Vision after the Liberation of Mosul and the Nineveh Plain Towns Introduction In the 1930, Christians were about 5% of Iraq’s population and used to have a vital presence in the most important cities of the country. However, the number has sharply declined after the USA invasion of Iraq in 2003 due to the...
IRAQ – Latest ordinations hint at tentative rebirth of Christianity Just a few miles away from the ongoing horrors of war, two ordinations in Iraqi Kurdistan last Friday were a cause for great celebration among the local Christian community. They offer hope not only of survival but rebirth for Christianity in the Middle East. Patriarch...
“The worst is still to come” A project partner of Aid to the Church in Need has warned that the upsurge of fighting in South Sudan will see the humanitarian crisis affecting millions of civilians worsening. One of the Catholic charity’s South Sudanese project partners, who cannot be named for security reasons, described how...
ACN sponsors 3500 youths from difficult situations to attend Some 3,500 young people from 29 different countries will be able to attend World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland July 25-31, 2016, thanks to the support of international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Many of the youth hail from countries close...
Archbishop criticises government for blocking Church aid The head of the Venezuelan Conference of Catholic Bishops has criticised president Nicolás Maduro for preventing the Church and other institutions from relieving the country’s severe food crisis. Venezuela’s socialist government is widely blamed for the crisis. Price controls on 160 essential products including food and soap introduced...
Pope visits ACN sponsored orphanage Pope Francis visited the Sisters of Our Lady of Armenia who run an orphanage and a day centre for the elderly, which ACN has been helping since 1997. Francis rested for a few hours on the second day of his journey in the dormitory of the convent of Our...
NIGERIA – Escaped girl tells her story A girl called Sa’a who managed to escape her abductors recalls what happened that night when Boko Haram attacked the Chibok school two years ago. “They were all shooting guns and yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’,” she said. They burned the school and forced the captive girls into trucks....
Intimidated Christians in German refugee centres seek government protection German authorities have been urged to protect Christians and other non-Muslim migrants in refugee centres immediately as a new survey reveals that up to 40,000 non-Muslim migrants are being routinely harassed because of their faith. The survey aims to show the German people and the...
Appreciation – Prof Salvinu Busuttil It is with great sadness that we at Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Malta learnt that Salvinu Busuttil had passed away. I met him over lunch at the Corinthia two and a half years ago and since that day Salvinu has been one of ACN’s most enthusiastic...
PAKISTAN – “Convert, leave or die” – rioters threaten Christians This threat to Christians: “Convert, leave or die” has often been heard in the Middle East as Islamic State jihadists overran villages in Iraq and Syria. However, this time it is Pakistani Christians who are being threatened by Islamic fundamentalist groups which, although not officially...
