A Christian couple in Pakistan on death row for seven years, was acquitted in a landmark judgment, Thursday, June 3. Shagufta Kausar and her husband, Shafqat Masih, from the Punjab town of Gojra, were sentenced to death in 2014 for allegedly sending a local imam blasphemous text messages insulting the Muslim Prophet Mohammad. But in […]
Success Story: Help for the support and training of 20 religious of the Missionary Sisters of Jesus Word and Victim With an area of a little over a million square miles (2.8 km²), Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world. But the home country of Pope Francis is going through a serious economic crisis today. Poverty is on the increase and […]
Christine du Coudray retires after 28 years at ACN International as head of the project department for Africa The pontifical Charity ACN International bids farewell to Christine du Coudray as she retires after serving as coordinator of projects for Africa for many years. Dr. Thomas Heine-Geldern, executive president of ACN International, thanked the departing member of […]
A leading archbishop has hit out at international sanctions on Syria which are crippling the country and plunging those who survived the civil war into dire poverty. In a message seen by Catholic Charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Maronite Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus said that the economic crisis in Syria had […]
“Lebanon needs our prayers and our solidarity more urgently than ever” ACN welcomes the announcement of an emergency meeting in the Vatican On Trinity Sunday, during the Angelus greeting, Pope Francis announced a forthcoming meeting with Church leaders from Lebanon, to be held on July 1. Responding to the announcement, Dr. Thomas Heine-Geldern, the executive […]
Support for a course in the biblical apostolate for catechists The most recent papal letter Antiquum Ministerium , in which Pope Francis establishes the Ministry of Catechist, with its own liturgical responsibilities, was a source of great joy for ACN. Why? Because ACN is already supporting the work of catechists in many countries all around the […]
Catholic charity ACN International responds to the Pope’s prayer appeal for peace and justice in the Holy Land. Statement by Thomas Heine-Geldern, Executive President of ACN International: “We are shocked by the news from the Holy Land. Once again, in this so holy place, hatred and darkness have erupted. Jerusalem, a city that is sacred […]
“We are in a state of utter misery.” Bishop from East Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) deplores terrorism and human rights violations in a talk with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Speaking to the pontifical charity ACN International, the Catholic bishop of Butembo-Beni (East DRC) denounced the serious human rights violations being carried […]
Religious Freedom in the World: “The Situation is Deteriorating“ The Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Canada office has just published its 2021 Summary Report on Religious Freedom in the World, an indispensable summary of the 15th biennial report which analyzes the state of religious freedom in 196 countries. The full report has been […]
On May 14, she turned 18 “Leah, it’s been three years since your disappearance at the hands of Boko Haram elements in your school in Dapchi, Yobe State in northeastern Nigeria,” says Father Simon Okechukwu Ayogu, a Nigerian priest, to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). He speaks about Leah Sharibu, a young Christian […]
