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LEBANON: Between hope and uncertainty

Due to the massive destruction in the Bekaa Valley and in southern Lebanon, ACN emergency relief projects remain very significant for the country. “With the appointment of a new president hope returned to Lebanon,” reports Marielle Boutros, Project Coordinator of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need [...]

2025-01-29T00:14:30+01:00

INTERNATIONAL: ACN convenes Global Day of Prayer for Peace in Myanmar

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is calling for a 24-hour Global Day of Prayer for peace in Myanmar, which will be celebrated on 1 February. On this date, which marks an important anniversary in the country's recent history, the foundation's headquarters and 23 national offices [...]

2025-01-21T20:36:15+01:00

Being a priest today: One of the most dangerous missions in the world

The number of priests and religious kidnapped increased in 2024, while the numbers arrested for reasons of persecution diminished. In total, ACN registered 121 cases impacting priests and religious, including 13 murders, 37 kidnappings and 71 held under arrest. Ten of these incidents involved women, eight of whom were kidnapped [...]

2025-01-15T08:30:24+01:00

CAMEROON: Only ‘education and hope’ can defeat ongoing terrorism – Bishop

As attacks by Islamist militants continue in Cameroon, the bishop of the worst-affected diocese has stressed the importance of providing education and giving people hope as an antidote to extremism. Jihadist terrorist group Boko Haram has been carrying out “sporadic attacks” in northern Cameroon, mainly to “steal food, livestock, money [...]

2025-01-14T21:45:35+01:00

BURKINA FASO: “When a catechist’s family has food, then the whole community has something to eat”

The Diocese of Nouna thanks ACN for supporting catechists. Thanks to the help from ACN, the Burkinabé Diocese of Nouna has been able to supply six months of basic foodstuffs to 30 internally displaced catechists in the parishes of Nouna, Solenzo and Saneba, so that they can feed their families [...]

2025-01-14T21:28:47+01:00

DR CONGO: Without ACN’s help, “we could not bring Christ to our sick parishioners”

Thanks to the generosity of our benefactors , we were able to provide three small motorcycles for the Franciscan Fathers running two parishes in the south of the country.  The archdiocese of Kananga covers part of the southern Kasai region, which in 2016 and 2017 witnessed terrible and gruesome violence. [...]

2025-01-08T14:10:34+01:00

The faith and resilience of Nigerian Christians is commendable

Just over a year after extremists murdered more than 300 people in coordinated attacks targeting Christian villages in Plateau State, Nigeria, the faithful gathered for a special Mass to remember the victims last Sunday (5 January).  Bishop Michael Gobal Gokum of Pankshin celebrated the Epiphany Mass at Saint John the [...]

2025-01-08T13:48:34+01:00

BURKINA FASO: Rise in vocations despite terror threat

Vocations at one of Burkina Faso’s main seminaries increased by more than 10 percent in the past five years – in spite of frequent attacks by jihadists who have seized control of more than half of the country’s territory. There are 281 students at Saints Peter and Paul Kossoghen Major [...]

2025-01-08T13:17:54+01:00

In Burkina Faso, catechists are the heroes of the Church

Catechists, often at the risk to their own lives, are pillars of the Church in Burkina Faso. Despite the continuous terrorist threats against them, they assure, in the absence of priests, the continuity of faith in villages and displacement camps. In an interview with ACN, a priest from the Diocese [...]

2024-12-18T00:38:57+01:00

SYRIA: Leaders discuss future of Christianity in Damascus

Christian leaders welcomed assurances from those controlling Syria that believers will have a future in the country, which was seized by rebel forces including jihadist militias last weekend. Armenian Catholic Bishop Georges Assadourian of Damascus told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that he met with the rebel leaders [...]

2024-12-18T00:32:19+01:00