More than 1,000 young people are expected to attend the gathering on Mount Lebanon, which will take place as Pope Francis meets the young people in Lisbon and is designed to mirror the traditional set-up of the WYD, with a Via Crucis, an adoration, catechesis sessions, and workshops, as well as a large final Mass.

"The inaction and silence about our plight by both government and powerful stakeholders all over the world prompts me too often conclude that there is a conspiracy of silence and a strong desire to just watch the Islamists get away with genocide in Benue State."

“Therefore, I believe that the massive demolition of Christian churches in Manipur was supported by the state and central authorities,” the politician said.

Of the assault itself, she recalled, “The mob wanted to kill me, but I kept praying to Jesus. I opened my eyes and felt that I saw angels, and from that moment on, I knew that I would be saved.”

Until November 2022, several Catholic parishes and a Redemptorist monastery were still operating in the occupied territories, but in mid-November, two Redemptorist Fathers, Ivan Levitskyi, C.SS.R., and Bohdan Heleta, C.SS.R., one of whom suffers from a severe form of diabetes, were arrested by Russian troops and are still being held at an unknown location.

And as has happened in similar cases previously, an offense against Muslims in Europe is having serious repercussions for Christian communities in Muslim-majority countries.