ACN reflects on first year of Leo XIV’s pontificate with gratitude, prayers

On this first anniversary of the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as the 267th Bishop of Rome, the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) expresses its gratitude for the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV. From the beginning of his ministry, Pope Leo has insisted on the importance of accompanying those who suffer persecution for their faith and defending religious freedom.

In various messages and meetings, Leo XIV has recalled the suffering of millions of Christians who struggle to live their faith in the face of violence, discrimination or conflict.

His words also reflect the Church’s mission: to remain close to the most vulnerable, to sustain hope and to defend human dignity where it is most needed.

Leo XIV is the eighth Pope under whom ACN has served since it was founded in 1947. In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI raised ACN to the status of pontifical foundation, giving us a special relationship to the Holy Father.

Long-term relationship

But ACN’s relationship with the current Bishop of Rome predates Leo’s election on May 8, 2025. ACN supported several projects in the dioceses which were administered by Cardinal Prevost during his ministry in Peru, namely as Apostolic Administrator and then Bishop of Chiclayo, and Apostolic Administrator of Callao. When a new bishop was named for Callao, then-Bishop Prevost wrote a message to ACN thanking it for its cooperation in serving the population, “especially in the poorest areas of our dioceses,” and asking that “God bless the work carried out by Aid to the Church in Need.”

ACN’s cooperation with Bishop Prevost continued when he became president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America at the Vatican.

Providentially, members and benefactors of ACN were on a Jubilee Year pilgrimage in Rome when the May 8 election of Cardinal Prevost took place. At the time, Regina Lynch, executive president of ACN International, expressed her “joy with the fact that the new Pope is a missionary, with over 20 years of experience in the field, spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

“ACN is proud to be able to say that it contributed to the bishop’s missionary efforts in Peru. We are committed to continue our work in the service of Christian communities all over the world in unity with Pope Leo XIV, as we have done with his seven immediate predecessors,” Lynch said.

Concern for Eastern Churches

Less than a week after the beginning of his papal ministry, Leo met with representatives of Eastern Catholic Churches and expressed gratitude for Christians who, in the face of war and disastrous conditions, persevere in the lands of their birth.

“I thank God for those Christians – Eastern and Latin alike – who, above all in the Middle East, persevere and remain in their homelands, resisting the temptation to abandon them,” Leo said during the papal audience for the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches. “Christians must be given the opportunity, and not just in words, to remain in their native lands with all the rights needed for a secure existence.”

Unfortunately, Leo said, many Eastern Christians have been forced to flee their homelands because of war and persecution, instability and poverty.

In September, Leo celebrated the witness of Christian martyrs at an ecumenical event in Rome, during the presentation of a list of over 1,600 people who were killed for their faith over the past 25 years. The list was requested by Pope Francis and compiled by Vatican officials working together with representatives of other Churches. ACN supported the initiative.

The Vatican event took place on the feast of the Exaltation of the Most Holy Cross, September 14, 2025, with Pope Leo reminding those present that “many brothers and sisters, even today, carry the same cross as our Lord on account of their witness to the faith in difficult situations and hostile contexts: like him, they are persecuted, condemned and killed.”

“Every day, people are prepared to pay the ultimate price in order to defend what Christ has taught us, to love one another,” said ACN’s Lynch, who attended the event. “At ACN we are very proud to support and recognize these martyrs, and to be close to those people today who suffer discrimination or persecution, or who even give up their lives in order to defend their faith.”

Religious Freedom Report

On October 10, 2025, Pope Leo received members of ACN International in a private audience at the Vatican. The delegation, which included the director of Aid to the Church in Need-USA, Sarkis Boghjalian, presented Leo with the first copy of the Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025. The Holy Father addressed members of the foundation, including Lynch and Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, then ACN’s International President, with gratitude for their mission and steadfast commitment to persecuted Christians.

Leo spoke about the importance of religious freedom and the Church’s duty to defend it wherever it is threatened.

“Your visit is timely, for our world continues to witness rising hostility and violence against those who hold different convictions, including many Christians,” he said. “In contrast, your mission proclaims that, as one family in Christ, we do not abandon our persecuted brothers and sisters. Rather, we remember them, we stand with them, and we labor to secure their God-given freedoms.”

The Holy Father recalled the origins of Aid to the Church in Need, saying, “Founded in 1947 in response to the immense suffering left in the wake of war, its mission from the beginning has been to foster forgiveness and reconciliation, and to accompany and give a voice to the Church wherever she is in need, wherever she is threatened, wherever she suffers.”

The Holy Father also highlighted the tangible expression of ACN’s mission across the world — a mission that turns faith into action through countless projects — and expressed his gratitude for the support he himself received in the Diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru: “Your commitment also extends to supporting the Church’s mission across the world by reaching communities that are too often isolated, marginalized or under pressure. Wherever Aid to the Church in Need rebuilds a chapel, supports a religious sister, or provides for a radio station or a vehicle, you strengthen the life of the Church, as well as the spiritual and moral fabric of society.

The Pope also praised ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World Report as “a powerful instrument for raising awareness… [that] bears witness, gives voice to the voiceless, and reveals the hidden suffering of many.”

International trips

Pope Leo’s first international voyage as Pontiff – to Turkey and Lebanon – took place at the end of November and early December. While speaking to a gathering of bishops, priests, deacons, religious and pastoral workers in Istanbul November 28, the Pope cited ACN’s work in Turkey.

“I would like to thank the international organizations for their support of the Church’s charitable activities, especially for the help offered to the victims following the earthquake in 2023,” he said. “Here I would single out Caritas Internationalis and Kirche in Not.”

Kirche in Not is the German name of Aid to the Church in Need, based at both the Vatican and in Königstein, Germany.

In December, Pope Leo appointed Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, as its new International President, succeeding Cardinal Piacenza, who retired. Swiss-born Cardinal Koch has been a long-time friend and collaborator of the foundation.

In April, Pope Leo made a historic visit to four African nations, some of whose Christian communities have suffered from persecution and discrimination. In Algeria, the Pope focused his message on three main pillars: prayer, charity, and unity. ACN representatives in Algeria highlighted the fact that the Holy Father particularly wished to underscore prayer as the foundation for encounters between Christians and Muslims.

In Algeria, the Pope also spoke about Tibhirine, where Trappist monks were martyred in 1996. The Holy Father specifically evoked the figure of Brother Luc, the community’s doctor, highlighting his witness of service and closeness to the local population. According to ACN members on the ground, this gesture reflects a vision of interreligious dialogue centered on shared life and concrete witness.

Leo also prayed before an icon of the 19 martyrs of Algeria, killed between 1994 and 1996 and canonized in 2018.

As Leo begins the second year of his pontificate, ACN invites the faithful to pray for him and his mission at the service of the Church.

–John Burger