SOUTH AFRICA: ACN provides future and hope to refugees through pastoral care for children

Life as a refugee is not easy. Leaving everything behind and beginning a new life in a different country with different laws, education, languages and cultural expectations requires a period of adjustment. Racism and discrimination, ongoing mental health issues due to trauma, including survivor guilt, and lack of legal documents [...]

2021-07-14T12:12:48+02:00

Success Story: A minibus for the Blessed Sacrament Sisters

The Sisters of the Most Blessed Sacrament are overjoyed. For, thanks to the support of our generous benefactors, we have been able to provide the money to purchase a new minibus for their work. You have given almost 28,000 Euros for this purpose. Sister Maguy writes: „On behalf of all [...]

2021-07-07T13:02:23+02:00

Father Stan Swamy, SJ: “A fearless advocate for the poor and an inspirational Catholic pastor”

Father Stan Lourduswamy, the elderly Indian Jesuit priest imprisoned for several months by the Indian authorities, died on Monday 5 July 2021 in a Catholic hospital in Mumbai at the age of 84, according to international media reports. Widely known as Stan Swamy, the priest had been suffering for some [...]

2021-07-07T12:46:53+02:00

ZIMBABWE: As COVID-19 strikes hard again, ACN reaches out to ease the struggle of pastoral workers

Zimbabwe´s recent reimposition of a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has focused global attention once again on this distressed country. The need for help is huge and there is a surge in the number of infections, up to 596 new cases and 26 deaths in only one week, as [...]

2021-07-07T12:35:34+02:00

LEBANON: “Ahead of historic meeting with the Pope in Rome, the Middle East’s largest Christian community is in peril”

The economic and political crisis in Lebanon, home to the Middle East’s largest Christian community, has deepened ahead of a historic July 1 meeting between Pope Francis and Christian leaders from the country. This week, the country’s currency plunged to a record low of 17,000 to the U.S. dollar, having [...]

2021-06-30T10:35:41+02:00

MOZAMBIQUE: Catechist risks his life to save a parish “treasure” during the terrorist attack

“I am the catechist and animator of the parish of Saint Benedict in Palma” explains Paulo Agostinho Matica and with these words he hands over to Bishop Antonio Juliasse, the Apostolic Administrator of Pemba, the parish registers of his home parish in Palma. On March 24, when the town was [...]

2021-06-30T10:29:08+02:00

“Pandemic’s economic fallout must not stop Catholics’ generosity”- Pope Francis

International solidarity in funding the rebuilding of schools, hospitals and churches destroyed by war is important, Pope Francis said, but “we need to be concerned above all for the living stones who have been wounded and dispersed.” From Iraq and Syria, then from the Holy Land through North Africa to [...]

2021-06-30T10:25:42+02:00

PAKISTAN: Christian family makes a fresh start, thanks to ACN

The family of a Christian girl in Pakistan who was tethered with a rope and shackled round her ankles, are making a fresh start after Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) provided them with an auto-rickshaw. The vehicle, funded by ACN will enable Asif Masih, the father of 12-year-old [...]

2021-06-23T14:24:59+02:00

ACN 2020 Projects: Compassion in a time of crisis

Benefactors of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) responded to the covid-19 pandemic by donating more in 2020 than the previous year, as the Foundation rushed out emergency projects amid growing persecution. ACN thanks supporters, who helped priests, Sisters and lay workers tackling the coronavirus crisis, as the charity [...]

2021-06-23T14:20:16+02:00