Eleven people from Afghanistan are among the 27 adults who will soon be baptized as Catholics in Austria’s Vienna archdiocese.
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna formally welcomed the candidates for adult baptism at a ceremony on Oct. 20 at a Carmelite church in the city’s Döbling district. In addition to the 11 Afghans, there are six Iranians and four Austrians, with the remainder from five other countries.
More than two-thirds of the catechumens are male and between the ages of 20 and 40.
The 76-year-old cardinal told the candi-dates: “Being a Christian imparts a hope that is greater than the problems and crises of this world and also greater than the personal blows of fate that some of you have already experi-enced.”
Afghanistan is the world’s second-worst country in which to be a Christian after North Korea, according to the advocacy group Open Doors, which ranks Iran in eighth place.