The commemoration of Africa Day, which is celebrated on May 25, has served as a framework for the Spanish delegation of Aid to the Church in Need to unveil its campaign "It hurts Africa", with which they intend to raise a total of eight million euros to develop the projects that this Foundation currently supports on the African continent focused on accompanying the victims and the religious and priests who support them and on promoting interreligious dialogue and the reconstruction of Church buildings devastated by terrorism.
During the presentation of this project, Javier Menéndez Ros, director of ACN Spain stressed how the African continent "suffers, like few others, from poverty, the unfair distribution of resources, the difficult access to healthcare, the corruption of political power, brutal emigration and in recent months, Covid. To this we must add the advance of jihadism".
An advance that, as stated in the Religious Freedom in the World ReportThe report leaves a worrying map of the African continent. Religious freedom is violated in 42% of the African countries and in 12 of them this violation becomes an extreme persecution. Among the most dangerous countries, Nigeria stands out, hit by the actions of the Boko Haram group.
Projects in 4 countries
ACN is developing projects in four African nations suffering from this persecution: Mozambique, Nigeria, Central African Republic and Burkina Faso. In these places, Christians are clear targets of extremists, in fact, Africa holds the sad record for the murder of priests, religious and committed lay people in recent years. The situation has led more than 6 million people to flee and to lose absolutely everything in order to save their lives. Many of them need psychological support, but also food and basic necessities, and not a few turn to the Church for help.
The campaign can be supported at through the ACN Spain website
