Supporting 76 African seminarians Nigeria is a dangerous country for Christians, and especially for priests. Over the past 10 years, more than 150 priests have been abducted and over a dozen killed. And yet the number of vocations has not declined. In fact, it is increasing, with many young men wishing to become a diocesan …
Category archives: Africa
Northern Mozambique – Trapped between terrorism and hunger
Sister Ermelinda Singua is the superior of the first women’s congregation to have been founded in Mozambique. She and the other sisters continue to spread the Gospel despite the risks posed by terrorists and even lions. Northern Mozambique has been plagued by terrorism since the beginning of an Islamist insurgency in 2017. The violence is …
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“We want you to help us pray”
Four Salesian priests and four women religious serve a population of over 90,000 South Sudanese refugees in Palabek, Uganda. Between education and spiritual needs, they have their hands full, but they can count on the help of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). (Banner photo: one of the sisters with a family from the …
Religious robbed, held at gunpoint, and threatened with decapitation
The Mercedarian Sisters were the second congregation to suffer an armed robbery in a matter of days, as the violence in northern Mozambique steadily worsens. (Archive: Mercedarian Sisters, including some from the convent that was attacked). Almost a month ago, on June 8, the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, in the Diocese of Pemba, …
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ACN Success Story – Chad
Self-sufficiency help for Benedictine sisters The Benedictine convent of Saint Agatha, in the village of Lolo in the Diocese of Mondou, in the south of Chad, was established in May 2005. It is the first-ever contemplative convent in this mainly Muslim country of North and Central Africa. The first Benedictine sisters to arrive in Chad …
“Mozambique needs international aid to solve this problem,” says the bishop of Tete
There is no easy solution to the conflict in the northeast of the African country, but it is necessary to fight poverty and disinformation, and the Church is doing its part, says the bishop of Tete. Mozambique cannot face the crisis in the northeastern province of Cabo Delgado alone, says Bishop Diamantino Antunes. The bishop …
Sudan: Priest killed by a stray bullet during rebel militia attack
Fr. Luka Jomo died last Friday in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State in Sudan, during an attack by paramilitary militias on the city, which has been under siege since April 2023. Fr. Luka is the first priest to be killed during the current civil war in Sudan. “Dear fathers, sisters, and all …
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Nigeria: Up to 200 dead in worst killing spree
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 …
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ACN Project of the Week – DRC
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 …
Bishop calls for prayers as priest is kidnapped by jihadists in Nigeria
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 …
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