Spring 2025, a New Magazine for ACN Canada Press Release – For Immediate Release Montreal, April 2, 2025 – Hope, the theme of Jubilee 2025, is at the heart of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Canada’s new Spring 2025 Magazine, available on the national branch’s website at: https://acn-canada.org/magazine/. (Cover photo: a young seminarian from …
Category archives: Africa
Burkina Faso – Church, God’s Family: 125 Years of Evangelization
Burkina Faso is celebrating 125 years of evangelization in a country currently marred by violence and terrorism. The African nation occupies first place on the Global Terrorism Index 2025 and suffers from severe security issues, constant attacks against civilian populations, and entire regions that can only be reached by helicopter. Despite this situation, the Church …
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Sierra Leone: ACN helps Church face trauma after “senseless war”
A project supported by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) aims to train 150 priests to be “agents of reconciliation, healing, social transformation, and national cohesion.” Fr. Peter Konteh was in bed, asleep, when he first heard the explosions. Jumping to his feet, he called out to the other priest in the house to …
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Walking for peace in South Sudan
In a land where walking long distances is usually a sign of distress, an annual pilgrimage for peace is raising questions and changing attitudes. When Pope Francis announced his visit to South Sudan in 2022, young Catholics in the Diocese of Rumbek were naturally excited. “They kept saying they wanted to go and see him,” …
ACN help is “like the hand of God, saving lives” in Mozambique
A missionary sister who works in the Diocese of Pemba, which is racked by terrorism and still deeply affected by a recent cyclone, thanks Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) for the help it provides civilians. Sister Aparecida Queiroz from the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus (photo) arrived in the Diocese of Pemba, …
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Nigeria: “Let our children go back to school”
A plea for government in northern Nigeria to rethink the sudden and unprecedented closure of schools during Ramadan has come from a bishop concerned for the hundreds of thousands of children affected. Bishop Gerald Mamman Musa of Katsina (photo) said it came as “a complete surprise” when governors in his state as well as Kano, …
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Sorrow and indignation over murder of Nigerian priest
Since 2021, at least one pastoral agent has been murdered every year in the Diocese of Kafanchan. The bishop of the Diocese of Kafanchan in Kaduna State, Nigeria, has expressed his “deep sorrow and righteous indignation” over the abduction and subsequent murder of one of his priests. Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu was abducted from his residence …
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Priest kidnapped and murdered in Nigeria
A total of five priests and two religious sisters have been kidnapped in Nigeria this year alone. Besides Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu, who was murdered, two remain missing, while the other four were released. (Cover photo: A destroyed crucifix in Burkina Faso, a country where the security situation for Christians is challenging too.) A Catholic priest …
ACN Project of the Week – Central African Republic
An all-terrain vehicle for the Diocese of Bangassou Since June 2024, Italian Carmelite Father Aurelio Gazzera has been coadjutor bishop in the Diocese of Bangassou, a particularly difficult region in the southeast of the Central African Republic. This vast area of almost 135,000 km² is almost half the size of Italy and large parts of …
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Central African Republic – “Little by little, hope is being reborn.”
Although the country now enjoys a fragile peace, there is still insecurity, leading the bishops in Central African Republic to appeal to the international community not to forget the African nation. The Church, they say, will continue to fulfill its prophetic role. A unique spirit of dialogue and cooperation between Christian and Muslim leaders set …
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