The papal charity Aid to the Church in Need is calling on parishes, schools, and families across the United States to join in marking Red Week, an international campaign for persecuted Christians. The November 15-22 observance is expected to draw some 125,000 participants in prayer and events highlighting the global scope of Christian persecution, according to OSV News.

In late October, Aid to the Church in Need released a new report, “Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians Oppressed for Their Faith 2024-26,” which found deteriorating conditions for Christians in 55 percent of the 18 countries studied between 2024 and 2026.

Bishop Robert J. Brennan of Brooklyn, New York, whose diocese is home to the charity’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 Aid to the Church in Need, which has worked since 1947 to support the Church in places 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, the charity says, some 413 million Christians live in countries where religious freedom is seriously violated. 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,” Bishop Brennan said. “As Christians, we pray and cry out for respect for religious freedom of all people in every land.”

The centerpiece of the week is Red Wednesday, November 18, when more than 1,000 churches and landmarks around 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. The charity’s U.S. office encouraged Americans to light churches in red, wear the color, pray, host talks on persecuted Christians, and raise funds for its work. U.S. participants can register at churchinneed.org/redweek.

As part of Red Week, several bishops whose faithful suffer significant persecution will speak in various venues. Among them are 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 November 18 conference on the observance.

Red Week began in Brazil, where in 2015 the charity’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. The charity’s offices in Italy and the United Kingdom later took up the initiative, with the United Kingdom beginning Red Wednesday as a way of honoring those persecuted for their faith.

Among the churches to 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. All 87 dioceses of the Philippines will take part, and the Christ the King statue at Lisbon’s Santuário do Cristo-Rei will also be illuminated, according to the charity’s U.S. office. Austria’s Presidential Chancery will be illuminated on November 16, with the European Parliament building in Strasbourg following on November 23.

Austria will see a record number of more than 330 churches, monasteries, and public buildings taking part — up 40 percent from 2025 — and a public prayer march on November 17 is expected to gather 1,500 to 2,000 Christians and religious dignitaries from various faith traditions.

“Persecution isn’t something from the history books. Christians are living it today,” said Aid to the Church in Need 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.”

“No one who suffers for their faith should feel abandoned,” Clancy added. “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 Aid to the Church in Need International executive president Regina Lynch. “Religious freedom is not a privilege but a fundamental human right.”