“Back to the Roots” –  ACN’s Iraq reconstruction project officially launched at Rome conference   “Facilitate the return and guarantee the protection”. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin calls for the respect of the rights of Christians in Iraq. The Cardinal was speaking at a conference organised by the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church...

Rosary for Peace and Unity   A million children around the world, including Maltese and Gozitan children, will pray the Rosary on Wednesday, 18 October 2017   Once again the international Pontifical charity foundation, Aid to Church in Need (ACN), is inviting all Maltese children to join children from all over the world in this...

Gozitan missionary Fr Gorg Grima dies aged 67   Fr Gorg Grima, founder of the Ġesù fil-Proxxmu missionary movement, died on Monday 25 September, aged 67. He had recently undergone heart bypass surgery at Mater Dei Hospital. His funeral will take place on Thursday at 5pm at the St George Basilica in Victoria. Fr Grima...

IRAQ Celebrations mark return of Iraqi Christians to Nineveh   About 500 Christian families – up to 2,500 people – celebrated their long-awaited homecoming to Iraq’s Nineveh Plains with ceremonies marking a fresh start in their old towns and villages. In Qaraqosh (Baghdeda), the largest of Nineveh’s Christian towns, priests and people holding olive branches...

BULGARIA “This shrine is a beating heart”   At the newly created Marian Shrine of Pleven, the Catholics in Bulgaria are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Fatima. The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need had supported the construction of the church. On 1 July the Fatima shrine in the north...

Aleppo is coming back to life   Parts of Aleppo are coming back to life with people returning in large numbers to the bomb-blasted city and streets once again are humming with traffic and people. Aid to the Church in Need’s Middle East projects coordinator Father Andrzej Halemba revealed how thousands of people were returning...

BURKINA FASO “No creed can justify violence“   Rafael D’Aquí, the project section head with responsibility for Burkina Faso in the international Catholic pastoral charity ACN International, recently visited this African country to study the needs of the local Catholic Church. In the interview below with Maria Lozano, he explains the situation of the country...

MEXICO State of emergency declared following another earthquake   “Today more than ever our beloved Mexico and all of us who are part of it, we ask the whole world and each of you for your prayers”   On Tuesday, September 19 at 1:14 pm (local time) a 7.1-degree earthquake was recorded that claimed the...

ACN International Pilgrimage to Fatima 12 – 15 Sep 2017   During the current year, in which the Church is celebrating the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady to the three shepherd children in Fatima, Aid to The Church in Need (ACN) made a special pilgrimage to this, the “Altar of the World”, from 12 to...

PHILIPPINES Priest abducted by terrorists is rescued   Fr Soganub: “I continue to believe in inter-religious dialogue”   A smiling Fr. Teresito “Chito” Soganub was presented this afternoon during a press briefing by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The priest was immediately excused by defense officials. However, before his exit, Fr. Soganub was...