Ten years of bringing hope and fostering coexistence in Iraq In 2014, Yohana Al-Zebbaree was a pre-teen boy from a Chaldean Catholic family living in the northern Iraqi city of Duhok when jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) overran Mosul and began expanding their control over large parts of northern Iraq. “I remember the night …
Continue reading “Catholic University in Erbil is celebrating ten years: Bravo!”
Harshly persecuted for her faith, Sofia ended up finding solace in God and the strength to forgive those who forced her from her country and nearly killed her several times. On August 6, 2014, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians had to leave everything behind and escape their homeland, as terrorists from the Islamic State …
Continue reading “The young girl who fled from Iraq and met the Pope”
Thanks to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) and its benefactors From kindergartens to universities, many students are receiving an education thanks to ACN-funded programs in crisis-hit countries around the world, where Christian communities are in danger of extinction. As a new school year begins in many parts of the world, thousands of children …
Continue reading “Thousands of children prepare to return to school”
A Friend, a shepherd, a witness: ACN remembers Iraqi bishop It is with sadness and gratitude that Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) bids farewell to Bishop Paul Thabet Habib of Alqosh, who passed away on June 20, following a battle with cancer. To us, he was not only a close partner but a …
“States have to change their perspective. It’s not about focusing on the number of Christians, but on the value that the presence of the Christians adds.” Cardinal Bechara Raï, patriarch of the Maronite Church In a statement to Pontifical Charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the patriarch of the Maronite Church, Cardinal Bechara …
Continue reading “Christians must be allowed to stay in the Middle East!”
Subsistence aid for four monks in Karamles The ancient city (today a small town) of Karamles (or Karemlesh) is 29 kilometres south-east of Mosul in the Nineveh Plains region of northern Iraq. It is a mainly Christian town, with the majority belonging to the Chaldean Catholic Church. In August 2014, Karamles was overtaken by the …
Fifth anniversary of the International Day Commemorating Victims of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. (Cover photo: The Night of the Witness 2022 in Canberra, Australia). 22 August 2024 marks the fifth anniversary of the International Day Commemorating Victims of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, established by the United Nation (UN) General Assembly in …
Continue reading “Ewelina Ochab urges: “The day can help to educate, but action is needed.””
Story written by Maria Lozano, director of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International’s Press and Media Department. In it, we read the testimonies of the people that the ACN delegation was able to meet, shortly after the invasion of the Nineveh Plains by the Islamic State (IS). Here is Part 2, in which …
Continue reading “Iraq, August 6, 2014: one story, one hundred thousand faces (2)”
Story written by Maria Lozano, director of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International’s Press and Media Department. In it, we read the testimonies of the people that the ACN delegation was able to meet, shortly after the invasion of the Nineveh Plains by the Islamic State (IS). In this first part, we recall …
Continue reading “Iraq, August 6, 2014: one story, one hundred thousand faces (1)”
A minibus for pastoral work in Basra Today, Christians are only a very small minority in Iraq. Up until the year 2002—before the Third Gulf War—there were still over 1.2 million of them, but war, persecution, and poverty led to a mass exodus of the Christian population. Estimates today put the number of Christians remaining …
