Radical Islamist herdsmen kill 500 Christians in a month – survivors afraid to bury their dead   In a series of attacks over the last month, radical Muslims have killed almost 500 predominantly Christian farmers in Benue state in central Nigeria. Muslim Fulani herdsmen launched a heavy attack against the Agatu farmers on 22 Feb...

Widespread abuse of Christian refugees largely ignored by German authorities   Christians refugees have been afraid to seek shelter in official refugee camps in the Middle East because they were attacked and even killed by Muslims while camp authorities did nothing to help them. Now they are also being psychologically abused, physically mistreated and denied...

IRAQ ACN delegation takes gift from Pope to Christians in Erbil   From 1st to 4 April this year a delegation from ACN Italy will visit the city of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Pope Francis wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to entrust some sacred vestments, together with a personal financial donation, to...

BANGLADESH – Islamic State kills Christian convert as a ‘lesson to others’   Hussein Ali ,  who converted to Christianity from Islam in 1999, was stabbed to death in Bangladesh by suspected Islamic militants. While 68-year-old Hussein was taking his regular morning walk in the town of Kurigram, three attackers approached him on a motorbike and stabbed...

Pope Francis, who has made migration a defining issue of his papacy, is due to visit the Greek island of Lesbos on 16 April. Lesbos has become a centre for migrants seeking a better life in the EU and there are currently 3,560 migrants on the island.  Director of the Holy See Press office, Fr. Federico Lombardi,...

Pope will wash feet of 12 refugees at Holy Thursday Mass   Today, Holy Thursday, Pope Francis will celebrate the liturgy in a welcoming center for migrants and refugeeswhich houses more than 900 asylum seekers. The Pope will arrive at the Reception Center for Asylum Seekers, or CARA, in Castelnuovo di Porto, just over 18...

AZERBAIJAN – Mass stipends for seven priests   Christianity has very ancient roots in Azerbaijan in fact, dating right back to the time of the Gospels. Although today some 90-95% of the population are Muslims, 70 years of communism have meant that in practice no more than about 20% of these even practise their religion...

BELARUS – Help for the training of 33 seminarians in Grodno   Last year the Catholic seminary in Grodno celebrated its 25-year Jubilee. ACN has helped for this seminary right from the start, and so, on the occasion of the Jubilee celebrations, the rector of the seminary, Dr. Roman Raczko wrote to us: “It would certainly...

ACN welcomes US State Department’s ISIS “genocide” decision   Aid to the Church in Need welcomes US State Department’s decision to classify the persecution of Christians by ISIS as “genocide”  Aid to the Church in Need welcomes the decision of the US State Department to classify the suffering Christians and other minorities have endured at...

NIGERIA – Well deserved retreat for Maiduguri priests facing constant threat of Boko Haram atrocities   In recent years the diocese of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria has been severely tried. For it is in one of the areas most hard-hit by the violence of the terrorist group Boko Haram. Since 2009 no fewer than 100,000 people...