The History of ACN

Aid to the Church in Need came into being in 1947

Aid to the Church in Need came into being in 1947 in response to an appeal for reconciliation made by Pope Pius XII in the bitter early years after World War II. The first commitments were to organise emergency relief to meet the material and spiritual needs of the suffering German people.

With the help of thousands of concerned and compassionate people, the appeal succeeded. Impassioned preaching and calls for reconciliation touched hearts and supplies of clothes and food poured in.

At the same time, recognising a deep spiritual hunger, a ‘Rucksack Priest’ campaign sending priests out on motorbikes and early Volkswagen Beetles to people still displaced, bereft and in need of spiritual comfort. This was soon followed by a Chapel Truck initiative using decommissioned army trucks which were adapted as mobile chapels from which Mass could be said.

BUILDING A WORLDWIDE NETWORK OF SUPPORT FOR THE SUFFERING CHURCH

In the 1950s, ACN worked tirelessly to assist religious serving within Communist countries, especially in Hungary, to help contemplative Sisters in Poland and to launch a massive aid campaign. Passion and commitment helped Aid to the Church in Need to build “fortresses of God” – churches constructed along the length of the Iron Curtain. From this time onwards ACN began to drive to bring Christ not only to Russia and Eastern Europe but to all those being “tested in faith” around the world. Aid to the Church in Need began to grow in size and scope. In 1959, Aid to the Church in Need began to work in Calcutta and established contact with Mother Theresa. In 1962, Aid to the Church in Need began work in Latin America and then began work in Africa in 1965.

Spreading the Faith

In 1979, Aid to the in Need began the “Children’s Bible” project. Since then, the Children’s Bible has been translated into 189 languages and 51 million copies have been published and distributed around the world. In 1984, Aid to the Church in Need was recognised by the Holy See as a Universal Public Association of Pontifical Right. In 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, Aid to the Church in Need begins work the Catholic Church in Eastern Europe in recovering from the Communist period. In 1992, the USSR collapses. In this same year, Aid to the Church in Need begins work with the Russian Orthodox Church in re-evangelising Russia.

BECOMING “ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CATHOLIC CHARITIES”

Such has been the impact of Aid to the Church in Need’s work worldwide that in June 2002 the charity was described by the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) as “a gift of Providence for our time”.

He stated that Aid to the Church in Need had “…turned out to be one of the most important Catholic charities… It is working in a worthwhile manner all over the world.

“Our world is hungering and thirsting for witnesses of the risen Lord, for human beings who pass on the Faith in word and deed as well as for human beings who stand by those in need.”

In 2007, under the direction of Pope Benedict XVI, Aid to the Church in Need begins to increase levels of work in the Middle East. In December 2011, Benedict XVI recognised the importance of Aid to the Church in Need’s work by elevating the charity to a Pontifical Foundation of the Catholic Church.

In 2015, Aid to the Church in Need launches an emergency campaign for Iraq, more than 5000 houses are renovated. In 2017, Aid to the Church Need’s celebrates its 70th Anniversary and leads an international pilgrimage to Fatima. In 2017, Aid to the Church in Need takes responsibility for the “1 million children praying the rosary” campaign and in 2019 safeguarding becomes one of the project priority areas. In 2020, Aid to the Church in Need launches emergency campaigns for the COVID-19 Pandemic and for Lebanon in the aftermath of the Beirut Port Explosion.