Prayer vigil for jailed pastor and all persecuted Christians

(Vatican Radio) Churches in over 30 countries around the globe on Friday are holding prayer vigils for the release of an Iranian-American pastor held in jail in Iran and for all Christians who are suffering for their faith worldwide.

Originally from Idaho in the U.S., Evangelical Pastor Saeed Abedini was arrested on September 26th two years ago during a visit to Teheran where he was helping to build an orphanage. He was given an 8 year sentence for his earlier activities sharing the Christian faith which he converted to 14 years ago.

Over recent months his family has become increasingly concerned about lack of medical treatment and about death threats from Islamic State militants being held in the same prison.

Here in Rome an ecumenical service is being held at 6pm on Friday evening in the Italian Methodist Church on Via XX Settembre. Philippa Hitchen spoke to Debbie Riva, one of the people helping to coordinate the prayer initiative……

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