Christian persecution put in the spotlight by blood red 'Trevi Fountain' in Rome

The Trevi Fountain, a famous tourist attraction in Rome, was flooded with red lighting on April 29 to remember all the Christians around the world who have given their lives for their faith, and to highlight the persecution that Christians are suffering. 

"Let us remember, tonight, the blood of the Christian martyrs, spilled by the violence of men and the sin of the world," said Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary and international president of Aid the Church in Need, as quoted by the Catholic News Agency.

Antoine Audo, the Chaldean Catholic Bishop of Aleppo in Syria, said that the initiative to color the famous fountain red is "something very new and very courageous."

"It gives us strength in a context of difficulty and departure," he told CNA. "To have such meetings and such declarations in one of the most important places in Rome is a local and international message. It really moves me."

He expressed that what Christians want is peace so there will no longer be people who find the need to flee from their homes and their countries. He said that coloring the Trevi Fountain is an example of a "small event" that could "help to have and to give consciousness, to inspire action." For him, conflict can be resolved through dialogue rather than weapons.

"Christian persecution is a risk of persecution of everyone. We defend the Christians to defend the dignity of every man, everywhere," he said. "We must pray, and also an international level perhaps to put their efforts to understand the stability of Syria and the stability of the Middle East for the entire world."

The event was organized by the humanitarian organization Aid to the Church in Need, and it was attended by the likes of Ignatius Joseph III Younan, the Syriac-Catholic Patriarch from Baghdad, and Professor Shahid Mobeen from Pakistan, founder of the Association for Pakistani Christians in Italy, among many other church and organization leaders. Also at the event were family members and friends of those who suffered and died in the hands of those who go against Christianity.