The Voice of the suffering in Latin America

Two months after an earthquake rendered their church unusable, 62 youths from a small mountain community in Venezuela received the sacrament of confirmation in a celebration held outdoors. The Mass was presided over by Bishop Pablo Modesto González Pérez of La Guaira andtook place in the square in front of the Church of Our Lady of Candelaria, in the village of Tarmas. The altar was set up near the damaged church building, and the members of the congregation occupied the ...

Church building that ACN supported three years ago was intact in midst of destruction, thanks to John Smith’s insistence that it follow building codes. Two months after twin earthquakes in Venezuela caused thousands of deaths and left a trail of destruction, an American engineer named John Smith stood inside a parish rectory that, he said, “didn’t have a crack in it.” All around the rectory, sadly, homes, offices and schools had been reduced to rubble by the 7.5 and 7.2 ...

On the night of August 23 to 24, more than 47 people were killed by armed gangs in Kenscoff, a Haitian town near Port-au-Prince. Bishop Pierre-André Dumas, Vice-President of the Bishops’ Conference, has issued an urgent plea to the government. The attack lasted several hours. During the “night of terror” from August 23 to 24, armed gangs attacked, among other locations, an evangelical church sheltering displaced people who had fled violence in Kenscoff, a town of around 50,000 residents situated ...

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck large parts of western and central Colombia on Monday, August 10. The epicenter was recorded in the municipality of San José del Palmar, in the Department of Chocó. According to the latest official report, the emergency has left 265 people dead, 3,494 injured, and 496 missing. The earthquake that his Colombia this week affected over 53,000 people and leveled at least 257 buildings. Cities such as Cali, Pereira, Quidbó, Manizales, and Armenia remain in a state ...

A devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck much of western and central Colombia on Monday. While authorities assess the scale of the emergency, the Catholic Church is already accompanying affected communities and gathering information to gauge the most urgent needs. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is in direct contact with the bishops of dioceses located in the affected areas in order to determine the impact of the quake and coordinate emergency aid to be channeled through the Church. The ...

As the country sinks into an unprecedented crisis, corroded by armed gangs, the Church remains standing, sowing hope in the midst of despair. The legislative and presidential elections due to be held in Haiti on August 30 – the first since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 – have been postponed until December. But the idea of elections still seems like a distant dream in a country devastated by the violence of armed gangs, who control vast areas ...