Red Week 2026 to Light Churches for Persecuted Christians

Aid to the Church in Need, a pontifical foundation, is calling Catholics worldwide to mark Red Week 2026 from November 15 to 22, with Red Wednesday on November 18 in most regions, as a visible act of solidarity with Christians who suffer for their faith.

About 130 cathedrals, thousands of churches, and more than 125,000 people are expected to take part. Participating sites will be lit red, while prayer vigils, survivor testimonies, and seminars will keep the focus on religious freedom and the cost of discipleship. The European Parliament building in Strasbourg is set to glow red on November 23.

Persecution on a vast scale

The foundation says some 413 million Christians live in countries where religious freedom is seriously violated, and about 220 million face direct persecution. Events during the week will feature testimonies from survivors in regions of Africa and Asia where violence, discrimination, and legal pressure against the faithful remain acute.

The campaign grew out of Red Wednesday, launched in 2016, and has since expanded into a full week of prayer, public witness, and education. Organizers present the red lighting of churches and civic monuments not as a spectacle but as a sign that the suffering Church is not forgotten — and that religious liberty is a right the free world must defend.

Prayer, witness, and public solidarity

Local communities are invited to join through illuminated facades, holy hours, and gatherings that give voice to those who cannot speak freely. By pairing civic landmarks with parish prayer, the initiative seeks to move concern for persecuted Christians from the margins of public attention into the heart of Catholic life and civic conscience.

For practicing Catholics, Red Week is a concrete answer to the Gospel call to remember those in chains as if bound with them: a week to pray, to learn the facts, and to stand with brothers and sisters whose fidelity still costs freedom, safety, or life itself.