The international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN International), in Königstein, Germany, hosted the Latin America and Caribbean Meeting for Synodal Cooperation 2025, between March 10-14. This initiative, held under the aegis of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, the Latin-American Bishops Council (CELAM), and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is aimed at strengthening synodal cooperation between a variety of institutions and organizations that work for international cooperation in the region. During the five-day meeting, ...

The murder of seminarian Andrew Peter follows the recent killing of Father Sylvester Okechukwu. In the first three months of 2025, Nigeria has had three times more kidnappings of clergy and religious than in the same period of 2024.   The Nigerian Church is reeling from the news of the murder of a young seminarian, Andrew Peter, at the hands of kidnappers, according to a statement sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) by the Diocese of Auchi. The ...

A plea for government in northern Nigeria to re-think the sudden and unprecedented closure of schools during Ramadan is coming from a bishop concerned for the hundreds of thousands of children affected.  Bishop Gerald Mamman Musa of Katsina said it came as “a complete surprise” when governors in his state, as well as Kano, Kebbi, and Bauchi, announced that all schools – both private and public – would close for the month-long Islamic season of fasting and spiritual growth. Speaking ...

Archbishop Arbach will participate in the “Night of Witnesses” in the cathedral of Madrid on March 14th.  Following the massacres that took place in western Syria on March 8th and 9th, which, according to available reports and estimates, left 1,000 dead, the Archbishop of Homs, Jean Abdo Arbach, has told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that “we don’t want any more bloodshed. We call for unity and reconciliation. After 14 years of war, we don’t need another conflict.” ...

March 15th will mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Akash Bashir, a 20-year-old Catholic who sacrificed his life to save hundreds of people by intercepting a suicide bomber trying to access the church of Saint John in Youhanabad, in the Diocese of Lahore in Pakistan.  That act led to his being raised to the status of Servant of God – the first in the history of Pakistan – a first step on the path to beatification, generating much ...

The heads of Christian Churches in the Holy Land have officially protested a renewed attempt to force them to pay certain taxes in the State of Israel. The most pressing case at the moment is related to the Armenian Church, but there are many cases involving Catholic institutions.  The Patriarchs and heads of local Churches of Jerusalem have issued an official statement condemning the most recent attempt by the Municipality of Jerusalem to force Churches to pay the municipal tax ...