Media Release 02.6.2023

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.