CNA Newsroom, Sep 8, 2022 / 03:14 am
What may well be the first shrine in Europe dedicated to persecuted Christians will be blessed today in central London, UK.
The Shrine of Mary, Mother of Persecuted Christians, will be dedicated at 6:30 p.m. local time on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Ordinariate Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory, which is situated in the famous district of Soho.
Father Benedict Kiely, who is a long-standing advocate of persecuted Christians around the world, told Catholic News Agency in an email exchange on Sept. 6 that the shrine was “most certainly the first shrine in Europe dedicated to Mary, Mother of Persecuted Christians, and will be a real place of prayer for the persecuted Church.”
Kiely, who orchestrated the establishment of the shrine, said: “I hope the shrine will become a focus of prayer in the heart of London — so close to Piccadilly Circus — for everyone who comes from a place where the Church is persecuted, to come and pray — Nigerians, Syrians, Indians, Iraqis — and so many more.”