THE COLOSSEUM, the site where many early Christians were martyred, was bathed in red light last weekend. It was an imaginative attempt to shake the world’s conscience into remembering those still being persecuted for their faith nearly 2,000 years later. 

Among the crowd that gathered in the rain to witness this light display was the family of Asia Bibi, the Catholic woman sentenced to death in Pakistan for allegedly insulting Muhammad. Earlier in the day they had met  Pope Francis. Asia’s daughter, Eisham Ashiq, 18, broke down in tears as she described how, aged nine, she had witnessed her mother being “dragged away”. Asia is still in prison.