Head of Public Affairs, James Somerville-Meikle, writes:
On a very wet Wednesday afternoon this week and with a long queue to get into Parliament because of a security alert, a few of us made it into a committee room in the House of Lords to hear the findings of the latest report from Aid to the Church in Need. The news was not good. Their report found that in almost every country surveyed between September 2020 and September 2022, the situation had got worse for Christians. One of the countries on the list was Qatar, where the World Cup will be kicking off shortly. The report said there had been “a sharp rise in reports of intolerance” in the country. I wonder how often Christian persecution has been raised by football’s governing body, FIFA, with the host nation for this year’s World Cup? The most moving part of the event was hearing from Bishop Jude Arogundade, Catholic Bishop of Ondo Diocese, who had travelled from Nigeria to be with us. One of his churches suffered a devastating attack earlier this year in which at least 40 people were killed. His message was simple, he wanted us to pray for people in his Diocese. It was a privilege to be in the room to hear this powerful testimony. The Catholic Union will continue to support ACN in their vital work.