Just over 60 young men are currently undergoing formation in the propaedeutic Abbot Kaumo seminary of Kasongo, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They gather there to pray, attend classes, cook, work in the seminary’s vegetable garden and practice sports. The seminary has great economic needs, which affect the [...]
With peace remaining “fragile” in Burundi and memories of past genocides still vivid, more needs to be done to guarantee human rights, according to ACN's head of projects for francophone countries in Central Africa. There have been three genocides and other violent conflicts between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups [...]
Father Jacques Mourad, a Syro-Catholic monk, was held captive by the Islamic State jihadists in 2015 for about five long months, a period of violence, humiliation, mockery, psychological and physical torture, and in which he was threatened with death, having arrived standing before a firing squad. He survived it all, trusting [...]
Many of the Christians who lived in Sudan have fled the country or at least escaped the cities that are engulfed in violence, says a Spanish Comboni missionary who has worked for years in Sudan, in an interview with the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need, (ACN). Fr [...]
A bishop from western Ukraine has told ACN about his struggle to help the 400,000 war-scarred people who have flooded into his region since Russia's full-scale invasion began, in February 2022 Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region, which has a population of one million, has taken in a total of 400,000 internally displaced [...]
During the six days of World Youth Day (WYD), in Lisbon, which begins next week, international foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will be carrying out a number of initiatives aimed at raising awareness of Christian persecution around the world and mobilising people to be active in defence [...]
In view of the Jubilee of 2025, Pope Francis decides to create a working group at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to draw up a catalogue of all Christians - not only Catholics - who have shed their blood to confess Christ in the last quarter of a [...]
A Ukrainian bishop has travelled more than 30,000 miles (50,000 km) in seven months to offer pastoral care and other help to Christians on the frontline. Bishop Maksym Ryabukha, Auxiliary Bishop of Donetsk, told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about the extreme challenges of ministering in a war [...]
Young Christians afflicted by war and poverty in Syria and Lebanon will be able to participate in this year’s World Youth Day (WYD) at local events in parallel with the main gathering in Lisbon, Portugal. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will be helping to create a WYD experience [...]
A Pakistani Christian nurse, who narrowly escaped being lynched by a mob of hundreds after being accused of blasphemy, has spoken of her joy after arriving in North America to start a new life with her family. Video footage of Tabitha Nazir Gill, now 32, being beaten up by colleagues [...]
