For three days in Washington, D.C., the first-ever International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit (July 13-15) brought together more than 30 different faiths to discuss threats to religious freedom around the world. The summit was attended by more than 700 representatives of some 70 NGOs, including Aid to the Church in [...]
“I was lost, and have been found. I was dead, and I am alive again.” These were the words of gratitude expressed by Fr. León Douyon, a Catholic priest from the town of Ségué in the diocese of Mopti, in Mali, after having been liberated on 13 July this year [...]
Most people have lifelong memories of their first child’s Bible – Adam and Eve in Paradise, Noah’s Ark, the birth of Jesus in the stable, the wedding feast in Cana, the miraculous multiplication of loaves– all these stories and images become imprinted on our hearts. In order that as many [...]
Food shortages are so dire in Syria that women and children are scavenging for food in bins, says Sister Annie Demerjian, a long standing partner of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Explaining that the deepening economic crisis means people in Syria are “surviving on one meal a day [...]
One in every two Catholics in the world is from Latin America. With almost 500 million Catholics, and despite the ever-growing presence of sects, about 44% of all Catholics in the world live in Latin America. If one adds the 60 million Hispanics who, according to the US Census, are [...]
Father Joseph Bature Fidelis of the Diocese of Maiduguri is aware of the danger priests face from local Islamist terror groups. “From the onset, when we chose to stay back with our people, we knew the danger of what it means to be a priest in such an area,” said [...]
A Catholic priest is returning to the land where he was once abducted to “give hope to those who have lost hope.” For the past seven years Fr. Charles Mbikoyo has studied philosophy at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome but his story starts in what is now South Sudan, [...]
Grateful for aid to Iraqi Christian genocide victims, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Erbil says more must be done to ensure the ISIS genocide is not repeated. “The help was there, and that’s really made a big difference,” Archbishop Bashar Warda of the Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Erbil told CNA [...]
The diocese of Tura, in the state of Meghalaya in northeast India, began very modestly when it was first founded in 1973, with just four parishes and around 40,000 Catholic faithful. Today it has 45 parishes, and the number of Catholics has likewise increased massively. The majority of the population [...]
A handwritten note sent by a kidnapped nun to her brother has come to light, in which she appeals for prayer for an end to her four-year ordeal at the hands of jihadists. Sister Gloria Narváez Argoti, 57, who was abducted in Mali, sent the letter to Edgar Narváez Argoti, [...]
