Crying women, soldiers with emotional and physical wounds, families destroyed by uncertainty: Father Anton Lässer and Magda Kaczmarek from ACN report on these and other stories, which make visible the deep wounds of the conflict in Ukraine.   The scars of the war in Ukraine are not only visible on bodies; they are also reflected in the faces of those who experience it. In March 2025, Father Anton Lässer, Ecclesiastical Assistant of Aid to the Church in Need International (ACN), and ...

At the invitation of ACN, Robert Royal has written a book about persecuted Christians over the past 25 years. The same author wrote a book on the martyrs of the 20th century, which was published in the year 2000.  As the Church marked the Second Millennium of Christianity, Pope John Paul II led a global celebration commemorating 2,000 years since the Incarnation. Central to this Jubilee Year was a profound recognition of Christian martyrs across the centuries – those who ...

During his visit to the headquarters of the international pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Aurelio Gazzera, who, since last year, has been Coadjutor Bishop of Bangassou in the Central African Republic, spoke about the significant progress that has been made in the relationships between Christians and Muslims in the country.   For a long time, the Central African Republic was torn by conflicts between two big militias: Seleka, an alliance of several predominantly Muslim rebel groups, ...

“Six hundred and ninety-eight, six hundred and ninety-nine, seven hundred.” Mathieu passes pebbles from one side to another. Seven hundred in all, one for each of the Hail Marys he has prayed that night. A night which to him feels like the evening in Gethsemane, in the Garden of Olives, where Jesus also felt alone, abandoned by His disciples, where He spent the night praying to the Father, presenting His pleas and asking for the strength to bear His suffering ...

Father Gabriel Romanelli says that living with 500 people in a closed compound is not easy, but that the Christians in Gaza consider themselves fortunate to have survived thus far and to be able to help thousands of other families in the region.   The parish priest of Holy Family Parish in Gaza, Father Gabriel Romanelli, has made another desperate plea for peace in the war-torn region, stating that the rekindling of fighting between Israel and Hamas is just making the ...

Bishop Papias Musengamana of the Diocese of Byumba in northwest Rwanda recently visited the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). He told the pontifical foundation how his diocese recovered from the near-complete absence of priests after the 1994 genocide and spoke about the meaning of pastoral work with families and young people.   Last year, the Church in Rwanda began the celebrations of a two-year double jubilee: the 125th anniversary of the evangelization of the country and ...