The Voice of the suffering in Africa

Nigeria now accounts for over 80 percent of all incidents involving the murder, kidnapping, or unjust arrest of Catholic priests and religious in 2025.  Two more Catholic priests were kidnapped over the weekend in Nigeria, adding to what has been a terrible first quarter of the year in terms of security for religious in the African country.   According to statements sent to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Father Stephen Echezona was abducted on Saturday in ...

A missionary sister who works in the Diocese of Pemba, which has been racked by terrorism, as well as by a recent cyclone, thanks Aid to the Church in Need for the help it provides civilians.  Seven years ago, Sister Aparecida Queiroz from the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus arrived in the Diocese of Pemba, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, just as an Islamist insurgency was starting to terrorize the province.   Since then, she has seen the insurgency grow in violence ...

The murder of seminarian Andrew Peter follows the recent killing of Father Sylvester Okechukwu. In the first three months of 2025, Nigeria has had three times more kidnappings of clergy and religious than in the same period of 2024.   The Nigerian Church is reeling from the news of the murder of a young seminarian, Andrew Peter, at the hands of kidnappers, according to a statement sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) by the Diocese of Auchi. The ...

A plea for government in northern Nigeria to re-think the sudden and unprecedented closure of schools during Ramadan is coming from a bishop concerned for the hundreds of thousands of children affected.  Bishop Gerald Mamman Musa of Katsina said it came as “a complete surprise” when governors in his state, as well as Kano, Kebbi, and Bauchi, announced that all schools – both private and public – would close for the month-long Islamic season of fasting and spiritual growth. Speaking ...

Since 2021, the Diocese of Kafanchan in Nigeria has seen at least one pastoral agent murdered every year.  The bishop of the Diocese of Kafanchan in Kaduna State, Nigeria, has expressed his “deep sorrow and righteous indignation” over the abduction and subsequent murder of one of his priests.   Father Sylvester Okechukwu was abducted from his residence on March 4th and found murdered in the early hours of March 5th, though it is unclear why his kidnappers decided to kill him.   ...

In South Sudan, where walking long distances is usually a sign of distress, an annual pilgrimage for peace is raising questions and changing attitudes. When Pope Francis announced his visit to South Sudan in 2022, young Catholics in the Diocese of Rumbek were naturally excited. “They kept saying they wanted to go and see him,” Sister Orla Treacy, an Irish religious with the Loreto Sisters, tells Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).   In a country like South Sudan, however, ...