NIGERIA: Kidnapped Seminarian found dead

The Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need is greatly saddened and dismayed at the murder of the 18-year-old Nigerian seminarian, Michael Nnadi  who was abducted by armed assailants, along with three other seminarians, on 8th January this year from the Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna in northern Nigeria. [...]

2020-02-05T07:37:16+01:00

PAKISTAN: Freedom at Last for 40 Christians After 5 Years in Prison

Christians across Pakistan are rejoicing after a court (Wednesday, 29th January) acquitted 40 men jailed for alleged involvement in the lynching of two people in a district outside Lahore. The 40 individuals, almost all of them Christians, shouted “Alleluia, Praise God” as the anti-terrorism court in Lahore ordered their release [...]

2020-02-04T14:16:58+01:00

PAKISTAN: Court validates forced marriage of kidnapped Christian girl by invoking Islamic law

The Pakistani Christian community is shocked by the application of Islamic law, 'sharia', by the Karachi Supreme Court in a kidnapping case that has mobilized international public opinion. Ignoring the law itself, which does not allow the marriage of minors, the judges yesterday validated the forced marriage of Huma Younus, [...]

2020-02-04T14:02:22+01:00

VENEZUELA: Pastoral Care for the Poorest of the Poor

Like any other country, Venezuela has its poorer and more affluent regions. While the people living in the capital city of Caracas are doing fairly well in spite of the current economic crisis, the situation in rural areas is at times disastrous. The work of Father Angel Orellana illustrates how [...]

2020-01-29T15:12:41+01:00

VATICAN: Iraqi president urged to protect Christians

The Vatican last Saturday urged Iraqi President Barham Saleh to guarantee the safety of Christians and ensure they have a future place in the war-battered country. President Saleh met with Pope Francis, the Vatican secretary of state and foreign minister during back-to-back audiences on Saturday 25th January, his second visit [...]

2020-01-29T07:50:29+01:00

“FINALLY FREE”: Book on Asia Bibi set to be Released

Since May 2019, Asia Bibi the Pakistani Christian woman accused of blasphemy who spent 8 years in prison has been a refugee in Canada and wants to continue helping Christians falsely accused of blasphemy. At the end of next month, the book "Finally Free" by the French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet [...]

2020-01-29T07:43:35+01:00

“Our Cry from Libya: A Stable Peace is Needed”- Bishop George Bugeja

“I’ll be there”. Despite the ongoing civil war the apostolic vicar of Tripoli, Bishop George Bugeja, will be in Bari. Religious leaders from countries overlooking the great sea will be participating in the “Mediterranean: frontier of peace”, a meeting being promoted by the CEI to be held in Puglia from [...]

2020-01-22T09:22:24+01:00

PAKISTAN – The Case of 14-Year-Old Huma Younus

A potentially historic development may be about to happen in the case of Huma Younus, and by implication, of all Christian girls abducted and forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan. As reported to ACN last week (on 16 January) by Tabassum Yousaf, the lawyer representing this 14 year-old Catholic girl, [...]

2020-01-22T07:21:17+01:00

NIGERIA: 1 of 4 kidnapped seminarians released

One of the four seminarians kidnapped after an armed group attack on the Good Shepherd Major Seminary, Kaduna on the night of 8 January, has been released last weekend by the kidnappers because he was quite ill. The other three seminarians remain in captivity. The freed seminarian, who has not [...]

2020-01-21T13:00:40+01:00