Cardinal to highlight plight of persecuted Christians

Scotland’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien will be guest of honour and preacher at an event in support of people who suffer for their Christian faith.

The Cardinal will lead a Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh before talks from Neville Kyrke-Smith, national director of Aid to the Church in Need, the charity hosting the event to highlight the plight of Christians in India and across the Middle East.

Cardinal O’Brien, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, is a strong supporter of Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic charity working with persecuted and other suffering Christians around the world.

ACN’s John Pontifex will report back from a trip to Orissa, India, which saw the worst outbreak of anti-Christian atrocities in the country's history last year.

In a fraught trip just weeks after the most serious flashpoint in the attacks, the ACN team met priests, religious sisters and lay people in a region where up to 30,000 people fled their homes in attacks on nearly 300 villages. Some 80 people died in the violence, including a Catholic priest.

The second speaker will be Lebanese Maronite priest Father Samer Nassif, who will address the crisis facing Christians in his native country and across the Middle East, where worsening persecution has prompted a mass exodus of Christians.

The talk will have added significance coinciding with the visit to the Middle East by Pope Benedict XVI who earlier in a message to ACN stressed the significance of helping Christians in the region. “The churches in the Middle East are threatened in their very existence," the Pope said.

ACN Scottish Secretary Dr John Watts said: “We are delighted that Cardinal O’Brien, who is such a good friend to Aid to the Church in Need and those the charity helps is joining us to celebrate the Mass. We look forward to meeting many of our friends on the night.”