The Voice of the suffering in Middle East

While indirect talks are taking place in Egypt between Israeli envoys and Hamas, the hope for a beginning of peace is cautiously laying roots in the Holy Land. The parish priest of the Catholic parish in Gaza spoke to Aid to Church in Need (ACN) about the heavy toll from two years of war.  “Two years of war: it seems unbelievable,” Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, pastor of Holy Family parish, the only Catholic parish in Gaza City, told Aid to the ...

In the midst of a new wave of fighting, the Argentine priest describes hours of anguish in Aleppo, Syria. His parish has once again become a refuge for dozens of families.  With the sound of loud explosions and heavy weapons in the background, Fr. Hugo Alaniz, who has been a missionary in Aleppo for over a decade, tells Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about one of the most difficult days that the city’s Christian community has experienced in ...

Bashar Matti Warda reflects on founding, growth, and future of institution born amid ISIS invasion. On December 8, 2015, in a city in northern Iraq, 11 students began taking classes in a new university, born amid terror, war, and fear – and one of the most dramatic persecutions of Christians to be seen in modern times. The name of the new institution was The Catholic University in Erbil (CUE). Its initial enrollment of 11 doesn’t sound like much, but for ...

In the summer of 2014, Yohana Yaqoob Abdeesh Al-Zeebaree was a 12-year-old boy when his world turned upside down. From his home in Duhok, a city in northern Iraq, he recalls the whispers spreading across neighborhoods: ISIS was moving closer. “There was this huge scare,” said Al-Zeebaree, a Chaldean Catholic who is now 23. “I remember the night when they said ISIS got close to the northern cities, like Erbil and Duhok. Everyone was watching the news, and we got ...

Aid to the Church in Need echoes Pope Leo’s call for peace. The Gaza Strip is currently going through one of the darkest periods of its recent history. Last week, a United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel has committed genocide against the population of Gaza, denouncing crimes against humanity in the conflict which has been ongoing for almost two years. Deeply moved, Pope Leo XIV has once again raised his voice to call on the international community ...

“What once was meant to be silenced has become a proclamation: Faith has survived, and hope is stronger than death.” Christians who survived jihadist attacks in northern Iraq have come together to celebrate a major festival, which will proclaim that Faith is still alive in the region.  From September 9-13, 2025, Christians from across the region’s different traditions – Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean, Syriac Catholic, and Syriac Orthodox – are joining together for an extended celebration of the ...