Aid to the Church in Need – which was founded in 1947 to provide material and spiritual aid for refugees fleeing Communism in Eastern Europe – was consecrated to Our Lady of Fatima at the sanctuary in Portugal.

The consecration was carried out by the charity’s founder Father Werenfried van Straaten in 1967, which marked the 50th anniversary of the apparitions. Later, at the age of 87, Father van Straaten returned to the sanctuary of Fatima to concelebrate with Pope John Paul II at the beatification Mass of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the three shepherd children of Fatima, on 13th May 2000.

 

Father van Straaten described how the messages of Fatima influenced both him and the work of charity Aid to the Church in Need – which before the fall of communism focused on helping churches behind the Iron Curtain. Speaking at the Church of St Agnes Church in St Paul, the state capital of Minnesota, on 5th April 1988, ACN’s founder said: “I saw the danger of communism early on, and the supernatural events at Fatima made me recognise the nature of the danger and the true face of communism – the fundamental denial of God and the persecution of his children.  Read on