On June 4th, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), or the Popular Party of India, won its third election, extending Narendra Damodardas Modi’s tenure as leader of the country. What are the consequences of these results for the Christian community? In this interview, Father Pradeep, a Jesuit from the state of Jharkhand, shares his thoughts with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).  Prime Minister Modi recently won the elections. What was the reaction of the Christian ...

A new amendment to the Christian Marriage Act says that girls and boys under the age of 18 cannot marry. Though only a first step, this could curb cases of abduction and forced marriage for Christian girls in the country.   The Catholic Church in Pakistan applauds a new amendment to the Christian Marriage Act, which was recently signed into law and raises the age of marriage to 18 for both boys and girls.   Though limited in scope – the law ...

Eight months after hundreds of Christians were massacred on Christmas Eve, and three months after another carnage on Easter Monday, the Nigerian government has failed to keep people safe, according to a priest caring for displaced people. Survivors of massacres by extremists in Nigeria’s Middle Belt “have no trust” in their leaders as they face continued attacks on their farms and an increasing food shortage, Father Andrew Dewan, director of communications in the Diocese of Pankshin, revealed. Father Dewan told ...

A decrease in the influence of Islamist extremism in Egypt has made it possible for Christians to rebuild damaged churches and even consider building new ones.   The Egyptian government has lifted restrictions on the construction of churches, allowing the Coptic Catholic community to begin restoring St. George’s Cathedral in Luxor – destroyed by a fire in 2016 – and make plans to build more places of worship in the country, according to Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Sidrak of Alexandria.   Patriarch ...

On July 16th, thirty years after returning to Bangladesh, the Jesuits are opening a new novitiate in the South Asian country, where Christians are a small minority. By allowing the novices to have their initial formation in the local languages and culture, the Jesuits hope to promote vocations.  A “Grace of God”: this is how the Jesuit Mission Superior in Bangladesh, Father Ripon Rozario, SJ, describes the support offered by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). ...

Many feared that the invasion of the Nineveh Plains would drive Christians from Iraq for good, but ten years after militants of the Islamic state drove them from their homeland, thousands of Christians have returned to houses rebuilt with the help of ACN, taking with them their love for the Church and the hope of the Gospel.  “Words cannot describe what we experienced 10 years ago. ISIS tried to eradicate us, but they failed,” said Nizar Semaan, the Syriac Catholic ...