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, [...]
The pontifical foundation ACN confirms the release of Father Leon Douyon, Catholic priest from Ségué in the Mopti region of Mali, yesterday afternoon, Tuesday 13 July. In a message received by the ACN foundation, Mgr Jean-Baptiste Tiama, Bishop of Mopti, expressed his joy at the news: “Our brother Léon Douyon [...]
Life as a refugee is not easy. Leaving everything behind and beginning a new life in a different country with different laws, education, languages and cultural expectations requires a period of adjustment. Racism and discrimination, ongoing mental health issues due to trauma, including survivor guilt, and lack of legal documents [...]
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has received reports of a jihadist attack on Fantio and Dolbel in the Tillabéri region of south-western Niger. Survivors of the attack – a group of women with small children and babies – fled to the Dori region of Burkina Faso, ACN was [...]
