Celebration of faith and peace at children’s festival in Belarus

19/07/2024, Author: ACN Press team

The Catholic Church in Belarus is highly involved in pastoral work with children and young people. Every week, hundreds of children attend catechesis, and every year numerous children receive their first Holy Communion. During the Soviet period, the practice of religion was severely restricted, but thanks to the deep faith passed on by grandparents, the Faith still has deep roots.

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Egypt: “We’ve seen real progress”

15/07/2024, Author: Sylvain Dorient

His Beatitude Ibrahim Sidrak, the Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria, heads the small Coptic Catholic Church, which has around 300,000 faithful. In an interview with the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), he shared his concerns and joys over his country, which has become a refuge for many Christians from other countries.

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Iraq: “Christians are like olive trees. You can burn them, but they will still bear fruit”

09/07/2024, Author: Filipe d’Avillez

Many feared that the invasion of their homelands would drive Christians from Iraq for good, but ten years after being driven from their homelands by militants of the Islamic State (ISIS), thousands of Christians have returned to houses in the Nineveh Plains rebuilt with the help of ACN, taking with them their love for the Church and the hope of the Gospel.

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Drawing Strength from Our Precious Past

When Pope St John Paul II visited Ireland in 1979, one of the places he wanted to go to was the ancient monastic site of Clonmacnoise. The Pope knew, that while the Faith in Ireland seemed robust at the time, great challenges would come – and he wanted to remind us of the deep roots of the faith on this island.

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Pakistan: Widow of Nazir Masih, Christian killed by mob over false blasphemy accusations, dies

25/06/2024, Author: Maria Lozano.

It is with great sorrow that Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has been informed of the passing of Alla Rakhi, the widow of the late Nazir Masih, who tragically was killed in the Sargodha incident. Overwhelmed by grief and depression over the death of her husband, Alla Rakhi succumbed, leaving the community of Mujahid Colony in Sargodha in deep mourning.

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Archbishop in southern Lebanon: “We find ourselves in a state of war!”

ACN and the local Church are calling for prayer so that peace may be restored to the region. Daily rocket fire in southern Lebanon is plunging the inhabitants into deeper poverty than they were already suffering as a result of the terrible financial crisis in 2019. The Church is standing with the people, providing practical help for their needs and providing a moving witness of courage.

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