The Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Cardinal Bechara Raï, is calling for measures so that Christians will not abandon the Middle East, because they are a decisive moderating factor among the region’s Muslim-majority countries.   “Many have had to abandon Syria, because nobody can live in a war, under bombardment,” the cardinal told pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). “This migration is reducing the number of Christians, who, in the Middle East, have contributed to the formation of ...

A report compiled by Franciscan Fr. Lazar Aslam describes the plight of young girls and women who are subjected to rape, kidnapping, and forced marriage in a country where the law rarely affords Christians equal rights.   Samiya was only 17 when she set off on February 14 of this year to her job as a cleaner in a building in Lahore, Pakistan. At the end of the day, when she didn’t answer her phone, her mother went looking and found ...

Fr. Alphonsus Afina was kidnapped on Sunday, June 1, in the Diocese of Maiduguri.   The auxiliary bishop of Maiduguri, Nigeria has called for urgent prayers for one of his priests, who was kidnapped by jihadist terrorists.   In a message sent to Aid to the Church in Need International (ACN), Bishop John Bagna Bakeni said that Fr. Alphonsus Afina was taken, along with other people, by suspected militants of Boko Haram–Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) on Sunday, June 1.  Fr. ...

Amid very difficult conditions in Syria at the moment – and fear about the future – Archbishop Jacques Mourad believes that lifting sanctions will bring new hope.   The situation in Syria continues to be one of severe poverty and uncertainty, says the Syriac-Catholic Archbishop of Homs, and many Christian families are still trying to leave the country.   According to Archbishop Jacques Mourad, the recent replacement of the regime of Bashar al-Assad by one with fundamentalist Muslim roots has bred suspicion among ...

More than six months since a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect, after yet another devastating war, the Church is still suffering the aftermath of intense bombardment and resulting mass displacement. Religious sisters are doing everything they can to provide material aid and pastoral support to traumatized Christian communities.   During a visit to Lebanon by staff of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) at the end of last month, multiple project partners, struggling ...

The hundredth anniversary of the beatification of the North American Martyrs offers an opportunity to reflect on their witness and legacy, echoing Tertullian’s timeless statement, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” These martyrs, also known as the Canadian Martyrs, were beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1930. They include Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brebeuf, Rene Goupil, Jean de La Lande, and others who were killed in the 1640s in what is now Canada and New ...