Kharkiv is a huge city, with a population of 1.7 million before the war, and now only about 20 km from the front line. War has a dramatic effect on people’s lives, and as this conflict completes its sixth month, the scale of the loss and destruction in Ukraine continues to [...]
During a visit to the headquarters of pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Martin Mtumbuka, of the Diocese of Karonga, in Malawi, highlights the vibrancy of the African Church, and speaks about both the success stories and the struggles of the young diocese. Located in the [...]
ALEPPO, besieged and destroyed in Syria’s war, is calm now, but 11 years of war and the accompanying economic sanctions have left the city impoverished. “We don’t have any direct violence, armed groups or bombardments on or around the city since the end of 2017,” Chaldean Catholic Bishop Antoine Audo [...]
On the International Day to Commemorate the Victims of Acts of Violence based on Religion or Beliefs, ACN, that supports persecuted and suffering Christians in over 140 countries, highlights a number of important issues to remember on this occasion: Lack of international response to the myriad Islamic terrorist cells in [...]
Although most of the fighting is taking place in Eastern Ukraine, Russian forces have continued to attack the west of the country. Many people, including the priests who oversee the Shrine of our Lady of Rudky, some 50 kilometres outside of Lviv, have learned what it is to lose everything [...]
Three Oblate Fathers oversee the Catholic parish of Chernihiv in Northern Ukraine. Almost immediately after the start of the war by Russia, the city was under siege. For a month it was cut off. Many people were killed in bomb and missile strikes, and large sections of the city [...]
As relations between the Nicaraguan Church and the Sandinista regime become increasingly strained, another priest has been reportedly arrested by the police. Fr Oscar Danilo Benavidez Tinoco, from the Diocese of Siuna, is been held in a detention centre in Managua, though the reason for his arrest remains unknown. According [...]
Fresh terrorist attacks could pose the gravest danger Nigeria’s capital has ever seen, according to a leading Archbishop in the country. Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): “Some years ago, there were bomb attacks. But there has never been a really serious threat, [...]
The Catholic Church in Nicaragua has continued to suffer persecution from President Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista Government. The latest was a recent case where police stopped a Priest from celebrating Mass. The incident took place on August 4, when Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa, along with six priests and six lay [...]
“My sister and I had been asking for new clothes, but my parents couldn’t afford it. My mother only worked in two houses. We wanted to support our parents,” 15-year-old Saba told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). A month after waiting for the promised dress on Easter, Saba [...]
