Sacred Heart, obelisk of Concord, European Parliament… Several monuments will light up in red to warn of persecuted Christians

Notre-Dame de Paris, the Sacré Cœur but also the Concorde obelisk and the Pont-Neuf will light up in red on Wednesday, like many other buildings around the world, to “alert public opinion” on persecuted Christians, the Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) association said on Friday. For a week “it involves lighting religious and secular monuments in red to make visible the silent suffering of Christians”explained during a press conference Benoît de Blanpré, director in France of the AED which is organizing this “red week” from November 14 to 21.

On November 19, more particularly, it will be Notre-Dame, the Sacré-Cœur, the Pont-Neuf, the Pont des Arts and the Concorde obelisk, lit in red “10 minutes at the start of each hour until midnight” according to the AED. Also participating in this event, established in 2015, will be Mont-Saint-Michel, the sanctuary of Lourdes, the cathedral of Bastia, the European Parliament of Strasbourg… Throughout the week, “more than 635 churches will be illuminated around the world” in cities like Vienna, Rome, Toronto, Mexico and Bogota, assures the ACN, which expects 190 churches in Germany and 200 in the Netherlands.

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“An exceptional event”: why Notre-Dame de Paris will light up in red this Wednesday evening

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Other countries like Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic will celebrate the “Red Wednesday” by illuminating buildings such as embassies and foreign ministries, adds the AED. The event is accompanied by a “ Night of Witnesses »a large vigil of prayers punctuated with testimonies, organized in particular on the 14th in Angers, the 17th in Geneva and the 20th at Notre-Dame de Paris.

Today “413 million Christians live in countries where religious freedom is not respected, and 280 million are directly exposed to persecution”assured Benoît de Blanpré during the press conference, taking figures from the latest AED report.