The Voice of the suffering in Middle East

Christians are a small minority in Turkey. With priests serving the scattered faithful, Mass stipends provided by ACN are essential support.  “We do not forget you when we ascend to the Lord’s altar,” writes Father Massimiliano Testi, one of 26 priests in the Apostolic Vicariate of Istanbul to recently receive Mass stipends from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).  Turkey was once an ancient center of Christianity, but today, Christians are a tiny minority — “only 0.1 percent,” says ...

Christians in the Holy Land are very proud of their heritage but often have only a shaky understanding of the basic tenets of the Faith. The current Catholic leadership wants to improve this situation and to bridge the gaps in their Christian knowledge by engaging in a robust spiritual formation program, thanks to ACN’s partnership with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem (LPJ).  George Akroush puts it bluntly: “We belong to a tribe which is Christians of the Middle East, but ...

Father Gabriel Romanelli says that living with 500 people in a closed compound is not easy, but that the Christians in Gaza consider themselves fortunate to have survived thus far and to be able to help thousands of other families in the region.   The parish priest of Holy Family Parish in Gaza, Father Gabriel Romanelli, has made another desperate plea for peace in the war-torn region, stating that the rekindling of fighting between Israel and Hamas is just making the ...

A Christian leader from the Holy Land has appealed to UK parliamentarians, calling for a “courageous spirit of leadership” to bring about peace.   On April 1st, at a packed cross-party meeting in the UK Parliament, Bishop William Shomali, Patriarchal Vicar for Jerusalem and Palestine, described the impact of the violence since October 7th, 2023 on the lives of people in the Holy Land, especially the West Bank and Gaza.   Bishop Shomali, who has been visiting the UK as a guest ...

Life in Jerusalem’s Old City is difficult for the Christians who continue to live there, many of whom are poor. ACN has been helping these struggling families through projects carried out by the Latin Patriarchate.  The Old City of Jerusalem is a magical place to visit. The narrow, cobbled streets exude millennia of history and tradition, suffering and joy, victory and defeat, where Christians, Muslims, and Jews walk, work, and pray in a close proximity that is as prone to ...

The Bailasan Counseling Center is the first Catholic psychosocial and mental health institution aimed exclusively at helping the Christian community in the West Bank. ACN funded the renovation work at the center and, during a recent visit, spoke to those whose job is to care for a people suffering from a variety of traumas, resulting from the prevailing political and economic tensions in the Holy Land.  In a survey of close to 300 Palestinian Christians, conducted between October and December ...