NICARAGUA “The lies are almost as dangerous as the bullets because they create a psychosis of war"    Sources close to the Catholic Church in Nicaragua are accusing the media in the country of a lack of neutrality. News reports about the grave crisis the country has been going through [...]

UKRAINE Remember our ‘silent and forgotten war’ pleads Archbishop   Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, called on the international community and especially fellow Catholics not to forget the crisis in Ukraine. “This is a silent and forgotten war. Because it is a ‘frozen [...]

NIGERIA  “We may be doing better. But we are still far from normality” - Fr Bature     Father Tobias Bature, a priest of the diocese of Maiduguri in the state of Borno, Nigeria recently visited the headquarters of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The [...]

MADAGASCAR  Islamisation is on the march   Madagascar is currently going through a grave political crisis, a few months ahead of the presidential elections. Christians have been a majority on the island since the 19th century. Although it is difficult to find reliable statistics, the latest Report on Religious Freedom [...]

IRAQ "A strong coalition government is needed to remove weapons from sectarian militias" -Patriarch Sako   Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako addressed a letter to all Iraqi politicians and the diplomatic delegations present in Iraq, highlighting their responsibility in the face of the political-institutional paralysis which Iraq is in after [...]

PAKISTAN "A call to pray and serve my people” - Cardinal Coutts   On his return to Pakistan after being created cardinal in Rome, Cardinal Joseph Coutts commented: "I am not chosen because I am the most capable. This is God's plan for me: serving him close to the Holy [...]

SYRIA 40 Reasons for Hope    ACN unveils fresh emergency and pastoral aid plan   More than 40 projects offering emergency relief and spiritual support to people in Syria have just been approved by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. The £2.65 million (€3 million) programme being rolled [...]