ACN Ireland presentation at Irish Embassy in Rome
Brandon Scott, ACN Ireland’s Communications, Advocacy, and Promotions Officer, speaks at the Irish Embassy in Rome in front of Her Excellency Frances Collins, Irish Ambassador to the Holy See.
Our mutual commitment to helping Christians facing persecution in some of the most appalling environments is why we’ve all been welcomed to the embassy today. Religious persecution in all of its various forms is an abhorrence but although we’re privileged enough to be largely shielded from anti-Christian violence in the west, it doesn’t merit complacency when it comes to recognising the wrongs in other regions of the world.
It hurts me saying this but the sad reality is that Christians are among, if not the most, attacked religious demographic in the world. More than 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith. Latest statistics confirm that 1 in 7 Christians is persecuted worldwide, including 1 in 5 in Africa and 1 in 7 in Asia.
To put it into perspective as many here come from good old Irish Catholic family backgrounds, that’s the equivalent of one of the members of some of your families being subjected to the most harrowing treatment, not knowing whether their lives will be taken from them, just because of their belief in Christ.
I’m aware that this is a special year for the Irish-Roman relationship. This year will mark the 250th anniversary of the birth year of the historic liberator of Irish Catholics, Daniel O’Connell. Many of us are aware of his famous words: “My body to Ireland, my soul to heaven, and my heart to Rome”.
Well, today, our hearts are indeed in Rome and incidentally there’s more liberating to do. With so much of the world refusing to respond to the pleas of Christians under threat, let’s make it our objective to put the voices of the voiceless at the centre of our Catholicism.
Let’s liberate our minds from a state of indifference to liberate those from the horrors they face on a daily basis. Let’s do this by continuing to strengthen our rich and very productive ties with the Irish Embassy in Rome, by continuing to support the most vulnerable Christians who rely on prophetic people like you all to help them in their hour of need, and refusing to be silent in the face of inhumanity.
If there’s one point I want you to take away after this, it’s the sobering truth that all we’re forced to do is remember their suffering, when they’re forced to survive.