SW News: The fifth edition of “The Night of the Witnesses,” an initiative by the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), is scheduled in four Mexican cities. The prayer event will occur from March 7 to 10 in Querétaro, León, Aguascalientes, and Mexico City.

On this occasion, homage will be paid to all people killed for their faith, especially to Fr Iraluis García Escobar, assassinated by bandits in Venezuela, and a Catholic doctor, Marie-Sylvie Kavuke, burned alive by Muslim terrorists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On March 7, “The Night of the Witnesses” will begin in the Iztapalapa Cathedral in Mexico City. The next day, the vigil will be at the Areópago Juan Pablo II of Querétaro. Then, on March 9, the vigil will take place in the San Juan Pablo II parish in León, and finally, on March 10, the prayer vigil will conclude at the Divino Niño parish in Aguascalientes.

The Night of Witnesses comprises testimonies and prayer vigils for persecuted Christians worldwide. Markas Masih, from Pakistan; Sister María del Carmen Galicia, a missionary in South Sudan; and Fr. Hugo Alaniz, a missionary in Aleppo (Syria, will share their testimonies of faith even amid the persecutions.

According to the organizers, it is an opportunity to pray together in unity to defend the Christian faith and turn on a light towards religious freedom.

In the world, according to data from the recent ACN Religious Freedom Report, there are more than 646 million Christians who live without religious freedom. Thousands are killed, imprisoned, kidnapped, or threatened each year for following Jesus. Therefore the pontifical aid organization has invited the faithful to pray for the persecuted and show their solidarity by participating in the prayer vigil. That is why through the vigil, the aid organization wants to give the persecuted a voice and pray together for those who have been murdered in the last year for faith during the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.