A 22-year-old Christian man, Waqas Masih, was brutally attacked by his supervisor, Zohaib, at the Subhan Paper Mills factory in Sheikhupura, Punjab. The incident, which took place on March 22nd, highlights the persistent religious intolerance present in much of Pakistani society.  According to reports from the victim’s family, received by the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the attack was allegedly related to Waqas’s refusal to convert to Islam after being coerced by Zohaib. It is ...

Nigeria now accounts for over 80 percent of all incidents involving the murder, kidnapping, or unjust arrest of Catholic priests and religious in 2025.  Two more Catholic priests were kidnapped over the weekend in Nigeria, adding to what has been a terrible first quarter of the year in terms of security for religious in the African country.   According to statements sent to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Father Stephen Echezona was abducted on Saturday in ...

The Bailasan Counseling Center is the first Catholic psychosocial and mental health institution aimed exclusively at helping the Christian community in the West Bank. ACN funded the renovation work at the center and, during a recent visit, spoke to those whose job is to care for a people suffering from a variety of traumas, resulting from the prevailing political and economic tensions in the Holy Land.  In a survey of close to 300 Palestinian Christians, conducted between October and December ...

A missionary sister who works in the Diocese of Pemba, which has been racked by terrorism, as well as by a recent cyclone, thanks Aid to the Church in Need for the help it provides civilians.  Seven years ago, Sister Aparecida Queiroz from the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus arrived in the Diocese of Pemba, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, just as an Islamist insurgency was starting to terrorize the province.   Since then, she has seen the insurgency grow in violence ...

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 ...