Top photo caption: A file photo shows children eating their meal in a camp for internally displaced people on the grounds of St. Savior Parish in Bangui, Central African Republic. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called on Catholics July 21, 2026, to support Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, a continent where the faith is growing rapidly, but “where the Church has limited capacity to support its pastoral needs and faces severe hardships.” Many U.S. dioceses will take up the collection in their parishes this summer. OSV News photo/Siegfried Modola, Reuters
By OSV News, OSV News
WASHINGTON OSV News – U.S. Catholics can support Pope Leo XIV’s recent call for peace, reconciliation and interreligious dialogue in Africa by giving to the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a July 21 release about the fund.
In April, the Pope made a historic 10-day apostolic journey to the continent, traveling to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, a trip he said “was meant to offer the world a message of peace at a moment marked by conflicts and frequent violations of international law.” He also called for “a fair distribution of wealth” in nations rich in natural and human resources.
U.S. Catholics’ gifts to the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa “underwrite projects that build foundations for peace, as well as projects directed toward evangelization, vocations, environmental stewardship, leadership formation, and other facets of our faith,” Archbishop Thomas R. Zinkula of Dubuque, Iowa, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on the Church in Africa, said in a statement.
“My prayer is that those gifts will increase in response to our Holy Father’s call for peace and reconciliation in Africa,” he said. “I have seen the impact of your gifts and can attest that whatever you contribute will be used wisely and well.”
Many dioceses will take up the collection in their parishes this summer. The site #iGiveCatholic accepts online gifts to the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa at www.igivecatholic.org/story/USCCB-CA.
The bishops created the fund in 2004 to support the Catholic Church on a continent where the faith is growing rapidly, they said, to facilitate pastoral care, training for humanitarian responses and staff training.
In 2025, the Solidarity Fund awarded 97 grants totaling more than $3 million.
Last year’s grants included support for an intensive Bible camp for more than 200 young adults from across Mali, “where many children grow up believing war and terrorism are a normal part of life,” the USCCB release said.
Another grant supported training for Church leaders in the Horn of Africa – a region where conflict has left some individuals vulnerable to human trafficking – to prevent the practice, but also to recognize signs and to offer support to victims.
In Burkina Faso, the Catholic bishops have set a goal of making their dioceses self-supporting despite widespread violence and poverty, according to the USCCB. A grant from the Solidarity Fund provided training for staff from all 15 dioceses and the national bishops’ conference to develop sustainable plans for managing and supporting the Church’s ministry.
As Sudan endures the world’s largest humanitarian crisis caused by war, a grant supported 223 lay catechists in the Nuba Mountains and Abyei region by providing them with transportation, food, lodging and training materials for a three-month course on evangelization, pastoral care and sacramental preparation.
In the Central African Republic, where poor roads leave many communities isolated, a grant enabled Marianist sisters to train “Gospel volunteers” and equip them with bicycles to distribute Bibles and rosaries.
Pope Leo “has called us to solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Africa, and that is precisely what the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa makes possible,” Archbishop Zinkula said, inviting Catholics to “please take this opportunity to respond to his call by supporting our African brothers and sisters with a generous gift.”
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