ACN to focus on Middle East, Sahel, and Latin America in 2024

Regina Lynch, executive president of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), highlights the worrying increase in religious freedom violations around the world, but also the positive reaction to ACN campaigns such as Red Wednesday and One Million Children Praying the Rosary. You were nominated executive president in April 2023. What is your view for …

Fulani herders kill nearly 200 Christians at Christmas in central Nigeria

Terrorists caused death and destruction during the Christmas holidays among the Christian communities in Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, and Mangu (but Bokkos was the epicentre) Plateau State, central Nigeria. The executive president of ACN, Regina Lynch, regrets yer another episode of violence against Christians in Nigeria. “This year began with the brutal murder of Fr Isaac …

Cardinal Nzapalainga: “As a Christian, I must hear and see things differently.”

During an interview at the international head office of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga from the Diocese of Bangui spoke about the attitude a Christian must have in the face of suffering as well as towards sisters and brothers in need. He also shared his experiences from the Synod on …

ACN Success Story: Uganda

A minibus to support religious sisters in their ministry The Little Sisters of Saint Francis is a local congregation founded in 1923 by Irish Franciscan Mother Mary Kevin Kearney, who first came to Uganda in 1902. She started with five other sisters, initially working under the shade of a tree, treating the sick and teaching …

Mali – German priest freed after over a year in captivity

Fr Ha-Jo was aware of the risks to his safety by continuing to work in Mali, but persisted, driven by a desire to improve the situation for the country overall, and to remain with his small Christian community. A German priest who was kidnapped in Mali over a year ago has finally been freed. Hans-Joachim …

Centrafrica – “Even if people have forgotten you, God has not forgotten you.”

Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga tours his war-torn country, Central African Republic (CAR), where some young people find it difficult to lay down their weapons and find their way back to school. On his travels to the ‘margins,’ which are particularly close to the heart of Pope Francis, the cardinal feels the pulse of an abandoned population. …

Bomb hits Salesian sisters’ house as war heads into seventh month

Sudan Some residents suffered minor injuries, but miraculously, according to a priest who was on site at the time, nobody was killed by the blast. A bomb struck the house of a mission operated by Salesian religious sisters in Sudan, at 6:50 a.m. on Friday, November 3, causing serious damage. According to those who were …

ACN Success Story – Togo

Three motorcycles for religious brothers in a rural area The “Rural Missionary Brothers” (Frères Missionnaires des Campagnes) have been working in Africa since 1969. Today, they are present in four West African countries: Togo, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Mali. However, numerous areas of West Africa now face the threat of jihadist terrorism. In Burkina Faso …

Cameroon – Bishop asks Europe to help slow migration by creating jobs in Africa

As the crisis of African migration to Europe deepens, those who are on the front line are issuing an urgent call to action. During a visit to the head office of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Bruno Ateba Edo of the Diocese of Maroua-Mokolo, in the far north of Cameroon, shared his …