The international pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) today launched its biennial report “Religious Freedom in the World 2025,” offering a global overview of the state of this fundamental right. The study, covering the period from January 2023 to December 2024, warns of a worrying decline with two-thirds of humanity — more than 5.4 billion people — living in countries without full religious freedom. The report analyzes the situation in 196 countries and documents serious violations of ...

For the first time since the war began, the faithful of Holy Family Parish in Gaza gathered on Sunday in silence — no bombs, no sirens, only prayer. Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, an Argentine-born missionary and parish priest of the Holy Family Church, called on his faithful to “forgive all those who have failed and ask forgiveness for our own shortcomings,” as he led a Mass filled with hope and thanksgiving. “The long-awaited day has come to begin the implementation of ...

Pope Leo XIV received in a private audience leaders of Aid to the Church in Need International, as well as several directors of ACN’s national offices around the world, including ACN-USA. His address to the October 10, 2025 audience at the Vatican is reprinted here. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you! Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am pleased to greet you, dear members of Aid ...

Holy Father receives Aid to the Church in Need in private audience This morning, October 10, Pope Leo XIV received pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International in a private audience at the Vatican, marking 25 years of the foundation’s continued mission to defend the right to religious freedom and to give a voice to Christians who suffer for their faith around the world. During the audience, the Holy Father addressed the members of the foundation with ...

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 ...