Initially scheduled for March, the festival was postponed due to the conflicts that have affected the Middle East. The Pope has encouraged more than 700 young people who lived through Iraq’s jihadist occupation to be the light of the world. In a video shown on Wednesday, July 8 at the Ankawa Youth Meeting (AYM), Pope Leo XIV urged young believers to persevere in faith and become peacemakers despite the region experiencing conflict and instability. “You must be Christ’s light in ...

“Beautiful to see solidarity and charity,” Archbishop Ortega tells ACN in LaGuaira. “But needs will persist.” Recovery from last month’s twin earthquakes in Venezuela will be a long-term project, said the Vatican’s ambassador to the country. “It’s terrible to see so many buildings” destroyed “and to know the number of victims, sick people,” Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martín, apostolic nuncio of the Holy See to Venezuela, told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). “But it’s beautiful to see the solidarity, ...

Camps take place in 11 different countries, with a particular focus on regions marked by war, displacement, and instability. After some 15 years of instability, civil war, and episodic persecution, Syria is a place where a “normal life” is no longer possible for many children. And that’s why summer camp can be a game-changer. Claude Semaan, coordinator of Faith and Light in Syria, an international movement fostering spiritual growth among people with disabilities, explains that for many kids, camps are ...

On visit to Venezuela, ACN executive president struck by generosity of spirit among those hit by June 24 earthquakes An impoverished population might have been down due to years of economic turmoil in Venezuela, but they are definitely not out, said Regina Lynch, executive president of Aid to the Church in Need. Lynch and a small team from ACN headquarters in Germany flew to Bogota, Colombia, and then to Valencia, Venezuela. The twin earthquakes that devastated the country June 24 ...

The Superior General of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, who was due to return to Rome, speaks movingly about the faith displayed by the people amid tragedy. The double earthquake that struck Venezuela on June 24, claiming more than 3,000 lives and affecting thousands of families, has mobilized the Church throughout the country, as Caritas centers and many parishes become hubs of relief efforts, supported by numerous volunteers. The Superior General and a General Councilor of the Pious ...

Venezuelans are a people of faith and have a Church that is close to the population, giving much hope in face of tragedy, Regina Lynch says. The executive president of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), will be travelling to Venezuela, following the tragic earthquakes that killed thousands of people. Regina Lynch will arrive in the country on Tuesday, July 7, to visit the dioceses most affected by the earthquakes, and to express the closeness of ...