ACN Project of the Week-Uganda

Help for the training of 30 seminarians The Diocese of Nebbi lies in the north of Uganda, in a region that suffered greatly from the internal warfare between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government from 1987 to 2006. Whole areas of this region were devastated and destroyed, and the consequences are still …

DRC-Bishop calls on authorities to end the torment of the Congolese people

After new massacres in North-Kivu, Msgr. Sikuli Paluku, bishop of Butembo-Beni, in a message sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), denounced the atrocities committed by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) since the beginning of June 2024. The bishop insists that there cannot be a separation between faith and the defence of human …

New terrorist attacks in Northern Mozambique cause mass flight of civilians

Cabo Delgado was ravaged by two major militant offensives. Armed groups, allegedly linked to ISIS, targeted the town of Macomia and the villages of Cajerene and Missufine, exacerbating the region’s displacement crisis. As the violence escalates, the Church intensifies its humanitarian response in northern Mozambique. (Cover photo: in 2021, Internally Displaced People (IDPs) already fled …

Nigeria – Heroic staff save pupils as gunmen attack Catholic school at night

Hundreds of children have been kidnapped from schools across Nigeria over the past years, but fortunately the latest attack on a catholic school was foiled and nobody was killed or abducted. The quick thinking of a headteacher helped save the lives of sleeping students after armed extremists stormed a secondary school in Nigeria’s Middle Belt …

Nigeria – Leah Sharibu turns 21 in Boko Haram captivity

A jihadist captive turned 21 today (May 14th), six years after being abducted from her school in Nigeria and held hostage for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. (Cover photo: during a protest in 2018, a banner to request Leah’s liberation). On her birthday, a pastor close to Leah Sharibu’s family called on the Nigerian …

ACN Project of the Week-Cameroon

Subsistence aid for three religious sisters The congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Divine Providence was founded in Nigeria in the year 2000. The sisters visit the sick and elderly in their homes, caring for them and bringing them Holy Communion. They also support families and women with practical help and advice and are active …

Burundi – Bishops denounce murders and abductions of citizens, saying the situation “makes one shudder.”

Human rights violations are widespread in Burundi, a small country which borders the much larger Democratic Republic of the Congo. For years, the country has been largely isolated from the outside world. Recently, the Burundian bishops drew attention to the country’s plight, which goes largely unnoticed by the general public. For decades, Burundi – a …

ACN Success Story – DRC

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Liturgical and theological literature for future priests There are presently 20 young men from the Diocese of Bokungu-Ikela who are training for the priesthood at various seminaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Their diocese, which covers an area of just over 40,000 km², is roughly the …

Brutal murders of Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt continue

Local community leaders say that the attacks followed tactics similar to those employed by armed bandits responsible for the Christmas massacres in Nigeria. Religion is a factor in the conflict which also has ethnic and economic roots. (Archive photo: a woman in tears after the attacks of Christmas 2023. This Easter time, the same scenario …

DRC – “Our country is not for sale!”

Six bishops from the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have written an “assessment of the pastoral and social situation” of the country, following a meeting which took place in Butembo, from April 8-14, and which paints a bleak picture of the state of the country and denounces how “the dignity of …