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ACCORDING to a new poll, 46 percent of US Catholics say the global persecution of Christians is “very severe”—an increase of more than 16 percent compared to a year ago; and 58 percent of US Catholics say they are “very concerned” about the plight of their fellow faithful—a figure up by more than 17 percent from February 2018. Yet, other global issues are cause of greater concern for US Catholics than the persecution of Christians: they rank human trafficking, poverty ...

Catherine Ibrahim lives in a camp for displaced persons run by the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Here, she describes the murder of her husband and abduction of her children – both at the hands of Boko Haram – and her eventual captivity. She told her story to Aid to the Church in Need: “The first time Boko Haram came to our village, we were lucky. Just as we settled in for dinner, we heard their gunshots and ...

THE NAME AL-SHABAAB sends chills down any Kenyan’s spine. It is synonymous with death, violence, and destruction. The Somalia-based Islamist terrorist group has singled out Christians in numerous attacks in Kenya, most recently in the capital of Nairobi Jan. 15, 2019, when at least 20 were killed (including four terrorists) in an assault on a luxury hotel complex. The Kenyan army is doing what it can to protect citizens and take the fight to the Al Qaeda-allied group in Somalia. ...

THIS IS THE STORY of Kainut, a brave 20-year-old girl who grew up a Muslim, with a Christian mother and a Muslim father, but she chose to become a Catholic. As a result, she and her family are suffering harassment, discrimination and worse. According to Islamic law, if someone leaves Islam, that person can be killed with impunity. Kainut, who is studying medicine, speaks about her life and the momentous choice she made: “This is what happened to my mother: as ...

BISHOP MATTHEW HASSAN KUKAH heads the Diocese of Sokoto, in northwestern Nigeria. He is the founder of the Kukah Center, a policy-research institute that engages distinguished thought leaders from around the world and provides a Judeo-Christian perspective on all the issues of the day. He recently spoke with Adie Vanessa Offiong, who reports for Aid to the Church in Need-USA. You have encouraged Nigerian Catholics to be more proud of their faith and more dynamic in living it out. What ...

FORTY PERCENT of US Catholics believe that Christian persecution around the world is “severe.” Four-in-ten Catholics say that half or more of religiously-based attacks around the world are directed at Christians. However, US Catholics say they are less concerned about Christian persecution than about human trafficking, poverty, climate change, and the global refugee crisis. A nationwide poll examining the views on global Christian persecution on US Catholics was conducted by Aid to the Church in Need-USA/McLaughlin & Associates. The survey ...

A FILM NOMINATED in the “Short film (live action) category” at the 2018 Academy Awards received financial support from our organization. Watu Wote (All of Us) is inspired by the true story of Kenyan Christians who, in 2015, were saved when Muslim passengers traveling on the same bus refused to identify non-Muslims—who would be marked for death—when the bus was captured by terrorists of the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab group. “Producer Tobias Rosen came to see us because he needed to ...

SAHBAT AL-JADIDA, a district in the eastern part of Aleppo, was hard hit by attacks and bombings during the last five years of the civil war in Syria. Today, several months after the end of combat operations in the city, the situation is slowly improving. During the day, the streets are vibrantly alive and masses of young people throng the pavement. The large campus  of the University of Aleppo is also located in this district. “I did not want to ...