Pastoral Aid

In the early months of the war in Ukraine, the immediate need was material aid for refugee families. Now, the need is, above all, for spiritual and psychological help. Priests are often the first ones the people turn to. Iryna is from Konotop, in northeast Ukraine. She had been baptized but didn’t have any faith. She recalls, “After panic attacks had literally robbed me of the last of my strength, I found comfort in the Church. Fear entered my life ...

The Capuchin Fathers in Lahore, Pakistan are launching a program for 120 young Christian women and girls. This program aims to make them aware of their inherent God-given dignity as women, to deepen their faith and to teach them how to respond appropriately to provocative questions about Christianity. Since most of these women are poor and obliged to work in vulnerable positions, such as housemaids, cleaners, and factory workers, they are very much at the mercy of their employers and ...

Again and again in the Gospel, there are women who approach Jesus with the boldness of a strong faith and ask for His help. Indeed, the woman with the issue of blood even believed that merely by touching His garment, she would be healed. And so, it was. Still today, women come to Jesus to seek His help and protection, not least in Pakistan, where Christian women are doubly discriminated against — both as women and as Christians. Christians are ...

In 1995, Pope Saint John Paul II issued the papal encyclical Evangelium vitae, in which he outlined the sanctity of human life and how society must foster a “culture of life” to counter the growing “culture of death.” The Pope’s words are as relevant today as when they were written in the 1990s. In many parts of the world, the culture of death threatens the sanctity of human life. This is true in Chile, where there are attempts to advance ...

Through your love, you can give young Christians one of the most precious gifts a person can receive: deeper faith. The strengthening of young Christians’ faith is also the goal of the Youth Chaplaincy in Jordan, or JEC Jordan. Run by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, JEC Jordan focuses on developing young Catholics to become leaders and to educate them and deepen them in their faith. Christians are a small minority in Jordan but are accepted as part of wider ...

Almost 70 percent of the approximately 22 million people in Sri Lanka are Buddhist, while Catholics number somewhere around 1.45 million – and roughly half of them live in the Archdiocese of Colombo. This number includes about 150,000 young people.  Like young people everywhere in the world, these youngsters are also fascinated by social media and artificial intelligence. And so this is increasingly becoming a topic that the Church has to and wants to engage with, since it involves many ...

The Diocese of Gikongoro lies in southern Rwanda. It includes 20 parishes with about a quarter of a million Catholic faithful. Although the name of the diocese is not exactly familiar to most people abroad, nonetheless, many Catholics around the world have heard of the Marian shrine of Kibeho, which is located within the diocese. Our Lady is honored here under the title of “Nyina wa Jambo,” or “Mother of the Word.” The shrine was formally recognized by the Catholic ...

Ever since 2019, Lebanon has been going through one of the gravest economic crises in recent history. Such is the collapse that somewhere between half and three-quarters of the population is now living below the poverty line, with even the middle classes suffering extensive poverty. This situation is a result of a combination of factors – structural corruption, political paralysis, a massive financial crisis, successive military conflicts, and the permanently overhanging danger of war in the region. On top of ...

The Diocese of Juína lies in the heart of the Amazon region and covers a vast territory of nearly 48,000 square miles. Yet it has just 14 parishes, which include a total of 380 local communities. Sadly, experience has shown that many young people have drifted away from the Church. This fact has prompted Bishop Neri José Tondello to sit down together with the youth leaders in the diocese and consider how best to rekindle the enthusiasm of as many ...