The Voice of the suffering in Africa

Kidnapping for ransom has become an industry in Nigeria, and priests are often targeted.   On Sunday, October 27th, a priest was kidnapped at the minor seminary where he worked and was taken by armed bandits into bushes.   Armed gunmen broke into the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary, in the Diocese of Auchi, Edo State, Nigeria, at around 7:00 P.M. and fired shots into the air, causing panic among students and staff, according to a diocesan statement sent to Aid to the ...

Confidential sources contacted by ACN speak of a worsening of discrimination against Christian communities in two villages in the Mopti region of Mali. According to information received by the intentional Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), an Islamic extremist group that is active in the region has recently imposed a tax of 25,000 CFA Francs (about 40 dollars) on all Christians over the age of 18 in Douna-Pen, the largest Christian village in eastern Koro, Mopti.   This ...

Unidentified armed men stormed a Catholic seminary in southern Nigeria on Sunday, October 27th, and kidnapped its rector. The terrorists attacked Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary in Ivhianokpodi, Edo State and captured Father Thomas Oyode during Benediction and Evening Prayer, according to a statement sent to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Father Peter Egielewa, director of communications for the Auchi Diocese, wrote in the statement that “the vice vector and all the seminarians have been accounted for ...

Bishop Antonio Juliasse says that ACN continues to be a “friendly hand,” having stood by the local Church through a conflict that has already killed over 5,000 people and displaced over one million. The Bishop of Pemba in Mozambique recalled the seventh anniversary of the start of the Islamist insurgency that devasted the province of Cabo Delgado. During a visit to Portugal, on his way back to Mozambique after visiting Rome with other bishops from the country, Bishop António Juliasse ...

In early October, terrorists killed at least 150 people, including many Christians, in northeastern Burkina Faso, revealing their increasing brutality and determination to spread terror in a country where insurgents now control over half of the territory.   On Sunday, October 6th, a new terrorist attack took place in the town of Manni, in the East Region of Burkina Faso. Various local sources told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that the death toll exceeded 150. The town is home ...

Father André Poré is the parish priest of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus in Burkina Faso.  His parish has received many refugees from elsewhere in the country, including 2,000 people from Rollo Department, who were forced out by terrorists in May of 2023. During his visit to the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the priest from Ouahigouya – a diocese deeply affected by terrorism – described the refugees’ dire situation and the challenges faced by ...