ACN Project of the Week – Democratic Republic of the Congo

Help for the training of 161 seminarians in the Diocese of Butembo-Beni The Diocese of Butembo-Beni is situated in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the crisis region of North Kivu, rich in natural resources, on the frontier between the DR Congo and neighbouring Uganda. For years now, the rebels of …

ACN Success Story – Democratic Republic of the Congo

10 motorcycles for pastoral work in rural parishes The Diocese of Boma lies in the west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 35 of the 47 parishes that belong to it are located in remote rural areas. The priests minister to the faithful with joy and great zeal, but the distances are daunting, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Project of the Week – Democratic Republic of the Congo

Two motorcycles for the pre-seminary in Kasongo The propaedeutic, or pre-seminary, in the Diocese of Kasongo, lies in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the population—unlike in other parts of the country—has a Muslim majority. The seminary was founded in 1936 and soon afterwards began to take in candidates from …

Democratic Republic of the Congo – The Church at the bottom of a mine

Despite the extreme poverty of its population, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the main suppliers of rare minerals in the world. The Church is committed to ensuring that miners are treated more fairly. They live far from the cities and can only imagine what the ugly grey rocks they extract from …

Democratic Republic of the Congo – A priest at the service of inmates

In the extreme conditions of the Congolese prison system, a priest is struggling to protect inmates from hunger and despair. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports from the central prison in Bukavu, in the far east of the country (South Kivu region) on the work of the Church among these otherwise abandoned people. …