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Mariam Ibrahim was arrested for apostasy and adultery because Sharia law mandated that she was a Muslim, like her father, even though she had been reared as a practicing Christian. Credit: Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)

“Prayer was my strength in prison”: Sudanese Woman Who Hid Bible Pages in Hair Shares, Prays for Persecuted People

Oct 31, 2025

The biggest challenge for persecuted people in the world is accessing God’s Word, Mariam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman who was arrested and jailed for being a Christian, has said.

Annual rosary procession in the Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia. Credit: Wilfred Lawrence D’Souza, Salesian Cooperator, AOS Communication Officer, Council 145, Knights of Marshall

“A public plea for mercy”: Catholic Priest on Annual Rosary Procession in Monrovia, Liberia

Oct 31, 2025

The annual rosary procession in the Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia has been described as a “public plea for mercy” from the people of God in the Metropolitan See.

Bishop Mark Kadima Wamukoya of the Catholic Diocese of Bungoma in Kenya. Credit: Catholic Diocese of Bungoma

Catholic Bishop Cautions against “selfish motives” in Marriage of 19 Couples in Kenya

Oct 31, 2025

Bishop Mark Kadima Wamukoya of the Catholic Diocese of Bungoma in Kenya has warned couples against entering into marriage for selfish reasons, urging them instead to build unions grounded in faithfulness, honesty, and prayer.

Jihadist group Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) is preventing fuel tankers from Senegal and Ivory Coast from supplying Mali's capital, Bamako. Credit: Agenzia Fides

Jihadists Expand Operations in Mali, Force Women to Wear Veils, Extort, Kidnap for Ransom: Report

Oct 31, 2025

Jihadism in Mali is expanding with reported kidnappings and attacks on women who do not wear veils.

Some members of the Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests' Association (NCDPA). Credit: Nigeria Catholic Network

“We must heal wounds within Church”: Catholic Diocesan Priests in Nigeria Call for Renewal, Simplicity, and Justice

Oct 30, 2025

Members of the Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association (NCDPA) have called for renewed unity, simplicity, and justice within the Church in Nigeria, urging Priests to be instruments of healing and hope in a world deeply marked by sin, injustice, poverty, and moral confusion. 

Bishop Eusebius Nyathi of Gokwe Diocese in Zimbabwe with Kati Dijane. Credit: Kati Dijane

“A fruitful meeting”: Catholic Bishop in Zimbabwe on Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies

Oct 30, 2025

Bishop Eusebius Jelous Nyathi of the Catholic Diocese of Gokwe in Zimbabwe has described the three-day Jubilee of the Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies in Rome, which concluded on October 26, as “fruitful.”

Archbishop Emmanuel Obbo. Credit: Episcopal Conference of Uganda (UEC)

Pope Leo XIV Appoints Apostolic Administrator of Uganda’s Jinja Diocese after Bishop’s Burial

Oct 30, 2025

The Holy Father has appointed the Archbishop of Uganda’s Tororo Metropolitan See as the Apostolic Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Jinja.

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah. Credit: Catholic Diocese of Sokoto

“A divided pulpit”: Catholic Bishop Criticized for Comments on Persecution of Christians in Nigeria

Oct 29, 2025

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah’s speech at the recent launch of the Aid to the Church in Need’s 2025 World Report on Religious Freedom in the World has attracted a lot of criticism, with some believing that what the Local Ordinary of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Sokoto said in Rome about persecution in his country does not address the anguish of Christians in the West African nation. 

Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo. Credit: Community of Sant'Egidio

Africa’s Youth Reflect Profound Social Transformation, Not Just “demographic indicator”: SECAM President

Oct 29, 2025

Young people in Africa reflect a “profound” social transformation, and their growing numbers are aa tremendous opportunity if they are accorded appropriate education and are empowered, the President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) has said. 

Credit: Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC)

Catholic Bishop of Jinja Diocese in Uganda Laid to Rest amid Calls to Uphold Vision “to be one”

Oct 29, 2025

Archbishop Paul Ssemogerere of Uganda's Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala has encouraged the people of God in Jinja Catholic Diocese to uphold the unity and pastoral vision of their Bishop, the late Charles Martin Wamika who was laid to rest on Tuesday, October 28.

Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Nigeria’s Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja. Credit: ACI Africa

Nigeria’s Catholic Youths Urged to Rediscover Faith, Reject Social Vices, “become agents of peace”

Oct 29, 2025

Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja in Nigeria has challenged young people in the West African nation to renew their faith, embrace moral discipline, and play active roles in promoting peace and national transformation.

Credit: Kati Dijane

Church in Africa “gift of life”: Pope Leo XIV at Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies

Oct 28, 2025

Pope Leo XIV has recognized with appreciation Africa’s vibrant faith and missionary dynamism, describing the Church on the continent as “a gift of life” to the entire Universal Church.

Late Sr. Anselmina Karimi (right) and Sr. Caroline Kanjiru (left). Credit: Radio 47 Digital

Court in Kenya Exonerates Catholic Sister Earlier Detained over Colleague’s Death, Names Her State Witness

Oct 28, 2025

Sr. Caroline Kanjiru, a member of the Nazareth Sisters of the Annunciation(NSA) in Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Meru, has been exonerated by a Kenyan court after being held as the prime suspect in the October 12 murder of her colleague, Sr. Anselmina Karimi.

Religious Leaders Call for Peaceful Participation in Tanzania’s October 29 General Elections

Oct 28, 2025

As voters in Tanzanian head to the polls on Wednesday, October 29, faith-based leaders have issued a united plea for peace, urging citizens in the East African nation to safeguard the country’s long-standing stability.

Incumbent Secures Fourth Term in Ivory Coast’s Presidential Poll, Religious Leaders Call for Peace

Oct 28, 2025

President Alassane Ouattara has secured a fourth term in office following Ivory Coast’s October 25 presidential election, according to provisional results announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI).

Bishop Maurício Agostinho Camuto of the Catholic Diocese of Caxito in Angola. Credit: Catholic Diocese of Caxito

“Keep the flame of faith and hope alive,” Spiritan Bishop in Angola Urges Newly Ordained Priests

Oct 28, 2025

Bishop Maurício Agostinho Camuto of the Catholic Diocese of Caxito in Angola has called upon three newly ordained Priests to become steadfast witnesses of faith and sources of hope in their ministry among God’s people.

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto in Nigeria. Credit: Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)

Nigerians “dying for a living”: Catholic Bishop Decries Persistent Violence, Calls for Global Support

Oct 28, 2025

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto in Nigeria has decried the wave of killings and insecurity in the West African nation and termed the situation “a national tragedy.”

Credit: Catholic Photography/Holy Spirit Cathedral Adabraka/Accra/Ghana

At Double Jubilee of Ghana’s Cape Coast Archdiocese, Papal Delegate Calls for Walking “forward with Confidence”

Oct 27, 2025

Wilfrid Fox Cardinal Napier of South Africa, Papal Delegate to the Double Jubilee celebration – marking both the ongoing Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year and the 75th anniversary of the elevation of Ghana’s Cape Coast Church to an Archdiocese – has urged the people of God to move forward with confidence, grounded in gratitude for their past, commitment to the present, and faith in God’s promises for the future.

Late Bishop Barthélemy Adoukonou. Credit: Episcopal Conference of Benin (CEB)

Benin-born Former Vatican Culture Secretary Dies at 83, Eulogized as “great theologian”

Oct 27, 2025

Bishop Barthélemy Adoukonou, a native of Benin and former Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture at the Vatican, has passed on at the age of 83. Bishop Adoukonou passed on shortly after midnight on Monday, October 27, at the University Teaching Hospital in Cotonou, the Local Ordinary of Cotonou Catholic Archdiocese who doubles as the President of the Episcopal Conference of Benin (CEB) announced in a statement. “A great theologian, educator, and man of faith, Bishop Adoukonou devoted his entire life to the service of God, the Church, and culture,” Archbishop Roger Houngbédji says in the October 27 statement. Archbishop Houngbédji notes that as former Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Bishop Adoukonou “worked with intelligence and passion to foster dialogue between faith and reason, between the Gospel and African cultures.” “His teaching, wisdom, and deep love for the Church have profoundly influenced generations of Priests, women and men Religious, intellectuals, and lay faithful,” the member of the Order of Preachers (OP/Dominicans) says. He further says the late Bishop’s passing “leaves a great void in the life of the Church and the intellectual world, but his radiant witness remains a precious spiritual and cultural legacy.” “We commend his soul to the mercy of the Lord, in the firm belief that Christ, conqueror of death, welcomes him into the joy of His Kingdom,” Archbishop Houngbédji says, and adds, “Funeral arrangements will be communicated at a later date.” Bishop Adoukonou served as rector of Saint-Paul di Djimé Major Seminary in Benin from 1977 to 1984; professor of fundamental theology at the Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) in Abidjan Ivory Coast, from 1978 to 1982. From 2000 to 2009, Bishop Adoukonou served as Secretary of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA). In December 2009, he was appointed Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture and was ordained Bishop in October 2011. The founder of the Movement Le Sillon Noir (Mewihwendo), which he animated from its inception in 1970 until 1999 also served as member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications,  and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, now the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. He was also a member of the International Theological Commission for two five-year terms. In another statement issued October 27, the Rector of the Catholic University of the Congo (UCC) described Bishop Adoukonou as an “undisputed and indisputable master of the inculturation of the Christian faith in Africa.” Fr. Léonard Santedi Kinkupu recalled that the late Bishop Adoukonou, who was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university’s Faculty of Theology, “was one of the pioneers of African theology.” “The Theological School of Kinshasa pays a vibrant tribute to this master,” Fr. Santedi says, adding that his 1977 doctoral thesis, Foundations for an African Theology: An Essay on a Christian Hermeneutic of the Dahomean Vodun, written under the supervision of Professor Joseph Ratzinger – later Pope Benedict XVI – “remains a masterpiece in theology and a major contribution to the essential and ever-demanding dialogue between faith and culture.” Fr. Santedi extends his condolences “to the biological and religious family of the deceased, as well as to the entire African academic community,” and commends his soul “to your fervent prayers.” “May the Lord welcome him into His Kingdom and grant him the reward promised to the good and faithful servant,” the UCC Rector implores.  

Late Bishop Faustin Ngabu. Credit: Catholic University of Goma

Remembered as “a man of dialogue, reflection”, Second Bishop of DR Congo’s Goma Diocese Dies at 90

Oct 27, 2025

Bishop Faustin Ngabu, the second Bishop of the Goma Catholic Diocese in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has passed on after a prolonged illness. He was aged 90.