Newly appointed Bishop of Darwin, Charles Gauci, will visit Malta in October    Maltese born Fr Charles Gauci, currently the administrator of St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Adelaide, was appointed the seventh Bishop of Darwin on 27 June 2018. Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge welcomed the appointment [...]

NICARAGUA Church strongly condemns attack on bishops by pro-Government paramilitaries   The Nicaraguan Catholic Bishops Conference has strongly condemned the attack on Cardinal Leopoldo José Brenes Solorzano of Managua; his auxiliary, Bishop Silvio José Baez Ortega; and Archbishop Waldemar Sommertag, apostolic nuncio to Nicaragua. The Archdiocese of Managua said the [...]

INDIA Attacks and harassment against Christians at historically high levels   Christians and religious minorities 10 years after the Kandhamal Riots 2008 was a year Catholics in the Indian state of Odisha suffered a terrible suppression at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists intent on extinguishing the presence of Christianity. Murders, [...]

ZIMBABWE "Elections are an opportunity to build a new Zimbabwe," say bishops   Since former President Robert Mugabe, who ruled the country since independence in 1980, was forced to resign in November 2017, Zimbabwe has been experiencing a mixture of hope and disappointment. The country has been struggling as the [...]

CAMEROON Priest killed in clashes between government forces and separatists   A Catholic priest has been killed on 20 July during an exchange of fire between government forces and separatist militants by unidentified individuals. Fr. Alexandre Sob Nougi, 42, pastor of the parish of the Sacred Heart in Bomaka and [...]

IRAQ Christians in Iraq: Quo Vadis?  “IS tried to take the monastery. In August of 2014 we were convinced that they would succeed,” Archbishop Timotheos Moussa Al-Shamani, abbot of the Syriac Orthodox Mar Matti Monastery, founded in the 4th century and one of the oldest in the world. The monks [...]

VENEZUELA Third priest shot dead as violence escalates   The extremely grave situation for priests in Venezuela continues to be one of the major concerns of ACN. Yet another priest has been murdered in Venezuela in the wave of violence that has swept across the country. Father Irailuis García of the [...]