Catholic Charity Foundation Dedicates 2025 Lenten Campaign to “martyrs of our time”, Christians Under Attack in Africa

According to ACN’s Executive President, Regina Lynch, the 2025 Lenten Campaign aims to restore hope to the persecuted people of God in Africa by providing them essential needs.  

“This Lent, ACN wants to increase its efforts to strengthen the presence of the Church in places where faith is under attack. Through the construction or reconstruction of church buildings and other structures, trauma healing programmes, support for the training of priests and religious, and emergency aid to displaced Christian communities, we continue to work to ensure that hope is not extinguished,” Lynch in quoted as saying in the ACN March 5 report. 

In the report, the Executive President of the Charity and Pontifical Foundation also emphasizes the importance of inter-religious dialogue in fostering peace in Africa.

“ACN is promoting projects that foster understanding between different religious communities. Reconciliation is an essential path to avoiding new cases of persecution and to building more just and fraternal societies,” she adds.

In linking the “Martyrs of our time: Witnesses of Hope” initiative with the Jubilee Year of Hope, which Pope Francis launched with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica of Rome, ACN has exemplified persecuted Christians as a sign of consolation, faith, and hope.

According to the ACN March 5 report, despite the organization’s efforts since its formation to curb Christian persecution in the world, oppression, and suffering is still on the rise in Africa and many parts of the world.

ACN is also playing a key role in providing shelter, food, medical care, and even renovation of destroyed churches and homes to reduce the displacement of people across Africa. 

The Pontifical Foundation has launched several projects to support the local Church in providing humanitarian aid to displaced persons and victims of terror attacks. The March 5 report indicates that religious persecution is particularly high in Muslim-dominated countries, where jihadists deprive Christians of their freedom of worship through persecution or forced conversions.

The Catholic charity foundation has rebuilt churches and Priests’ residences in Nigeria while also providing support to Christians in the Northeastern part of the country.

Recently, Christian communities in the West African nation were attacked, resulting in the deaths of 10 people, multiple individuals wounded, and 12 churches damaged, looted, or burned.

ACN has expressed its determination to support victims of persecution in the Sahel region, particularly in Burkina Faso. It provides food, medicine, and education, helping them cope with the hardships they face.

Burkina Faso, one of the hardest hit by jihadist violence in Africa, has experienced several attacks by groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, specifically in the Northern and Eastern regions. These attacks have led to many deaths and displacements.

ACN has appealed for collaboration to support the persecuted brothers and sisters and keep the light of hope alive during the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, which, according to Pope Francis, is “a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in one’s personal life, in the life of the Church, and in the world.”