“Seeing people embrace us and seek comfort in us is a sign that the Church’s mission is to be with the people,” says a future priest. Germán Jiménez, a seminarian from the Diocese of Petare, Venezuela, is in the final stage of formation before his ordination to the priesthood. From the very first moment following the double earthquake on June 24, he mobilized to bring material and spiritual aid to thousands of victims in La Guaira, the worst-affected region. According ...

City authorities want religious organizations to be subject to the “Arnona.” A bishop explains why an exemption should continue to be granted. Israel’s municipal property tax, known as “Arnona,” has become the center of a new standoff between Churches and the municipality of Jerusalem. Christian leaders fear that challenging the exemptions enjoyed by certain ecclesiastical properties could compromise their religious, educational and social activities. In a conversation with Aid to the Church in Need International (ACN), Bishop William Shomali, Auxiliary ...

Venezuela is in mourning. Pain is everywhere, and the Church is often the only source of hope. At the entrance to the Church of Our Lady of Candelaria on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, people are greeted by a poster with three lists: the dead, the missing, and the rescued. The church, in the city of Caraballeda, is under construction and does not have walls or a ceiling yet. And yet, the church fills every day — with the living and the ...

Initially scheduled for March, the festival was postponed due to the conflicts that have affected the Middle East. The Pope has encouraged more than 700 young people who lived through Iraq’s jihadist occupation to be the light of the world. In a video shown on Wednesday, July 8 at the Ankawa Youth Meeting (AYM), Pope Leo XIV urged young believers to persevere in faith and become peacemakers despite the region experiencing conflict and instability. “You must be Christ’s light in ...

“Beautiful to see solidarity and charity,” Archbishop Ortega tells ACN in LaGuaira. “But needs will persist.” Recovery from last month’s twin earthquakes in Venezuela will be a long-term project, said the Vatican’s ambassador to the country. “It’s terrible to see so many buildings” destroyed “and to know the number of victims, sick people,” Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martín, apostolic nuncio of the Holy See to Venezuela, told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). “But it’s beautiful to see the solidarity, ...

Camps take place in 11 different countries, with a particular focus on regions marked by war, displacement, and instability. After some 15 years of instability, civil war, and episodic persecution, Syria is a place where a “normal life” is no longer possible for many children. And that’s why summer camp can be a game-changer. Claude Semaan, coordinator of Faith and Light in Syria, an international movement fostering spiritual growth among people with disabilities, explains that for many kids, camps are ...