The ACN Journal provides the latest news about Aid to the Church in Need and our work protecting the rights of Christians and supporting the suffering and persecuted Church.
The world’s tallest statue of Ireland’s much-loved patron saint in Co. Down will be illuminated in red for a week to highlight the plight of persecuted religious minorities. The imposing 32-foot statue on Slieve Patrick will be lit in red from November 17-24 to mark what is described as the ‘Week of Witness’ by the charity Aid to the Church in Need, Ireland. ACN supports 6,000 vulnerable communities in 140 countries.
Read MoreAll twenty ACN offices will participate in our annual Week Of Witness campaign, aimed at highlighting the suffering of persecuted Christians. On the 20th November, 24 of Ireland’s 26 cathedrals will be illuminated in red, as well as the national Marian and Eucharistic Shrine in Knock.
Read MoreThree more attacks have taken place in eastern Burkina Faso, leaving 150 people dead. Over 100 terrorists struck the villages of Ziéla, Kombembgo, and Kouri, burning houses and vehicles and leaving significant death and destruction in their wake. These attacks form part of a pattern of terrorist violence which has been going on in the country since 2015.
Read MoreA priest, Fr Thomas Oyode, was kidnapped from the minor seminary where he worked last Sunday, and taken by armed bandits into the bush. Armed gunmen broke into the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary, in the Diocese of Auchi, Edo State, Nigeria, at around 7pm on Sunday evening and fired shots into the air, causing panic among students and staff, according to a diocesan statement sent to Aid to the Church in Need.
Read MoreTo mark the annual Week of Witness in Ireland, Archbishop Linus Neli, the Archbishop of Imphal in India will speak about the current situation there. He leads the Church in Manipur, where hundreds of Catholics have been killed for their faith, thousands displaced and many churches destroyed.
Read MoreEach year, ACN Ireland raises awareness of their plight via the annual Week of Witness, which this year runs from Sunday November 17 to Sunday November 24. A central part of the week-long solidarity campaign is ‘Red Wednesday’ on November 20th, when many cathedrals and parish churches have their exterior illuminated in red, the traditional colour of martyrdom.
Read MoreIn northern Beqaa, the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Good Help has been transformed into a refuge for more than 800 people fleeing the bombing. The fifteen sisters from the Melkite Greek Catholic Church are welcoming hundreds of internally displaced people there, mostly Muslims, offering them not just shelter but also comfort and support.
Read MoreACN launched ‘Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2022-24’ , highlighting the reality that Christian persecution has significantly worsened in most countries. We examined the situation for Christians in 18 countries of key concern between summer 2022 and summer 2024. Our findings provide global and regional analysis from Nicaragua in Latin America to Myanmar in the Far East to Burkina Faso in West Africa.
Read MoreIn early October, terrorists killed at least 150 people, including many Christians, in northeastern Burkina Faso, revealing their increasing brutality and determination to spread terror in a country where, after horrific attacks in August 2024, insurgents now control over half of the territory.
Read MoreFor two years, Bishop Vitaly Krivitskiy of the Latin Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr has been living in a time of war. Faced with a distraught population, he is organising his parishes into sanctuaries of faith and preparing his priests to offer “spiritual first aid” to soldiers at the front.
Read MoreCurrently there are more than 1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) spread across in Beirut, Mount Lebanon, and the North of Lebanon. ACN is helping 7 dioceses and 5 religious communities in Lebanon to serve as many of these displaced people as possible.
Read MorePope Francis has thrown his support behind a campaign by a Catholic charity to have children all over the world, including Ireland, to pray the Rosary for peace this Friday. The Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) organises the campaign ‘One Million Children Praying the Rosary’ every October.
Read MoreFr José Luis de Menezes speaks to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about origins of the Fazendas da Esperança, a network of rehabilitation centres, and their connection, to this day, with the pontifical foundation. “Our communities are dedicated to salvaging the dignity of people who have been lost to addiction,” says Fr José Luís de Menezes during his recent visit to the international headquarters of ACN.
Read MoreBishop Antonio Juliasse says ACN continues to be a “friendly hand” which has stuck with the local Church since the beginning of the conflict which has already killed over 5,000 people and displaced over one million. The Bishop of Pemba, in Mozambique, recalled the seventh anniversary of the beginning of the Islamist insurgency which has devasted the province of Cabo Delgado in the African country.
Read MoreEastern Lebanon is suffering a major humanitarian and security crisis as a result of the daily Israeli bombardment. In an interview with ACN, Monsignor Hanna Rahmé describes the Church’s solidarity with internally displaced people and the disastrous situation which is leading many to take refuge in Syria.
Read MoreThe pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has announced an emergency campaign to raise at least 1 million euro to assist the Church in Lebanon as it strives to cope with the tremendous challenges caused by Israeli airstrikes and ground assault.
Read MoreAs the bishop of Latin rite Catholics in Syria, the Franciscan Hanna Jallouf is very familiar with the situation in Idlib Governorate, the last rebel stronghold, where he served as a pastor for 22 years until his appointment as bishop, in September 2023. In a conversation with an ACN delegation, he reports on the challenges for Christians who have remained there.
Read MoreACN joins the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in calling for a day of prayer, fasting and penance for peace in the Holy Land on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Read MoreFor more than 70 years, ACN has been involved with refugees and displaced people worldwide. In the face of growing movements of refugees and migrants, the international Catholic charity continues to bring hope through its projects in crisis zones of the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Europe. On the 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, the 29th September, the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) wishes to draw attention to the precarious situation of persecuted Christians.
Read MoreA Christian mother of four in Pakistan, former nurse Shagufta Kiran, has been fined 300,000 Pakistani Rupees (€950) and, appallingly, sentenced to death for sharing allegedly blasphemous messages on WhatsApp – but legal advocates, supported by a leading Catholic charity – have vowed to appeal the conviction.
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