COLOMBIA Pope’s visit will offer the people encouragement   The President of the Colombian Episcopal Conference (ECC), Monsignor Oscar Urbina Ortega, spoke about the Pope’s eagerly anticipated visit to the country on 6-11 September. He said Colombians are expecting from Pope Francis “a word of encouragement for evangelization, for reconciliation [...]

NORTH KOREA   62 year old Canadian pastor released from prison   A 62-year-old Canadian pastor who was sentenced to a life term of hard labour in North Korea for "crimes against the state" in December 2015 has been released on humanitarian grounds, the country's official news agency says. The release [...]

IRAQ Girl taken by IS reunited with her family   “Pray for Christina’s family, still in shock to see their child again. It was a true miracle, a new birth and a new life” On the night of 6-7 August 2014, Islamic State (IS) occupied the historic regions of Nineveh [...]

ETHIOPIA Christianity brings peace, tolerance and human rights for women   The Borana people live in the far south of Ethiopia, in a region bordering on Kenya. In many ways the Catholic Church is in her infancy here, since Catholic missionaries only arrived in the region for the first time [...]

SUDAN A chance for a better life –  Oliver Maksan The Catholic schooling system is one of the pillars of the Church – and ACN is supporting its work Dust and mud brick houses everywhere – as far as the eye can see. The houses are indistinguishable in colour from [...]

Vatican hospital will care for seriously ill refugee children   Bambino Gesù Hospital of the Holy See and the United National High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) have agreed to provide badly needed care to Jordanian and vulnerable refugee children with serious illnesses. The partnership will ensure that more than 300 [...]

SYRIA Strengthening faith and hope through sport in Aleppo   The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is supporting a project for the rebuilding of a multipurpose sports centre for the Armenian Christian community Josué Villalón reports from Aleppo:  “The area of East Aleppo has not attracted [...]