent re-imposition of a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has focused global attention once again on this distressed country.

“His fate should be a wake-up call for the international community.”

The international pontifical foundation ACN has received news of a jihadist attack on Fantio and Dolbel, two towns in the Tillabéri region, in southwestern Niger.

How ACN is backing the family and the future of the children of Baghdeda (Qaraqosh).

The economic and political crisis in Lebanon, home to the Middle East’s largest Christian community, has deepened ahead of a historic July 1 meeting between Pope Francis and Christian leaders from the country.

Today ACN is able to tell the inspiring story of this courageous Mozambican catechist.

An ACN programme is giving them new hope and equipping them to fight for a better future.

The Maronite Archbishop Chucrallah-Nabil El-Hage is involved in the prayer initiative “Peace Day for the East,” which will bring together all of the Middle East beginning on Sunday 27 June. In an interview with the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church...

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN International) welcomes the Day of Peace for the Middle East.

Mission accomplished – a pickup truck for the Capuchin missionaries in Kpassa.

A historic Lebanese church, that sustained severe damage in August 2020’s devastating blast, is on track to reopen in July 2021, thanks to help from ACN.

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) project partners denounce war conditions and inaction by the Nigerian government.

Among the victims in the aftermath of the bloodiest terrorist attack since Islamist violence began are also Christians.

“They are wounds that will be difficult to heal”, says Father Kwiriwi Fonseca of the diocese of Pemba in northern Mozambique.

News of burned out villages and barbarous beheadings of individuals has become commonplace in this region.

On the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Masses will be celebrated throughout the world for our benefactors.

ACN welcomes the announcement of an emergency meeting in the Vatican.

Christine du Coudray retires after 28 years at ACN International as head of project department for Africa.

The targeting of young people, indiscriminate killings and widespread sexual violence – including the rape of nuns – is part of a genocide against the Tigrayan ethnic group of northern Ethiopia, according to a source close to the Church.

Catholic nun expresses concern for the situation of the people following a mass exodus from Goma, a city of 2 million people.

Prayers for the people of Goma

Four people killed – Cardinal Bo speaks of a “humanitarian tragedy”

A Bishop has taken personal charge of negotiations to secure the release of a retired parish priest kidnapped in northern Nigeria five days ago.

Unadulterated horror and new life often go hand in hand in Nigeria. The deeply moving story of one of the victims of Boko Haram is one such example.

By Maria Lozano

Prayer for the Holy Land

By Ximena Rondon & María Lozano

Aid to the Church in Need supports the work of lay preachers all over the world.

Bishop from East Congo deplores terrorism and human rights violations in a talk with Aid to the Church in Need.

Manaus in Brazil is the capital of the Amazonas state and one of the principal financial, industrial and economic centers of the northern region of Brazil.

The Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need expresses its satisfaction to the appointment of Christos Stylianides, a Cypriot national, as Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU.

India is all over the news these days. The pandemic, which is a threat to people worldwide, has delivered a particularly hard blow to the country.

An interview with Bishop Paluku Sikuli Melchisédech.

The head of the Greek Catholic Church talked with ACN about his hopes that Pope Francis will visit the war-torn country.

The Catholic Church in Latin America has not been spared the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Catholic priest tells ACN, “We need help – both material and spiritual."

ACN Project Manager for South Sudan: “Years of armed conflict have made South Sudanese increasingly vulnerable.”

8 years on since the abduction and we still have no news of these two missing Bishops.

ACN shows solidarity with the Catholic Church of the island state.

By Mario Oliver (ACN International)

Recently, the houses of 450 Catholic families in Hyderabad and Karachi were destroyed as part of an anti-encroachment drive—targeting homes considered to be illegal settlements—by Sindh provincial government.

Congolese bishops‘ conference calls for a new strategy to combat rebel militias.

By Sebastian Moll

“We are going to have to live with terrorist attacks”

By Paulo Aido and Maria Lozano

“We are running, fleeing, trying to hide here on the shore. They are shooting everywhere. May it be as God wills, here in Palma...”

Two suspected suicide bombers have attacked the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, the capital of Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province on the morning of March 28 when parishioners had just finished the celebration of Palm Sunday. The attack kille...

As Easter approaches, Catholics who volunteer to provide security for churches around the country have begun participating in meetings at local police stations to protect parishioners.

Cardinal appeals to protestors not to turn to violence.

Since 2003 all Iraqis have suffered the burdens of war: kidnapping, displacement, and death.

Expert talks about the motives behind the military coup.

Thanks to a donation from Pope Francis, ACN has been able to help persecuted Christians in Iraq in the Niniveh Plains.

Archbishop Bashar Warda, who will be hosting Pope Francis on his visit to Iraq, hopes for more awareness on the part of the Muslim majority for the country’s Christians.

The situation in the Sahel region is worrying. In the interview below Maria Lozano of the international Catholic pastoral charity and pontifical foundation ACN, speaks with Bishop Laurent B. DABIRE, of the diocese of Dori, in northern Burkina Faso.

Religious minorities in Pakistan, such as Christians and Hindus, face painful discrimination and persecution from the majority Muslim population. A new initiative by the government is meant to put a hold to this. ACN asked Shahid Mobeen, Pakistani Profess...

The Bishop’s Conference of the Caribbean island deplores the explosive security and political situation.

The Catholic Church in Mali (Africa) continues to pray and work for the release of the Colombian sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoty, who was kidnapped four years ago on 7 February by jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda.

On the 15th anniversary of the murder of Fr Andrea Santoro.

Fiona Bruce MP, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, has received a petition from a Catholic charity calling for asylum to be granted to a 14-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan whose life is in danger.

“It is time to return to God.” Hundreds of Cuban Catholics, priests and lay alike, see their country in a state of profound crisis and are hoping for a national dialogue that will lead to political changes.

A series of kidnappings and acts of violence against priests and religious in Nigeria are of particular concern to Catholics in the country.

Egypt is home to the largest Christian community in the Arab world - the Coptic Church. Reaching back to the very beginnings of Christianity and to the Apostle Mark, there are today about 8 million Copts in Egypt. But in a politically deeply divided count...

“The situation in northern Ethiopia is alarming. Communication is very precarious and for almost three weeks the region has been totally isolated from the rest of the world. No internet or telephone. But the news we get from those who have been able to vi...

An interview with Gérard Ouambou.

Lebanon is the country that has taken in the highest number of refugees in the world, in proportion to its own population.

By Fr. Ignatius Nyan Htoo

In memory of the first Venezuelan bishop to fall victim of COVID-19.

Following bloody massacres, the Bishop of Beni appeals to the international community through Aid to the Church in Need.

Pope Francis is due to visit Iraq from 5 – 8 March this year.

"Without you, we could do nothing. You are the arms of God’s providence, who loves them through us. You make a material donation, and God gives you the joy of knowing that you are useful, today and in the future. And He will grant you Paradise.” 

Happy New Year! These are words we commonly hear at this time of year. And they were also the first words addressed by Bishop Juan José Aguirre of Bangassou to all at the international Catholic pastoral charity and pontifical foundation Aid to the Church...

Coronavirus, terrorism and war – and once again a growing level of persecution.

A survivor looks back ten years after the attack on Coptic Christians.

A Christian man in Pakistan will at last walk out of prison a free man – after the court acquitted him in a case that spanned more than 11 years with nearly 70 adjournments.

“Your support makes the families stay in the country,” states the Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo.

Naz Bano has been praying since 2016 for momentum in the movement to seek sainthood for her 20-year-old son, Akash Bashir, who was killed while preventing a suicide bomber from entering the crowded St. John’s Catholic Church.

The death of the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop of Homs.

The executive president of ACN International, Dr Thomas Heine-Geldern, has released the following statement:

Iraq’s Christians have welcomed news that Pope Francis is set to go to Iraq next Spring – the first time any pontiff will have visited the country.

After two years living as a captive in the desert, somewhere between Niger and Mali, the Italian missionary Father Pierluigi Maccalli , who was received by the Pope on 9 November 2020, recalled his first impressions in an interview conducted by the SMA Me...

Not only is the weather harsh and cold north of the Arctic Circle, but the religious climate is also anything but pleasant at times for the handful of Catholics living in the Norwegian city of Harstad on the island of Hinnøya. Aid to the Church in Need (A...

A day to stand up for persecuted Christians!

Bishops condemn corruption and the unjust treatment of Catholics.

Many communities all over the world are suffering such debilitating poverty that the faithful are not able to support their priests financially.

This new report highlights innocent Christians held against their will.

ACN will be donating 25,000 anoraks for Syrian children this Christmas.

The Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) interviewed Rev. Fr. Blaise Agwon, director of the Centre for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace in Jos, the capital of Plateau State in the central belt region of central Nigeria.

ACN is helping to rebuild the sisters’ convent on the ninth floor of the hospital building.

"The Armenian people have always come back again from the midst of indescribable calamities."

An Interview with Jesuit Antoine Audo, the Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo in Syria.

Maria Lozano, head of press and information at the charity’s international headquarters, spoke to Father Raymond Abdo, the provincial of the discalced Carmelite Fathers in Lebanon, to find out more about the life of the Christians in this country.

ACN supports the reconstruction of the Church of Saint Saviour in Beirut.

New massacres by jihadists – the number of refugees is growing daily.

"I am here as a witness of the torment of a people, my people, who are asking only for the right to live in dignity." - The Archbishop of Kinshasa.

“We hope that justice will prevail at the next court hearings."

With major Hindu nationalist networks announcing plans to launch a campaign against religious conversions—especially in the tribal areas of India—Catholic Church leaders say such a campaign has been going on for a long time and that the move is aimed at d...

Statement by Thomas Heine-Geldern, Executive President of the foundation: 

The coronavirus pandemic has left Bethlehem’s tourism-reliant economy in tatters, according to a shop owner, who has appealed to pilgrims, saying he longs for the day when they can safely return.

Desolation and discouragement are spreading in Syria, so we must therefore sow hope for the people.

In Pakistan, Shafique Masih has been living in hiding for nearly two decades despite his acquittal in a blasphemy case in 2001.

ACN teams up with parents in fight to release Arzoo.

The irrationality and hatred we are witnessing is an attack on a fundamental human right to religious liberty!

Responding to the appeal by Pope Francis, inviting all children to join in this initiative, young people from no fewer than 136 different countries and on every continent took part in the most recent annual event of “A million children praying the Rosary....

ACN has received the sad news of the murder of the Venezuelan priest José Manuel de Jesús Ferreira, parish priest of the Eucharistic Shrine of San Juan Bautista in the diocese of San Carlos de Cojedes and project partner of ACN.

The International Pontifical Foundation ACN condemns the violent attacks on churches in Santiago de Chile yesterday, 18 October. Two churches were attacked by protesters at a time when several hours of peaceful demonstrations were taking place to celebrat...

Two brave children, Trey and Erin, ages 13 and 11, and their parents recently organised a fundraiser for the victims in Beruit and donated the money to Aid to the Church in Need's National Emergency Appeal for Lebanon.

The charity announces new aid initiatives, ten weeks on from the catastrophic explosion in the city.

In spite of the difficulties, Father Luai and Father Hanna have stayed on there because they believe that this region should not be abandoned.

Mgr. Najeeb Michaeel, Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, has been listed as one of the three finalists to obtain the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament. The decision will be announced on 22 October.

During the Angelus in St Peter's Square on Sunday 11 October 2020, Pope Francis publicly announced and encouraged people to participate in Aid to the Church in Need's prayer campaign 'One Million Children Praying the Rosary.'

The head of a Catholic human rights’ organisation in Pakistan has hit out at the country’s justice system for taking so long to free the man wrongly accused of sparking one of the worst outbreaks of anti-Christian violence.

The Italian SMA missionary Father Pier Luigi Maccalli has finally been set free, on Tuesday 6 October 2020, more than two years after he was originally abducted in the diocese of Niamey in Niger, on 17 February 2018.

"The people in Lebanon are people who need love, they need to be cared for."

In an October 1 message marking the 60th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence from British rule, Bishop Matthew Kukah of Sokoto was harshly critical of the country’s President Mohammadu Buhari, faulting him for failing to rein in ongoing violence, much o...

John Paul II told us that Lebanon is a message: "We Christians here have an important role to play in this country, and the day we forget this message, Lebanon will no longer be Lebanon.”

One man's conversion to Christianity

A documentary film supported by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about a missionary living with the Dassanech people on Ethiopia’s Omo River, who works to overcome generations of inter-tribal violence through evangelisation and reconciliation, was selected...

Pakastani girl's struggle for freedom

“When one million children pray the rosary, the world will change” - St Padre Pio

Looking back at almost 30 years of service for the Church in Africa:

Interview with Reinhard Backes, head of projects for the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need, after his visit to Lebanon from 7-16 September 2020.

We ask for the sake of humanity for the whole world to put their hands together and help the people in Lebanon.

The Bishop of Kaduna declares that 'dark clouds of violence have enveloped our land'

Our brothers and sisters in Cuba are struggling with poverty after the hurricane that hit in 2019

Interview with Fr. Léandre Mbaydeyo

These people are asking for the least of their rights – they are asking for food!

ACN is preparing a second wave of help for Beirut amid growing fears that last month’s explosion could spark an exodus of Christians from Lebanon.

Archbishop Kondrusievicz has since been refused re-entry into Belarus and unknown persons have changed the locks of a Catholic church in Minsk.  

Sisters missing in Mozambique!

Amjad Arif tells ACN about his sufferings after being unjustly arrested in 2015.

Interview with Ján Figel’, the former EU Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU:

Maronite Father Charbel Eid, from Lebanon, talks about the situation in his native country. 

Children receiving the Sacrament of First Holy Communion talk with ACN International about their faith in Jesus.

Maira fled Nakash’s home

Today all our people are struggling to obtain their daily bread

Holy Father, Pope Francis calls the Bishop of Pemba:

The outcome of the August 9th election triggered serious riots

The 22nd of August has been dedicated as the 'International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief' which recognizes the importance of giving victims of acts of violence towards religion or belief and their families...

International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief must lead to concrete action says Dr Thomas Heine-Geldern, international executive president of Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

Religions for Peace issued an appeal signed by Religious Leaders of Myanmar in connection with the elections scheduled for November. The document is entitled “Seize the opportunity!” and was published in July 13, 2020.

The charity is funding food parcels for survivors of the explosion in Beirut 

Systematic violence against Nigerian Christians by Fulani herdsmen constitutes genocide according to a leading Catholic bishop who stressed that Muslims are also falling foul of the violence. 

Food, clothes and medicine in urgent demand in Beirut!

Sister Shobka Rani Talari smiles when she gets on her new moped.

August will mark the anniversaries of nine other countries, namely Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Gabon and Senegal.

The most recent attack on a Christian in Pakistan has further increased the suffering and fear among Christians throughout the country.

ACN International has condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist-style arson attack against the Catholic cathedral in Managua, the Nicaraguan capital.

The Fazendas – the “Farms of Hope” - seek to give an answer to this suffering.

Six years after IS-invasion a Church's reconstruction fuels Christian's hope.

Witnesses compare explosion to an “atomic bomb.”  

Campaign to free 14-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan.

Mozambique:  “The international community is nowhere to be seen in regard to the problem” in Cabo Delgado, says European deputy Paulo Rangel.

John Paul II made history during his lifetime and became one of the giants of the 20th century – both in the history of the Church and of the wider world. 

by Jacques Berset. The news came through on 14 March 2020 – the first known case of infection with Covid-19 had been detected in Brazzaville. In response the Congolese government had imposed a general lockdown on the entire population.

by Paulo Aido (edited by Maria Lozano). March 15 will mark the ninth anniversary of the start of the conflict in Syria. "The situation is terrible," said Sister Maria Lúcia Ferreira, a sister from the Mar Yakub Monastery in Qara, in the Christian region o...

by Grace Attu. Today we the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria and with significant support of priests, consecrated persons and our beloved lay faithful embark on a peaceful protest against the high level of insecurity in every part of Nigeria.

Nigeria is a unique country. Its inhabitants are distributed almost equally between Christians and Muslims. It comprises about one fifth of the African population, so a crisis that is not seriously dealt with in Nigeria would end up affecting the rest of...

by Thomas Oswald. Anne-Isabelle Tollet was the first foreign journalist to alert the international community about the Asia Bibi affair. After discovering, through the Pakistani woman, the iniquity and excesses of Pakistan’s “anti-blasphemy legislation...

“We Christians are persecuted, while the west remains indifferent – even selling arms to the terrorists instead of stopping them”