The only diocese in Mauritania has just celebrated its sixtieth anniversary. Bishop Victor Ndione, who has led the Diocese of Nouakchott for two years, speaks to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about the challenges of being a pastor in a transit country affected by irregular migration. (Banner photo: Migrant workers in …
Continue reading “The challenges of ministering to a community of migrants”
The Church in northern Burkina Faso deplores the lack of media attention given to the terrorist crisis it is suffering, with displaced people facing enormous needs and Christian communities showing great resilience. During a visit to the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), in Königstein, Germany, Bishops Théophile Naré and Justin …
Continue reading “Burkina Faso: faith resists amid heavy international silence”
Securing the release of the remaining students and staff remains the top priority of the local church, Bishop Bulus Yohanna told ACN. A hundred of the 265 students and staff members abducted on November 21, 2025 from St. Mary’s School, Papiri, have been released after more than two weeks in the hands of their captors. …
Catholic Bishops of Nigeria warn of escalating violence and call for urgent action to protect life and religious freedom (Cover Photo, archive: displaced women by the violence in Nigeria, 2023.) Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) echoes the urgent appeal of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), which warns of the deepening security …
Continue reading “Nigerian Bishops: “Lasting peace cannot be achieved through silence or delay””
The attack represents “a major blow to the education of young girls, which is already quite rare in these parts of the country,” say local sources. The abduction of around 25 students from the Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, in Nigeria’s north-western state of Kebbi, has plunged the community into deep shock. A …
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Father Augustine Amadu was a friend of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) and his death is a tragic loss for the Church in the Diocese of Kenema and for the whole Church. A priest was murdered in his parish home on Saturday, August 30, 2025, in the Diocese of Kenema, Sierra Leone. Fr. …
On Monday, August 11, women and children in Benue State, Nigeria, blocked a road in protest at the lack of security after their besieged town fell victim to yet another fatal attack. Three people were killed, and three others were critically injured in Yelewata, Benue State, on Monday, at around 8 a.m. The town, which …
Continue reading “Nigeria – “People are protesting” after three more murders”
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International joyfully announces the release of Father Alphonsus Afina, a priest of the Diocese of Maiduguri, Nigeria, who had been abducted on June 1, 2025 by armed militants and spent 51 days in captivity. His release, along with that of the ten women who were also held captive, …
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 …
Continue reading “Nigeria: Up to 200 dead in worst killing spree”
A project supported by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) aims to train 150 priests to be “agents of reconciliation, healing, social transformation, and national cohesion.” Fr. Peter Konteh was in bed, asleep, when he first heard the explosions. Jumping to his feet, he called out to the other priest in the house to …
Continue reading “Sierra Leone: ACN helps Church face trauma after “senseless war””
