Pope will wash feet of 12 refugees at Holy Thursday Mass Today, Holy Thursday, Pope Francis will celebrate the liturgy in a welcoming center for migrants and refugeeswhich houses more than 900 asylum seekers. The Pope will arrive at the Reception Center for Asylum Seekers, or CARA, in Castelnuovo di Porto, [...]
AZERBAIJAN - Mass stipends for seven priests Christianity has very ancient roots in Azerbaijan in fact, dating right back to the time of the Gospels. Although today some 90-95% of the population are Muslims, 70 years of communism have meant that in practice no more than about 20% of these even [...]
BELARUS - Help for the training of 33 seminarians in Grodno Last year the Catholic seminary in Grodno celebrated its 25-year Jubilee. ACN has helped for this seminary right from the start, and so, on the occasion of the Jubilee celebrations, the rector of the seminary, Dr. Roman Raczko wrote to us: [...]
ACN welcomes US State Department’s ISIS “genocide” decision Aid to the Church in Need welcomes US State Department’s decision to classify the persecution of Christians by ISIS as “genocide” Aid to the Church in Need welcomes the decision of the US State Department to classify the suffering Christians and other minorities have [...]
NIGERIA - Well deserved retreat for Maiduguri priests facing constant threat of Boko Haram atrocities In recent years the diocese of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria has been severely tried. For it is in one of the areas most hard-hit by the violence of the terrorist group Boko Haram. Since 2009 no fewer [...]
SLOVAKIA - New community centre is a hub for pastoral care and parish activities The parish of St Stephen in Kamenicanad Cirochou has around 2,600 Catholic faithful. It is situated in eastern Slovakia, just around 22 miles (35 km) from the Ukrainian border. In comparison with other parts of the country, this [...]
CUBA - Spare parts for the ancient cars of the priests in the diocese of Holguin The ancient “classic cars” that are so typical of the towns and cities of Cuba are a great attraction for tourists, who love to photograph them. For the people of the country itself, however, the situation [...]
Ukraine - Urgent restoration work continues on the roof of Odessa Cathedral The Cathedral of the Assumption in Odessa can look back on a chequered history. It was built in 1853 with the contributions of Polish and German Catholics. However, in 1935 it was closed down by the communists. First it was [...]
Dr Maria Meilak receives prestigious award for her missionary work Well known Maltese lay missionary Dr Maria Meilak was one of the first two alumni of the University of Malta chosen to receive a prestigious award in acknowledgement of distinction in their field, as well as leadership on a community, national [...]
UKRAINE - ‘I Can’t Believe I’m Free’- Ukrainian ex-prisoner of war describes how faith helped him survive his ordeal Krypychenko, a private in the Ukrainian army, found himself alone in no man’s land when his vehicle broke down. When an enemy intelligence unit appeared with weapons drawn, he assumed they were [...]