Churches, cathedrals and public landmarks around the world are getting ready to glow red next week for Christians who suffer for their faith. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a papal charity, says its annual Red Week campaign will run Nov. 15-22, 2026, with about 125,000 people expected to take part through prayer, events and simply wearing red, according to an OSV News report published Nov. 10.
The centerpiece is Red Wednesday on Nov. 18, when more than 1,000 churches and landmarks, including at least 130 cathedrals, are set to be lit in red. It comes just days before Americans gather around Thanksgiving tables, a timely reminder that the freedom to give thanks to God in public is not shared everywhere.
Where the lights will shine
According to OSV News and ACN’s Irish office, landmarks taking part this year include:
- Knock Basilica in Ireland, along with all 26 diocesan cathedrals on the island of Ireland
- St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, Australia
- The Christ the King statue at the Santuário do Cristo-Rei in Lisbon, Portugal
- Austria’s Presidential Chancery (Nov. 16), with more than 330 churches, monasteries and public buildings across Austria taking part
- The European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France (Nov. 23)
In the Philippines, where all 87 dioceses are participating, the bishops’ conference has set its own Red Wednesday for Nov. 25, the Wednesday after the feast of Christ the King, ACN Ireland reported. ACN Ireland also expects more than 200 churches in the Netherlands, about 200 in Germany and roughly 100 events across Australia and New Zealand. In the United States, parishes and individuals can register through ACN’s U.S. website.
Red Week grew out of a single gesture. In 2015, Brazil lit the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro red for the Christians of Iraq. ACN’s United Kingdom office later started Red Wednesday, and the idea has spread to dozens of countries.
Why red, and why now
ACN’s latest report, “Persecuted and Forgotten?”, released in late October, studied 18 countries between 2024 and 2026. It found conditions worsened for Christians in more than half of them, and that “none recorded an overall improvement,” as Aleteia summarized the findings. ACN estimates about 413 million Christians live in countries where religious freedom is seriously violated, and about 220 million are directly exposed to persecution.
The report points to extremist violence, authoritarian governments and religious nationalism. It cites reports of more than 2,000 Christians killed in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province since 2017, a near-doubling of arrests of Christians in Iran within a year, more than 700 incidents of anti-Christian violence in India in 2025, and millions of displaced Christians in Nigeria. In Nicaragua, ACN says clergy have been arrested and exiled and church institutions seized.
“Persecution isn’t something from the history books. Christians are living it today,” Edward Clancy, ACN’s U.S. outreach director, told OSV News. Brooklyn’s Bishop Robert Brennan also described the persecution of Christians as shocking. Church leaders from Iraq, Nigeria and Pakistan are among those lending their voices to the campaign, and Pakistan’s Bishop Samson Shukardin is scheduled to speak at a Nov. 18 religious freedom conference at the European Parliament in Brussels.
What the Bible says about suffering together
The apostle Paul described the church as one body with many members, where no part suffers alone:
“And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:26, KJV)
Red Week takes that verse and makes it visible. A red light on a cathedral in Ireland or a parish down the street cannot rebuild a burned church in Nigeria. But it tells believers far away that they have not been forgotten, and it turns prayer into a shared, public act. Earlier this month, Upstormed News looked at how churches marked the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church; Red Week carries that call into the days just before Thanksgiving.
Why it matters for families
- Pray by name. Pick one country from ACN’s report, such as Nigeria or Pakistan, and pray for its Christians at the dinner table each night of Red Week.
- Wear red on Nov. 18. It is an easy way for children to join in and to ask why.
- Look for a lit landmark. Check whether a cathedral or church near you is taking part, and go see it together.
- Give thanks with open eyes. Freedom to worship is a gift worth naming at Thanksgiving, alongside family and food. Families already packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child’s Nov. 16-23 collection week can fold Red Week prayers into that project.
What to watch next
Red Wednesday falls the same week U.S. Catholic bishops gather in Baltimore for their fall assembly, Nov. 16-19, where Bishop Brennan is among the scheduled speakers. Upstormed News will follow Red Week events and share photos of lit landmarks as the week unfolds.
Read more: Pope Leo Visits Argentine Prison, Tells 2 Million at Luján: ‘Rise Up and Walk’
Will your church or family take part in Red Week? Tell us in the comments.
Sources: OSV News, “Red Week highlights persecuted Christians, ‘fundamental right’ of religious freedom” (November 10, 2026); Aid to the Church in Need Ireland, “Week of Witness 2026: Hundreds of churches to be lit in red” (October 21, 2026); Aleteia, “Study: Christian persecution worsening in most of already bad cases” (October 27, 2026); EWTN News, “Bishops’ November meeting to focus on AI, immigration, evangelization” (October 21, 2026); King James Bible Online, 1 Corinthians 12:26.
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