Notre-Dame de Paris will be illuminated in red this Wednesday evening, like many other religious buildings in the world, to “make visible the persecution of Christians”, indicates in a press release the organizing association Aid to the Church in Need (AED ).
“The red illumination of Notre-Dame de Paris is an exceptional event. We are delighted that the cathedral will be reopened very soon, and we do not forget all the Christians in the world who sometimes go to mass at the risk of their lives, and all these churches which are desecrated, destroyed, vandalized”, affirms Benoît de Blanpré, the director in France of the AED who organizes, like every year, a “Red Week” from November 17 to 22.
Notre-Dame Cathedral, which is due to reopen on the weekend of December 7 and 8, will be illuminated from dusk, as will the Sacré-Cœur basilica in Montmartre. Throughout the week, prayer vigils are organized in various cities in France.
This “Red Week” aims to “alert to the fate of millions of Christians who cannot live their faith freely. Hundreds of religious buildings around the world are lit in red, symbolizing the blood of martyrs,” he adds.
This initiative, organized since 2015 during the third week of November, will concern in France in particular the sanctuary of Lourdes, the cathedrals of Ajaccio, Rennes, Amiens, Orléans and Bayonne as well as various churches.
It will also be held in several countries: Germany (cathedrals of Passau, Friborg, Dresden, etc.), Spain (Almudena cathedral in Madrid and Sagrada Familia in Barcelona), Austria (Vienna cathedral and Austrian parliament) and Slovakia, but also Netherlands (150 Catholic and Protestant churches), United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Chile.
