Pontiff had part of lung removed during surgery. As news emerged that Pope Leo XIV was diagnosed with lung cancer, Aid to the Church in Need invited friends and benefactors to join in prayer for the Holy Father. The 71-year-old Pontiff announced on Sunday, October 11, that he would undergo surgery to remove a nodule from his lung. The Pope checked into Gemelli Hospital in Rome Tuesday, October 13, and the Vatican later announced that the procedure was “completed successfully, ...

Forced displacement caused is hampering efforts to contain the spread of the highly contagious disease. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is facing a new wave of Ebola cases amid particularly challenging circumstances in the eastern part of the country, where armed conflict and the presence of rebel groups are limiting the ability of both the government and the Church to respond to the outbreak. During a visit to the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need ...

From the streets of India to juvenile prisons in Ukraine, children all over the world prayed the Rosary together and showed adults that peace begins through small gestures, such as praying together as a family. Over 1 million children and young people from all over the world prayed the Rosary for peace and unity during the week of October 1-7, 2026, as part of the One Million Children Praying the Rosary campaign, promoted by pontifical foundation Aid to the Church ...

An argument between young people from two villages led to terror that could have ended with tragedy. Pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has received reports of a violent incident in a predominantly Christian village in Syria, during which an Orthodox priest narrowly escaped being shot. According to local sources in direct contact with ACN, violence broke out on the night of October 3, following an altercation between young people from the Christian village of Al-Suqaylabiyah and ...

The Secretary of State also called attention to the multiple conflicts that continue to rage all over the world. The Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, strongly denounced the persecution that Christians are subjected to in many parts of the world, in a speech made on Saturday, September 26, 2026. Speaking at the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, Cardinal Parolin said that “tragically, Christians in many parts of the world continue to ...

As the olive harvest approaches, the residents of Alma el-Chaab hope to obtain permission to work their land. In testimony collected by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), their parish priest, Maronite Chorbishop Maroun Ghafari, describes the daily reality of a dispersed community trying to prepare for its return. More than six months after their forced displacement from Alma el-Chaab, the residents of this village in southern Lebanon remain deeply attached to their land. In September, around ten farmers ...