Aid to the Church in Need healing wounds of religious extremism The Pontifical Foundation, "Aid to the Church in Need" (ACN), launches a new campaign to help heal the wounds of religious extremism in Africa. By Lisa Zengarini Over the last years Christians in Africa have been the target of unprecedented attacks by Islamic extremists. This is why Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the Pontifical Foundation supporting persecuted Christians in world, has approved the allocation of more than $9,5 million for a new campaign to reach out to the victims and promote peaceful coexistence. A crucial mission Dubbed “Heal the wounds of religious extremism in Africa”, the campaign supports a number of initiatives and programmes aimed at mitigating “the suffering of the people and enable them to experience a little Easter hope”, Dr Thomas Heine-Geldern, ACN executive president, has explained. “The Catholic Church in Africa is itself often one of the victims, but more than anything it is an important source of support, reconciliation and healing for all who are suffering violence. For this reason, ACN considers the aid it provides to the Church of the ‘continent of martyrs’ one of its most crucial missions, now more than ever,” Dr Heine-Geldern says.