Mali is a West African landlocked country with 18 million inhabitants, of whom only about 2% profess the Christian faith. Since 2012, there has been chaos in the country, because radical Islamists and Tuareg fighters want to establish their own “theocracy” in the north. Since then, hundreds of thousands have been fleeing the violence caused by jihadists. ACN supports the Church in Mali with numerous projects, such as the training of priests and religious priests and religious.
In essence, Mali has been divided by Islamist terror since 2013. This also applies to the Church itself. While the Church infrastructure in the north of the country has largely been destroyed, the situation is better in the south, despite violent incidents – the Catholic community is even growing here. In order to maintain ecclesiastical structures, ACN supported the local Church in 2018 not only with pastoral training, but also with vehicle assistance, Mass stipends, pastoral care and construction aid. In the diocese of San, for instance, a retirement home for priests was equipped with a solar-powered water pump.