(OSV News) — The papal charity Aid to the Church in Need is calling on U.S. parishes, schools and families to join in marking Red Week, an international campaign for persecuted Christians.
The Nov. 15-22 observance, which ACN expects to draw some 125,000 participants, will combine prayer and events highlighting the global scope of Christian persecution.
Persecution worldwide
In late October, ACN released “Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians Oppressed for Their Faith 2024-26, which found deteriorating conditions for Christians in 55% of 18 countries studied from 2024-2026.
Bishop Robert J. Brennan of Brooklyn, N.Y., whose diocese is home to ACN’s U.S. offices, said the report showed the “shocking” manner of “just how mainstream — dare I say tolerated — the persecution of Christians is as simply part of the global reality.”
According to ACN — which has worked since 1947 to support the Church in areas where it is fragile or under attack — religious freedom is “seriously violated” in 62 of 196 countries, with an estimated 220 million Christians “directly exposed to persecution.”
Overall, “some 413 million Christians live in countries where religious freedom is seriously violated,” said ACN’s U.S. office in its Oct. 30 press release for Red Week.
Other advocacy organizations, such as Open Doors International, have reported similarly high numbers.
“Awareness of so much persecution moves us to a greater solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are suffering,” said Bishop Brennan. “As Christians, we pray and cry out for respect for religious freedom of all people in every land.”
“Persecution isn’t something from the history books. Christians are living it today,” said ACN U.S. outreach director Edward F. Clancy. “We owe it to our brothers and sisters to remember them, pray for them and make sure their voices are heard.”
U.S. participants can register for Red Week at https://www.churchinneed.org/redweek/.
Red lights in solidarity
For Red Wednesday, Nov. 18, more than 1,000 churches and landmarks throughout the world, including at least 130 cathedrals, will be illuminated in red to symbolize solidarity with Christians facing discrimination, displacement and often death for their faith.
ACN’s U.S. office encouraged Americans to light churches in red, while also wearing the color, praying, hosting talks on persecuted Christians and raising funds for ACN’s work.
As part of Red Week, several bishops whose faithful suffer from significant persecution will speak in various venues.
Among the prelates tapped to share their experiences are three representing nations that have seen high numbers of Christians marginalized, injured, displaced and killed: Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of Irbil, Iraq; Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Abuja, Nigeria; and Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
Bishop Shukardin will address the European Parliament in Brussels on Red Wednesday as part of a Nov. 18 conference on the observance, hosted by the parliament’s Intergroup on the Freedom of Religion, Belief and Conscience.
Red Week originated in Brazil, where in 2015 ACN’s local office highlighted the persecution of Iraqi Christians by arranging to have Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue illuminated in red. ACN’s offices in Italy and the United Kingdom subsequently took up the initiative, with the latter initiating Red Wednesday as a means of honoring those persecuted for their faith.
Among the churches that will be lit in red this year are Ireland’s Knock Basilica, St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, and all 26 diocesan cathedrals on the island of Ireland (spanning both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland).
All of the Philippines’ 87 dioceses will take part, and the Christ the King statue at Lisbon’s Santuário do Cristo-Rei will also be illuminated, according to ACN’s U.S. office.
In addition, Austria’s Presidential Chancery (Präsidentschaftskanzlei) will be illuminated on Nov. 16, with the European Parliament building in Strasbourg following suit on Nov. 23.
Record number participating
ACN Austria confirmed that nation will also have a record number of more than 330 churches, monasteries and public buildings participating in the observance through prayer and illumination — up 40% from 2025. A Nov. 17 public prayer march in Austria will also gather some 1500 to 2000 Christians and religious dignitaries from various faith traditions.
“No one who suffers for their faith should feel abandoned,” Clancy said. “A prayer, a red shirt, a bake sale — every one of these tells a persecuted Christian: you are not alone.”
“Every church or monument illuminated in red represents people who cannot freely practice their faith,” said ACN International executive president Regina Lynch. “Religious freedom is not a privilege but a fundamental human right.”
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina
