EUROPE/ITALY - Annual Report from “Aid to the Church in Need”: over 5,000 projects funded in 137 countries

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - “The 2008 Annual Report shows that – in spite of the economic crisis and thanks to our benefactors – we have once again been able to maintain our funding for the Church in need.” With these words, ACN's Secretary General, Pierre-Marie Morel, presented the balance for 2008. The total amount collected in 2008, from the 17 countries in which the association has a national headquarters, was 82 million Euros. Italy donated almost 7 million, from 16,000 donors.
Specific contributions were made to: construction (27.5%) and theological formation (13.7%), followed by catechesis (9.5%) and mass media apostolate (7.7%). The total number of projects was: 5,020. Of these, 930 were for formation, 1,059 construction, 370 motorization, 343 support for Sisters, 844 for strictly pastoral activity, 66 in response to humanitarian problems, and 204 for religious publications. The intentions of the Holy Mass requested by benefactors were 1,191,792.
In the seminaries across the continents, 14,739 seminarians were given support, especially in Eastern Europe and Latin America. In the countries where Catholics are a small minority, the female religious were especially supported in their pastoral effort, for example 110 in Kazakhstan, 6 in Kyrgyzstan, 5 in Tajikistan, and 351 in Russia.
In 2008 as well, the Child's Bible “God Speaks to His Children,” which the association has published non-stop since 1979, was once more distributed. In 2008 alone, over 1,200,000 copies were published in Arabic (20,000), in various African languages (ingala for the Democratic Republic of Congo, maconde for Mozambique, and moore for Burkina Faso) and several Asian languages, including karen for the small community of Catholics living in Myanmar and Malayalam for India. There has also been support for the Church in the Holy Land (over 200,000 Euros in projects) and the traditional interfaith projects in Russia. There has been a great increase in support for the Church in need in Iraq and other countries with an Islamic religious majority such as Pakistan and Nigeria. There has also been substantial help offered to the Church in Oceania, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Kiribati. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 26/5/2009)