On Thursday evening, November 20, Parisians will see their capital in an unusual light: the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, the Concorde obelisk, the Pont Neuf and the Sacré-Cœur basilica in Montmartre will be decorated with red light. Not just a simple spectacle, this operation aims to raise awareness about the plight of persecuted Christians throughout the world.
One in six Christians is persecuted worldwide
It is the Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Association that is organizing this “Red Week” for the tenth consecutive year, taking place from November 14 to 21, 2025. “The red lighting of these religious buildings and symbolic monuments allows the hidden suffering of millions of Christians around the world to become visible,” said Benoît de Blanpré, ACN national director, in a press release.
The numbers are astonishing: today, one in six Christians lives in a country where religious freedom is violated, or 413 million people. Red, the color of the martyrs’ blood, symbolizes their daily struggle to live out their faith.
A week after the Eiffel Tower, City Hall and Statue of the Republic were illuminated in blue, white and red for the November 13 anniversary, Paris was once again decked out in color to convey a message.
The vigil at Notre-Dame was broadcast live
In Paris, the peak of this mobilization was the Night of the Witnesses, Thursday 20 November at 8pm, in the restored Notre-Dame Cathedral. This prayer event will pay tribute to Christians killed throughout the year for their faith. Three witnesses will share their experiences: Sister Christin Joseph from India, Darius (name changed for security reasons) from Iran, and Father Emmanuel Isa Saliu from Nigeria.
In this ceremony, the names of missionaries killed in 2024 and 2025 will be read, while their portraits will be carried in procession to the altar. Among them, Pastor Tobias Chukwujekwu Okonkwo, 41, shot dead on the street in Nigeria on December 26, 2024, or sisters Evanette Onezaire and Jeanne Voltaire, murdered in Haiti on March 31, 2025. The Paris Vigil will be broadcast live on KTO TV and RCF-Radio Notre-Dame.
A global initiative born in Brazil
The RedWeek initiative began in Brazil in 2015, when ACN’s Brazil office lit a red light on the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro to symbolize the persecution of Christians in Iraq. Since then, the movement has expanded: by 2024, more than a thousand buildings will be illuminated in 20 countries around the world.
In France, apart from Paris, commemorative actions will be held in Angers, Argenteuil, Geneva and Toulon. The holy shrine of Lourdes will also be one of the sites illuminated in red.
