The number of priests and religious kidnapped increased in 2024, while the numbers arrested for reasons of persecution diminished. In total, ACN registered 121 cases impacting priests and religious, including 13 murders, 37 kidnappings and 71 held under arrest. Ten of these incidents involved women, eight of whom were kidnapped [...]
As attacks by Islamist militants continue in Cameroon, the bishop of the worst-affected diocese has stressed the importance of providing education and giving people hope as an antidote to extremism. Jihadist terrorist group Boko Haram has been carrying out “sporadic attacks” in northern Cameroon, mainly to “steal food, livestock, money [...]
The Diocese of Nouna thanks ACN for supporting catechists. Thanks to the help from ACN, the Burkinabé Diocese of Nouna has been able to supply six months of basic foodstuffs to 30 internally displaced catechists in the parishes of Nouna, Solenzo and Saneba, so that they can feed their families [...]
Thanks to the generosity of our benefactors , we were able to provide three small motorcycles for the Franciscan Fathers running two parishes in the south of the country. The archdiocese of Kananga covers part of the southern Kasai region, which in 2016 and 2017 witnessed terrible and gruesome violence. [...]
Just over a year after extremists murdered more than 300 people in coordinated attacks targeting Christian villages in Plateau State, Nigeria, the faithful gathered for a special Mass to remember the victims last Sunday (5 January). Bishop Michael Gobal Gokum of Pankshin celebrated the Epiphany Mass at Saint John the [...]
Vocations at one of Burkina Faso’s main seminaries increased by more than 10 percent in the past five years – in spite of frequent attacks by jihadists who have seized control of more than half of the country’s territory. There are 281 students at Saints Peter and Paul Kossoghen Major [...]
Catechists, often at the risk to their own lives, are pillars of the Church in Burkina Faso. Despite the continuous terrorist threats against them, they assure, in the absence of priests, the continuity of faith in villages and displacement camps. In an interview with ACN, a priest from the Diocese [...]
Christian leaders welcomed assurances from those controlling Syria that believers will have a future in the country, which was seized by rebel forces including jihadist militias last weekend. Armenian Catholic Bishop Georges Assadourian of Damascus told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that he met with the rebel leaders [...]
More than one year after the war began, Pope Francis continues to telephone the Catholic parish in Gaza every day and has become a grandfather figure to the children, says Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem continues to give as much support as it can to the small [...]
In one of the most dangerous states in Mexico, the Worker Sisters help children who are exposed to violence. With ACN’s support, they also train novices who grew up in difficult environments, preparing them to carry hope to vulnerable communities. “One of our children saw his father be killed,” says [...]
