Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International joyfully announces the release of Fr. Alphonsus Afina, a priest of the Diocese of Maiduguri, Nigeria, who had been abducted on June 1, 2025 by armed militants and spent 51 days in captivity. His release, along with ten women who were also held captive, was confirmed directly to ACN by local Church sources.  Speaking to ACN, Bishop John Bakeni, the Auxiliary Bishop of Maiduguri, Nigeria, expressed gratitude for the solidarity and prayers ...

Religious communities in Nigeria are facing ongoing, systematic, and egregious violations of their ability to practice their faith, says a US human rights monitor. A July 21 update from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) found that the Nigerian government’s enforcement of blasphemy laws and an increase in violent attacks by nonstate entities targeting religious communities “constitute significant restrictions on freedom of religion or belief (FoRB),” USCIRF’s new report stated. The report said that 12 Nigerian states ...

The Church of the Holy Family, the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, was hit last Thursday, July 17, in an attack that left its community mired in pain and uncertainty. A shell, according to initial reports, fired from an Israeli tank, killed three people and wounded 15 more, including the parish priest, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, an Argentine missionary of the Institute of the Incarnate Word.  “They have been and continue to be very hard days,” Fr. Gabriel begins ...

The Catholic parish of the Holy Family in Gaza was severely damaged today in what is thought to have been an Israeli military strike. According to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, three people died and several were injured, some seriously. In addition, the parish priest, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, sustained a light injury to his leg. The church suffered major structural damage, and the Christian community in Gaza remains in shock as the ongoing conflict continues to devastate the region. Witnesses ...

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) strongly condemns the violent attack perpetrated on July 10, 2025 against the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary in Ivhianokpodi, Diocese of Auchi, Edo State, Nigeria. The assault led to the death of a security guard and the kidnapping of three seminarians.  According to the Catholic Diocese of Auchi, the attack occurred at around 9:00 P.M., when several armed men stormed the seminary compound and opened fire. Christopher Aweneghieme, a member of the Civil Defense Corps ...

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need received alarming reports of a series of attacks targeting Christian communities in different regions of Syria, highlighting the fragility of security and the growing fear among the faithful. Suwayda: Dozens of Homes Burned and Families Displaced A serious incident has been reported in the village of Al-Sura, in the Suwayda region of southern Syria. According to several local sources linked to ACN, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church of St. Michael in ...