Africa is at the heart of the Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of May. This is timely and urgent, considering the increasing spate of deadly attacks against Christians on the continent. In this month of May, Pope Francis is calling on all Catholics to look to the African continent with hope. Focusing on...
“Do not be afraid, little flock” – this motto chosen for the first ever Papal visit by Pope Francis to North Macedonia on 7th May 2019, reflects the situation of the Catholics living in the country that was once part of Yugoslavia: only about two per cent of the country’s approximately two million inhabitants are...
This year, precisely on 13th May 2019, Aid to the Church in Need (Malta) will be clocking the 5th Anniversary of its set up and inauguration in Malta; five years of helping and supporting persecuted Christians in the Middle East, Africa, and other parts of the world where the faithful suffer for their faith. This...
From 1989 through till 2003 Liberia went through one of the bloodiest civil wars on the African continent. To this day this West African nation has still not fully recovered from it. More than two thirds of the country‘s almost 5 million population still have little faith in a lasting peace. One reason for this,...
Fr. Malaka Leonard Fernando is the Minister Provincial of the Vice Province of our Lady of Lanka, Sri Lanka, of the Third Order Regular Franciscans. His residence is just half a kilometer from Katuwapitiya, where St. Sebastian’s Church was bombed. The Congregation also has a Friary just in front of St. Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya. Fortunately...
Following the Easter Sunday Bombings in Sri Lanka, ACN spoke with Fr. Malaka Leonard Fernando, the Minister Provincial of the Vice Province of our Lady of Lanka, Sri Lanka, of the Third Order Regular Franciscans who lives just half a kilometer from Katuwapitiya, where St. Sebastian’s Church was bombed. Baring his mind on the situation,...
“We thought that Sri Lanka was becoming a peaceful environment. But with these blasts, all our hope has gone. We are far away from peace.” These are the heart-breaking words of Fr Malaka Leonard, a Franciscan Sri Lankan priest who lost close friends during the Easter Sunday bomb attacks. Speaking on the impact of the...
Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and president of the Path to Peace Foundation, has announced that Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will be the 2019 recipient of the Path to Peace Award. The Holy See Mission said it has chosen to honor the international papal...
Last weekend, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Malta played host to guests from Nigeria who were in Malta as witnesses for the ACN Night of Witness event. Each had a story to tell. A story not just of woes but of dogged faith in the midst of the storm. Speaking at the Chapel...
After their hasty departure from Kompienbiga, in the south-east of Burkina Faso, the sisters of the congregation, Sœurs des Campagnes took refuge with the brothers in the male branch of their same congregation, in Pama, back in January 2019 and just before the assassination of Father César Fernandez. Sister Thérèse, the Mother Superior, and Father...
