Bosnia and Herzegovina - Church beginning to recover from the devestation of war During the Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995 around half the Catholic Croats in the country were forced to leave and seek refuge abroad. Today there are only around 450,000 Catholics still living here. While it is true that, [...]
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - ACN helps to sustain the “miracle of Pope Francis” “The tension may have eased, but it still remains beneath the surface”, said Father Aurelio Gazzera to the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). He was describing the present situation in the Central African [...]
SYRIA - Vacation Bible School is a light in darkness for Syrian children For children growing up in Aleppo, Syria, life is anything but easy. In a city devastated by war, bombings are common and death is never far away. But for some 350 Christian children in the city, there is a [...]
Pope Francis’ visit - another step toward Christian unity? Pope Francis’ visit to Armenia is widely viewed as a chance to promote unity. It builds on decades of productive ecumenical dialogue since the Second Vatican Council between Rome and the Armenian Apostolic Church, part of the Oriental family of Orthodox churches. [...]
“Offenses against God and humanity” - Pope prays for victims of recent terrorist attacks Pope Francis expressed his sadness on hearing about more “barbarous” terrorist attacks that took place over a short period in three countries. On hearing of the first incident in Istanbul, which the Pope described as a “heinous [...]
Important victory for Freedom of Expression - ‘Hate crime’ cases against Valencia archbishop thrown out A judge in Valencia has thrown out two “hate crime” cases against Cardinal Antonio Cañizares of Valencia, Spain, on the grounds that that what the cardinal said in his homily is protected by freedom of speech. [...]
Pope visits ACN sponsored orphanage Pope Francis visited the Sisters of Our Lady of Armenia who run an orphanage and a day centre for the elderly, which ACN has been helping since 1997. Francis rested for a few hours on the second day of his journey in the dormitory of [...]
Highlights of Pope’s visit to Armenia Pope Francis’ visit to Armenia was a huge success as werehis previous visits to other countries, generating large amounts of strongly positive media coverage and drawing warm reactions from locals, despite the fact that Catholics are only a small minority here.FRIDAYWhen the Pope arrived, the first [...]
INDIA - “Mother Teresa was the best missionary of the millennium” Bishop Salvadore Lobo of Baruipur described the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, who will be canonised by Pope Francis on 4 September, as the “best missionary of the millennium”. Lobo, who headed the canonisation committee, reported that Christ had said to Mother [...]