July 24, 2012. (Romereports.com) Aid to the Church in Need is a Catholic Charity and a Pontifical Foundation that works to help Christians that are persecuted.
 
One area they have been closely following is the Middle East, specifically the situation of Christians since the political revolutions brought by the Arab Spring of 2011.


Marta Petrosillo
Spokesperson, Aid to the Church in Need (Italy)
“The young people went out in the squares but they weren't very organized politically. And so there was a power vacuum created by the fall of these regimes that has been filled by Islamist movements. And now Christians fear that this will bring a greater 'Islamization' to different parts of society.”

In 2011, Aid to the Church in Need took in just over 100 million dollars according to their annual report. The majority of this money coming from individual donations.

Where this money is spent includes everything from construction projects, Catechesis, to different forms of aid to Christians throughout the world.

The donations help to fund more than 4,000 different projects in 145 countries, the majority of these projects take place in Africa and the Middle East.

Marta Petrosillo
Spokesperson, Aid to the Church in Need (Italy)
“We support small television stations and Christian radio. For example, with Satellite TV we transmit to the entire Arab world, including Farsi speakers, and which is seen by many Muslims. So we contribute also by introducing some of the values and realities of Christianity to Muslims.”

The Foundation was originally created in 1947 by the Dutch priest Werenfried Van Straaten. It has worked for over 60 years to bring assistance to Christians throughout the world that live in difficult situations.


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