Pope Francis will be visiting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) this year, from July 2 to 5. During a visit to the head office of international charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in Germany, Bishop Timothée Bodika Manyisai, of Kikwit, in the southwestern part of DRC, spoke about how Catholics are […]
Tag archives: war
Ukraine: from contemplative silence to hosting and helping refugees
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has just approved an emergency relief package for Latin Rite female congregations involved in charity work in the Archdiocese of Lviv, such as the Benedictines of Solonka, who opened the doors of their contemplative monastery to refugees. The contemplative Benedictines of Solonka, near Lviv in Ukraine, are used […]
Bishop of Odesa: “In this war both nations are victims”
For the Roman Catholic Bishop of Odesa, Stanislav Schyrokoradiuk, one of the main reasons for the invasion of Ukraine is the way the Russian population has been misinformed: “We Ukrainians are the victims of the war; the Russian people are the victims of propaganda.” Last Tuesday, the bishop took part in an online conference at […]
Ukraine—“There is no fear anymore, only the desire to be useful.”
From the very beginning of the war, the Archdiocese of Ivano-Frankivsk, in West Ukraine, has been involved in welcoming fleeing women and children, most of whom are coming from major cities such as Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Odesa. Sofia, just 14 years old, is one of these refugees. Together with her mother, she has […]
“I see a lot of trauma in people, in their eyes, their faces”
Catholic Bishop of Kharkiv to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Kharkiv is currently one of the Ukrainian cities most under fire. Many buildings and apartments have been damaged or even destroyed. In the first week of the war, a missile hit the bishop’s house in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia. In spite […]
Lviv: “The Holy Father is present in Ukraine. He is suffering with you.”
Papal envoy visited refugees on the premises of the seminary “There is a lot of coming and going here. Thousands of refugees arrive every day,” reports Father Wladyslaw Biszko, in conversation with the international charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The priest leads a pilgrim and retreat house in Lviv, on the same […]
Ukrainian Priest: “The Church should be with the faithful, with its people”
An interview with Fr Antonio Vatseba, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priest and, for the past three years, Provincial of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, a congregation that has six communities of nuns and priests working in Ukraine. By Maria Lozano, Aid to the Church in Need. We know that for security reasons you cannot tell […]
Aid to the Church in Need $450,000 added bringing emergency aid to $1.95 million dollars for Ukraine
“The work has always been by our side, and we ask you to continue to help us, even if the worst should happen.” Bishop Jan Sobilo, Auxiliary Bishop of Kharkiv-Zaporijjia (Königstein/Montreal, March 11, 2022)—Bishops, priests and members of religious orders working into the war-torn country have written to ACN to thank it and its benefactors […]
Father Grzegorz Draus: “To me, the days feel like months”
Ukraine: People in Lviv are also working non-stop “Lviv is still a less dangerous city than the others. Air-raid warnings are being sounded, but – thanks be to God – there have been no bombings. We are taking in refugees who are headed for the border,” reports Father Grzegorz Draus, from the St. John Paul II […]
Ukraine: Prayers in the air raid shelter
Fr Mateusz is with his community day and night, offering reassurance. The situation in Kiev is getting more and more dire. A massive military convoy, more than 60 kilometres long, is moving towards the Ukrainian capital, otherwise still locked in as of March 4, 2022. As the city increasingly comes under fire, priests are sticking […]