Booklets honouring the martyrs of Quiché The civil war in Guatemala dragged on for 36 years before finally coming to an end in 1996. It was one of the most brutal armed conflicts in all Latin America, in which at least 200,000 people were killed, while tens of thousands more simply disappeared without a trace. …
Category archives: Americas
ACN Success Story – Brazil
A riverboat for an Amazonian parish The Diocese of Humaitá lies deep in the Amazon region and serves a vast area of around 135,000 km². Most of it is covered by rainforest, however, and is only sparsely populated. Many of the communities lie on the riverbanks and can only be reached via water. The river …
Venezuela – Bishops encourage citizens to vote in upcoming elections
“The Venezuelan people know that the future is in their hands.” In a joint statement, the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (Conferencia Episcopal Venezolana – CEV) highlights the crucial role of the people in defining the country’s future in the elections scheduled for July 28. Venezuela is preparing for presidential elections in 2024 and legislative elections in …
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Project of the Week – Colombia
Three motorized rickshaws for pastoral work in Mitú The Vicariate Apostolic of Mitú lies in the Amazon region of eastern Colombia in an area covering over 54,000 km². Roughly a third of its population of 45,000 people live in the town of Mitú itself. The remainder live scattered throughout this jungle-clad region and most of them …
Dominican Republic – Faith and hope in the bateyes
In Batey 5, a peripheral area of the Diocese of Barahona on the border with Haiti, three missionaries, with the support of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), help fight poverty and social exclusion in the neediest parish in one of the poorest dioceses in the Dominican Republic. Not far from the luxurious resorts …
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Central America-A “gap” of inhumanity
Latin American bishop cries out over Darién crisis The archbishop of Panama spoke to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about his experience in the region of the Darién Gap, one of the most inhospitable migratory routes in Latin America. Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta highlighted the urgent need for attention and action in …
Mexico: Priest threatened with death
“I feel like a war chaplain” On June 2, Mexicans went to the polls and, for the first time in their history, elected a woman to the country’s presidency, Claudia Sheinbaum. She is considered by many observers to be the runner-up to her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Among the challenges that await her during …
ACN Project of the Week – Costa Rica
Renovation of a formation house refectory The monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe is situated in the city of Belén in Costa Rica and also serves as the formation house for the postulants of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, in Central America. At present, there are six brothers there—two of them fully professed, as …
Haiti-Catholic bishops plead for an end to violence and for national reconciliation
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will be joining the day of prayer on March 22 for the people of Haiti. In a message dated March 18, the Catholic bishops of Haiti expressed profound concern about the violence that is sweeping the country. The letter, which was sent to international Catholic charity Aid to …
A dark weekend of Christian persecution
Almost 30 Christians were killed or kidnapped in different incidents in three different countries over the past few days. Fifteen Christians were killed and two wounded in an attack on Catholics in Essakane, in the Diocese of Dori, Burkina Faso. The attack, which took place on Sunday, 25 February, was carried out by terrorists who …