Aid to the Church in Need-International (ACN) is calling for special prayers for residents of Aleppo, Syria. The situation in the city is worsening due to renewed clashes, with casualties and many injured, said Maria Lozano, head of press for ACN late Tuesday. Reuters reported that fighting in the northern Syrian city left at least four people dead and several others wounded. The Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are blaming each other for the violence. “The clashes ...

The New Year has not begun peacefully in Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Kontagora. Just as the final days of 2025 were marked by violence and fear, early January 2026 has brought fresh bloodshed, including the massacre of 42 men in the village of Kasuwan Daji, not far from Papiri, where more than 200 schoolchildren were abducted in November. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) expresses its deep concern and strongly condemns the recent wave of violent attacks in the ...

Emmanuel Alabi won’t appear on anyone’s end-of-year list of notable deaths of 2025. Nor will Fr. Alloyce Cheruiyot Bett or Sister Evanette Onezaire. But while their passing won’t be noted by any mainstream media’s list of celebrity deaths, their names do appear in a report that a Vatican agency routinely issues at year’s end. According to Fides, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies, 17 Catholic missionaries and pastoral workers were killed during the past 12 months. They include ...

There have been 212 clergy kidnappings since 2015. Between 2015 and 2025, at least 212 Catholic priests were kidnapped in Nigeria, in a wave of violence that affects the whole country. This is revealed by an ongoing study carried out by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria shared with the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The research documents kidnappings in at least 41 of the country’s 59 Catholic dioceses and archdioceses. The data is consistent with ...

As Christmas approaches, the priest of the only Catholic parish in Gaza, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, tells Aid to the Church in Need that his community is attempting to keep the “flame of hope” alive, and thanks benefactors for the material and spiritual support they provide to the Holy Land. “Our situation is better than a month and a half ago, when the ceasefire began, but this does not mean that things are well. They remain very serious, very delicate,” says ...

There are hopeful signs that the remaining students who were kidnapped from a Nigerian Catholic school last month will be home for Christmas. The Diocese of Kontagora, in the west-central State of Niger, confirmed the release of “the second batch” of those abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri November 21. “We are profoundly grateful to the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Niger State Government, the security agencies, and all other partners whose efforts and interventions ...