BANGLADESH Oppressed Christians look forward to Pope's visit   Most of the Catholics in the country are tribal peoples, who are still fighting for recognition of their rights Bangladesh is awaiting the visit of Pope Francis from 30 November to 2 December. It is one of the most densely populated [...]

BELARUS: “The Catholic church is not demanding any privileges, but its rights.”   Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk-Mohilev deplores the violation of the rights of the Catholic church in Belarus. In a document that has been made available to the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), he [...]

BULGARIA Breaking the vicious cycle for Romani children   “If we don’t do anything, the fate of the Romani children will be sealed,” Salesian Father Martin Jilek from Stara Zagora in Central Bulgaria, 230 kilometres to the east of the capital of Sofia, said. “They are married off by their [...]

IRAQ Sister Ilham offers children a safe place near Mosul   “In 2016, around six thousand people had to leave Telleskuf. When I returned to this area, all the houses were abandoned and many of them were destroyed. In Telleskuf a lot of buildings have been reduced to rubble. The [...]

ACN’s Persecuted and Forgotten? report 2015-17 is officially launched in Malta   ACN’s Persecuted and Forgotten? report 2015-17 was launched in Malta on 17 November 2017. The official launch, which took place in Good Shepherd church, Balzan was attended by ACN benefactors and staff, local clergy and religious. Stephen Axisa, National Director of ACN Malta, [...]

" THE WAR IS OVER! " (Message from a Pastor to his faithful of Aleppo, translated from Arabic)   The war against Syria is over.  This is what we are hearing in the declarations of the heads of State and this is what we have been seeing lately: a precipitation [...]

VATICAN CITY The Pope plans a surprise lunch for the poor on World Poverty Day   As  World Day of the Poor was celebrated for the first time, Pope Francis planned his own sweet surprise for the poor. The Pope invited 1,500 poor homeless people for Mass and lunch at [...]

SYRIA “ Our job is to stand by the sick”         Sisters caring for Syria’s sick and wounded throughout five years of heavy bombardment have received essential medical equipment from Aid to the Church in Need. The charity has provided the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition who run [...]

CHINA President seeks more control over religion   In a speech during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping announced that he wants to tighten Beijing’s strict government controls on religion in the communist country. Xi claimed that religions not sufficiently conformed to Communist [...]

PHILIPPINES Bishops start rosary campaign against violent drug war   The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has called for a prayer campaign urging Filipinos to pursue healing and repentance to stop the escalating violence in the conflict between police and drug traffickers. The prayer campaign involves praying the rosary [...]