Scottish Catholic Observer

This canonical act was enacted by a Chirograph, an official document in Latin personally signed by Pope Benedict XVI. The official seat of the foundation is the Vatican.

The Holy Father has assigned Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, the prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, as the president of the foundation. He in turn has nominated Baron Johannes Heereman von Zuydtwyck as executive president, with immediate effect as of December 1.

The international headquarters of ACN will remain in Königstein, near Frankfurt am Main, Germany. For the 30 years preceding his present appointment, Baron Heereman was secretary-general, and later executive president of the Knights of Malta in Germany. Concurrent to this nomination, Fr Martin Barta was appointed the ecclesiastical wssistant of ACN. Fr Barta is a member of the clerical association Work of Jesus High Priest.

The initial impulse for the founding of ACN came from Pope Pius XII. Inspired by the Pope’s plea just after the Second World War to reach out to the 14 million post-war refugees in Germany, the Norbertine priest Werenfried van Straaten launched an appeal for reconciliation through charitable deeds.

Today ACN is a worldwide community of over 600,000 friends and benefactors which support approximately 5,000 aid projects every year in over 140 different countries. Its Scottish offices are in Motherwell. In 2010 the total amount of donations came to 85 million euros. The ACN benefactors are taken care of through 17 national offices in Europe, North and South America and Australia.

Now a Pontifical Foundation, ACN will continue as before, in a spirit of active charity to help wherever the Church faces hardship or persecution.

— http://www.acnuk.org

— Aid to the Church in Need , Office 2.9  Dalziel Building , 7 Scott Street , Motherwell, Lanarkshire, ML1 1PN

PIC: PAUL McSHERRY. Neville Kyrke-Smith (left) and John Pontifex of ACN with Cardinal Keith O’Brien at the 2011 Scottish launch of Persecuted and Forgotten