As Islamist attacks continue to terrorize the northern district of Cabo Delgado in Mozambique, the Church does all it can to help the local people.   The Christian population of Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique is suffering greatly from terrorist attacks carried out as part of an Islamist insurgency.   According to a message sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) by Passionist missionary Father Kwiriwi Fonseca, the terrorists have intensified their strikes, causing a new wave of internally displaced ...

White smoke has emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel at the end of the second day of the conclave. A new pope has been elected, and St. Peter’s Square is filling up with people awaiting the appearance of the new Holy Father. Aid to the Church in Need is in the second day of its Jubilee Year pilgrimage to Rome, and Fr. Anton Lässer, ecclesiastical assistant of Aid to the Church in Need, offered initial reaction to the ...

The world is at a difficult and complex turning point in history, a leading cardinal said, as his brother prelates entered the Conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. “To pray, by invoking the Holy Spirit, is the only right and proper attitude to take as the cardinal electors prepare to undertake an act of the highest human and ecclesial responsibility and to make a choice of exceptional importance,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of ...

An Indonesian priest recalls how Pope Francis’s visit to his country, where Christians are a small but vibrant minority, illustrates his legacy as a Pope of simplicity, close to the peripheries of the Church.   Pope Francis’s visit to Asia and Oceania in September 2024 remains a symbol of his concern with the peripheries and with Christian communities, however small they might be. At the time, Francis visited East Timor and Papua New Guinea, which are mostly Christian, but also Indonesia, ...

In their last public meeting before entering the Conclave – the secret meetings to elect a new pope – the College of Cardinals discussed the issue of martyrs, especially those in lands where Christians suffer persecution or are deprived of religious freedom. The 12th and final Congregation of Cardinals took place Tuesday morning, May 6, with 173 cardinals present. Among them were 130 who are eligible to elect a new pope – and one of them who will emerge as ...

Over 1,000 benefactors of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), from 23 different countries, will be participating in a pilgrimage to Rome from May 7-10, 2025, within the context of the Jubilee that officially began with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica on December 24, 2024.    “The theme ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ resonates especially with our pontifical foundation, since it is the underlying reason for the work we do: to take hope to ...