WE MUST SPEAK OUT FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM’ – JUSTIN WELBY

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has called on politicians, the Church and the media to speak out against the ‘creeping climate of fear and animosity’ at the launch of a new partnership to address the growing problem of violence against Christians.

On one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar, Good Friday, hundreds of Christian students in Kenya were targeted in a series of increasing persecutions against Christians in various parts of the world.

In Rome, after reflecting upon the life and suffering of Jesus, Pope Francis spoke of the present-day persecution of Christians in parts of the Middle East and Africa.

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As the Body of Christ — the Church — now approaches its greatest and most Holy Celebration of faith in the Risen Christ, let us pray and reach out to sisters and brothers in Christ in prayer and let us find ways to put our prayer into action.

Through that prayerful action, we can join with others throughout the entire world — both Christians and those of other faiths — to resist the darkness of the Gethsemanes in which many live everyday in the suffering brought upon them.

And by prayerful action, we can embody the light of our Risen Christ in the lives of others and make that presence known in the world!

This is what Easter is all about.