According to a Message According to the ACN, the color red “evokes the color of the blood shed by millions of (Christian martyrs).”
This year, according to the ACN, more than 10,000 people are expected to participate in Red Week activities scheduled in more than a dozen different countries. Millions more will see buildings and monuments lit in red.
“In a world increasingly marked by conflict, the persecution of Christians and the erosion of the universal right to religious freedom can go unnoticed,” ACN said in a statement. Declaration of November 6. “The aim of the ACN initiative, which includes lighting monuments and buildings red across the world, is to ensure they are not forgotten. »
In the United Kingdom, where many churches and cathedrals will be lit in red, several events and demonstrations were planned for “Red Wednesday” on November 22 to draw attention to the suffering in Africa and Nigeria in particular.
Religious freedom in Nigeria has steadily deteriorated in recent years, with daily massacres, killings, kidnappings and intimidation, Nigerian Bishop Wilfred Anagbe told CNA in a June interview.
Last January, Father Isaac Achi, priest of the Catholic diocese of Minna, Nigeria, was burned alive by bandits in his parish church.
Last Good Friday, April 7, 43 people were killed and many others injured in an attack on a primary school in Ngban.
“If you see the video, you will just cry,” Anagbe said. “They came and slaughtered them all.”
According to International Christian Concern90% of all Christians killed for their faith in 2022 were Nigerian.
ACN UK held a special mass at St George’s Cathedral in Southwark on Wednesday in honor of the suffering Church in Africa. The Mass will be celebrated by the Apostolic Nuncio to the United Kingdom, Mgr Miguel Maury Buendía.
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Organizers also launched a campaign to pray 100,000 decades of the rosary for Africa and raise funds for the persecuted African Church.
In Austria, the ACN organized a rally on November 15 in solidarity with persecuted Christians at Stephansplatz square in Vienna, the country’s capital.
Wolfgang Sobotka, president of the Austrian National Council, expressed his support for the protests in Vienna and across the country in a speech ACN Statement of November 15.
“By enlightening Parliament, I would like to set an example as chairman of the Austrian National Council in raising awareness about the fight against the persecution of Christians,” said Sobotka. “It is absolutely unacceptable that people are victims of violence and oppression because of their faith! »
Peter Pinedo is DC correspondent for CNA. A graduate of Franciscan University, Peter previously worked for Texas Right to Life. He is a first lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve.
