Bishop Simon Kulli of Sapë, in northern Albania, speaks of the Albanian martyrs and their witness of hope for the Church, during a visit to the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), as part of this year’s Lent Campaign.  You were born at a time when Christianity was forbidden in Albania. How was faith transmitted in your family during the communist regime?  I was born in Albania 52 years ago, at the height of the communist ...

In the three years since the large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has approved and financed 977 projects, including 175 requests for Mass stipends, amounting to $3.6 million. In total, more than 26 million dollars was available to help the Catholic Church of both rites across the whole of Ukraine.   The support of ACN covered both the Greek Catholic and Latin Catholic Churches, including all 17 Greek Catholic ...

Over 70 bodies were found in a Protestant church in a village in Lubero, North Kivu, according to local sources contacted by the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).  The killings took place between February 12th and 15th, in a village called Maiba, near Lubero, North Kivu. On February 12th, rebels from an Islamist terrorist group, originally from Uganda, entered the village and took approximately 100 people hostage, ACN’s sources say.   “On February 15th, 70 bodies ...

The wide plains of Upper Apure in southwest Venezuela are a meeting point for Andean heritage and the identity of the plain dwellers, with a strong indigenous presence and contact with Colombians just across the border. In the middle of this landscape rises the Christ of the Savannah, which has become a symbol of faith, identity, and resilience for the Diocese of Guasdualito, which was created only nine years ago, in December 2015, and is supported by Aid to the ...

Although the country now enjoys a fragile peace, there is still insecurity, leading bishops in the Central African Republic to ask the international community not to forget the African nation. The Church, they say, will continue to play its prophetic role.  A unique spirit of dialogue and cooperation between Christian and Muslim leaders set the foundations for peace in the Central African Republic (CAR), following a brutal civil war. In this respect, the CAR stands in stark contrast to nearby ...

Statement by Regina Lynch, ACN International Executive President  It is with profound sadness that we received the tragic news of the brutal murder of Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win, a 44-year-old priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mandalay, in central Myanmar. His lifeless body, mutilated and bearing numerous stab wounds, was found by members of his community on Friday morning on the grounds of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, where he served.   The terrible act of violence, committed on ...