A devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck much of western and central Colombia on Monday. While authorities assess the scale of the emergency, the Catholic Church is already accompanying affected communities and gathering information to gauge the most urgent needs. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is in direct contact with the bishops of dioceses located in the affected areas in order to determine the impact of the quake and coordinate emergency aid to be channeled through the Church. The ...

As the country sinks into an unprecedented crisis, corroded by armed gangs, the Church remains standing, sowing hope in the midst of despair. The legislative and presidential elections due to be held in Haiti on August 30 – the first since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 – have been postponed until December. But the idea of elections still seems like a distant dream in a country devastated by the violence of armed gangs, who control vast areas ...

The Catholic bishops of Mexico have marked the centenary of the “Calles Law,” which imposed restrictions on the life of the Church and placed priestly ministry under state control in Mexico, with a message entitled “The church bells fell silent; their blood spoke” and subtitled “In memory of our martyrs, religious freedom and peace-building.” The law came into force on July 31, 1926, and, as the Mexican bishops recall, “faced with the impossibility of freely exercising their ministry,” their predecessors ...

Catholic leaders advocate for the right of return of internally displaced people. The return of thousands of displaced Christians to their places of origin in Iraq, supported by ACN following the defeat of Islamic State, could serve as a model for responding to the crisis facing Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. On August 6, 2014, the Islamic State swept through the Nineveh Plains, the ancestral homeland of Iraqi Christians, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee overnight to the safety ...

Throughout Europe and the Americas, churches have been vandalized in the past three months. Although the attacks seem unrelated, they show that religious freedom is not to be taken for granted. Vandalism at the popular European shrine of Medjugorje in Bosnia is the latest in a wave of attacks against churches in Europe and the Americas, involving acts of vandalism, desecration, arson, or theft. The number of incidents over the past three months raises concerns over a growing pattern of ...

Baghdad offering incentives for Christians to return to Iraq. Al-Zaidi’s words will be discussed at the upcoming meeting of Catholic bishops. Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has declared the return of Christian families a national priority and pledged to include returnees in a government program that is offering 1 million residential plots. “The return of Christians who were forced to leave the country due to the difficult circumstances Iraq endured is a national and government priority. Iraq’s true strength lies ...