Posts in News
No justice for 300 people massacred on Christmas Eve in Nigeria

Three weeks after extremists murdered more than 300 people, burnt down entire villages and destroyed food supplies in coordinated attacks in Nigeria’s Plateau State, none of the perpetrators have been held to account.

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ACN helps Catholic school build a new kindergarten in Iraq

Thanks to the generosity of Aid to the Church in Need’s benefactors, a growing Catholic school in Erbil was able to open a new kindergarten to accommodate the increasing number of children.

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ACN welcomes release of priests in Nicaragua, but concerns over lack of religious freedom remain

Nineteen clerics were released and expelled from the country, adding to the dozens of others who have been exiled in the past few years. The restrictions on religious freedom continue in a country where four out of nine dioceses now have bishops living abroad, says Regina Lynch, executive president of Aid to the Church in Need.

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Active elderly religious sisters in Brazil thank ACN for support

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) provides health support to elderly religious sisters in northeast Brazil. Despite their age, the sisters remain active in their communities and continue praying for their benefactors.

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Dozens of priests arrested in 2023 as authoritarian regimes crack down on Church

Thirteen priests and one religious brother were murdered in 2023, though half were killed for reasons apparently unrelated to persecution. Arrests increased, while kidnappings of clergy and religious dropped compared to 2022, but it remains a serious concern, especially in Africa.

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Fulani herders kill nearly 200 Christians at Christmas in central Nigeria

Yet another attack by Muslim Fulani bandits against settled communities has left Christians displaced and in despair with the lack of security and government response.

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Christians in southern Lebanon flee the crossfire between Hezbollah and Israel

While many Christian families have fled to safer areas, priests and religious stay to minister to those who remain to look after their homes or are too old or frail to relocate, ACN is helping with food packages and medical assistance, as well as access to online education for students in Catholic schools in the area.

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Ninety-seven-year-old benefactor sells religious art to help suffering Christians

Maria Antónia Cabral uses only recycled material to produce traditional Portuguese devotional images which clients buy to give as gifts. All proceeds go to support Christians through Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

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Ten countries in need of prayers for peace

Since 1968, the Church has celebrated 1 January, the feast day of Mary, Mother of God, as the “International Day of Peace”. That year, Pope Paul VI called on everybody to unite for this one purpose, expressing the Catholic Church’s wish of “dedicating to thoughts and resolutions of Peace a special observance on the first day of the civil year”.

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Milad means Christmas

How a little ray of hope brightened the darkness for a family in Damascus during Christmas

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Job creation and skill building is key to keeping Christians in the Holy Land

With the world’s eyes on Gaza, few are aware that the Palestinians in the West Bank are also suffering the social and economic effects of the war in the Holy Land. Aid to the Church in Need has been accompanying Christians in the Holy Land since the very beginning of the war.

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Gaza City: Two dead and seven injured in attacks on Church grounds

Two women were shot dead by snipers in the church grounds of the Catholic Holy Family parish in Gaza City on December 16, according to a press release by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, sent to the international charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Seven other people were injured. On the same day, several projectiles hit the convent of the Missionaries of Charity, which is in the same compound and housed more than 50 people with disabilities.

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The Ukrainian people are deeply exhausted

The head of the Catholic Church in Ukraine met with Aid to the Church in Need to discuss the country's challenges.

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Lebanon: “With simple means, we can witness to the Incarnation of God among us!”

Christmas can be a difficult time for poor families who cannot buy gifts for their children. In Lebanon, an ACN-funded project aims to provide gifts for poor families and bring joy and hope to families.

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ACN is providing 45,000 gifts to children in Syria and Lebanon this Christmas.

This year, 35,000 children in Syria and 10,000 in Lebanon will receive Christmas presents and urgently needed clothing. Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is sending over half a million euros to these two countries to bring joy to the children on Christmas Eve and show them they are not forgotten.

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Parish in Gaza damaged by attacks

As the war rages on, ACN helps save lives in the Holy Land.

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Project to fight political corruption in Latin America

With the support of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the Academy of Catholic Leaders aims to train people to assume political responsibilities.

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Cardinal Nzapalainga: “As a Christian, I must see things differently”

During an interview at the international headquarters of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga from the Diocese of Bangui spoke about the attitude that a Christian must have in the face of suffering as well as towards brothers in need. He also shared his experiences of the Synod on Synodality, which took place in Rome this October.

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“The Church’s biggest challenge is to be present and to accompany”, says Peruvian bishop

During a conversation with the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Marco Antonio Cortez of the Diocese of Tacna y Moquegua, Peru, spoke about projects related to religious communities and the need to reach everyone in a country where the lack of vocations and missionaries is a constant concern, especially in the more remote regions.

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Philippines: Deadly attack in Marawi university

A bomb detonated on Sunday, 3 December, during a Catholic mass in the Public University of Mindanao, in the city of Marawi, in southern Philippines. Local sources say that the explosion took the lives of at least four faithful, leaving over 40 injured. The attack was claimed from Islamabad by a group affiliated with the Islamic State.

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