U.S. bishops’ solidarity fund backs pope’s call for unity with Church in Africa

The U.S. bishops’ Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa is advancing Pope Leo XIV’s call for deeper unity by funding bicycles that help Marianist sisters reach remote villages in the Central African Republic.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has distributed 97 grants, including the bicycle project, totaling more than $3 million in 2025 through its Africa Solidarity Fund, according to a July 21 press release . The fund also supports programs in Mali, Sudan, Burkina Faso, and throughout the Horn of Africa.

Archbishop Thomas Zinkula, chair of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on the Church in Africa, said in a statement: “The gifts of Catholics in the United States 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.”

Bicycle ministry opens access to rural areas One grant enabled the Marianist sisters to train “Gospel volunteers” and equip them with bicycles to distribute Bibles and rosaries, the USCCB statement said. Sister Amala Francis of the Society of Daughters of Mary…