IDPs burned alive, shot dead and macheted Militants massacred up to 200 Christians in Nigeria’s Benue State on the night of Friday, June 13, targeting displaced families, setting fire to their buildings as they lay asleep inside and macheting anyone who tried to flee. The IDP families were in buildings repurposed as temporary accommodation in …
Continue reading “Nigeria: Up to 200 dead in worst killing spree”
Help for the training of 221 seminarians in the Archdiocese of Kinshasa Almost one third of all the seminarians in the world today are from the continent of Africa. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, the number of priestly vocations is gratifyingly large. In the Archdiocese of Kinshasa, for example, there are …
Father Alphonsus Afina was kidnapped on Sunday, June 1, in the Diocese of Maiduguri. The auxiliary bishop of Maiduguri, Nigeria, has called for urgent prayers for one of his priests who was kidnapped by jihadist terrorists. In a message sent to Aid to the Church in Need – International (ACN), Bishop John Bogna Bakeni said …
Continue reading “Bishop calls for prayers as priest is kidnapped by jihadists in Nigeria”
Dozens Killed, Priests Targeted, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt A series of brutal attacks on communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt have left at least 36 people dead, with several others injured or abducted, according to reports received by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) from the Diocese of Makurdi. The wave of …
Through practical support and respect for their dignity, the Church in Nouakchott is showing the face of Christ to migrants. In a context where the Gospel can essentially only be proclaimed through action, the Church in Mauritania, supported by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), reawakens the hope of those who thought they were …
Continue reading “Mauritania: Accueil-Écoute, a hand extended to the most vulnerable”
During his visit to the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Cardinal Désiré Tsarahazana emphasized the urgency of an authentic and committed faith. In the face of many social problems which for a long time have undermined Madagascar, he insists on the importance of pastoral work so that the Gospel may …
Continue reading “Madagascan Cardinal: “The change has to start with us.””
“Six hundred and ninety-eight, six hundred and ninety-nine, seven hundred.” Mathieu passes pebbles from one side to another. Seven hundred in all, one for each of the Hail Marys he has prayed that night. A night which to him feels like the evening in Gethsemane, in the Garden of Olives, where Jesus also felt alone, …
A minibus for the interdiocesan seminary Equatorial Guinea is a former Spanish colony on the west coast of Central Africa. It is a relatively small country with an area of a little over 28,000 km² and a population of almost two million people. It has immense oil reserves and is therefore by no means one …
Bishop Papias Musengamana of the Diocese of Byumba in Northwest Rwanda recently visited the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). He tells the pontifical charity how his diocese recovered from the almost complete absence of priests after the 1994 genocide and speaks about the meaning of pastoral work with families and …
Continue reading “Rwanda: “If we lose the young people, we lose society””
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 …
