The Voice of the suffering in Middle East

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) calls for prayers for Fr. Pierre El Rai, a Maronite priest from the Maronite Diocese of Tyre and a project partner of the foundation in southern Lebanon, who was killed amid the current escalation of violence in the region. According to information received by ACN, the priest was helping people affected by a bombardment in a nearby area when another attack occurred. The exact circumstances of his death are still ...

The return of war to the Middle East has reopened old wounds, and many Christians are again contemplating leaving the region. A drone strike last Wednesday, March 4, damaged Church-owned buildings in Ankawa, the Christian-majority district of Erbil in northern Iraq, raising fears among local Christians about their future in the region amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. “When war erupts in the Middle East, we face another erosion, fast or slow. Do we stay? Do our children have ...

In times of war, it is always the marginalized who suffer the most, said a Catholic bishop in northern Iraq. Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of the Archdiocese of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan issued a statement following a drone strike on a Catholic facility in the Christian part of Erbil. At about 8 p.m. on March 4, the Blessed Michael McGivney Apartment complex in Ankawa, Erbil, was struck by an apparent drone attack. The complex is owned by the Chaldean ...

Since the beginning of airstrikes against Iran, ACN has remained in contact with project partners in the region, assessing the need for emergency assistance. Nearly 30,000 people have been displaced following a wave of overnight airstrikes that hit Lebanon on Monday, March 2, according to figures released by the Lebanese government. The attacks shattered the fragile calm that had held in recent months. The strikes were carried out by Israel as a response to attacks by the militant group Hezbollah ...

As tensions rise once again across the Middle East, the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) warns that a further escalation of violence could have devastating consequences for Christian communities throughout the region “The Christian presence in the Middle East must not die out,” said Regina Lynch, Executive President of ACN International. “A new spiral of violence could push already fragile communities beyond the point of survival.” Even in countries like Iran where Christians face discrimination ...

Although the media attention has died down since the ceasefire, the Gaza Strip continues to sink into an unprecedented humanitarian and health crisis. Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Gaza’s Catholic priest, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, described the “very serious” conditions marked by the daily suffering of the population. “The situation continues to be very serious in the whole of the Gaza Strip,” says the Catholic parish priest of Gaza, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, while also issuing an urgent ...