I draw this reflection from an interview with the Pope in 2014. At that time, I was preparing a book about the persecution of Christians in the 21st century, which I would publish in 2018 under the title “S.O.S. Christians.” The objective of my book was twofold: on the one hand, to denounce the systematic persecution suffered by believers in Christ; and on the other hand, to break what Julio María Sanguinetti, in his foreword, called an “ominous informational ostracism.”

More than ten years later, the Holy Father’s statement has not only not been disproven, but it has been painfully and tragically confirmed: in the 21st century there are more Christian martyrs than in the times of the catacombs, in a bloodbath that seems unstoppable. Copts, Assyrians, Syriacs, Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants—all branches of Christianity suffer the stigma of the cross. This is not random persecution arising from specific contingencies (conflict zones, migration processes, wars), but rather ideological persecution, especially linked to the expansion of ideological Salafism, which is profoundly contrary to the moral and ethical values ​​of Jesus’ teachings, which shaped Western values. It is no coincidence, for example, the series of attacks on Christmas markets in Europe, because in the fundamentalist Islamic conception, after the Jews come the Christians. That was the slogan chanted in ISIS-controlled Mosul: “first we go for Saturday, and then we go for Sunday.”

The level of persecution is of such magnitude that it can be considered ethnic cleansing in a religious sense, with communities that have more than two thousand years of history in their land now disappearing. Copts in Egypt, Assyrians and Chaldeans in the plains of Nineveh, Syriacs from Turkish Kurdistan, Syro-Malabar Christians of southern India—all kinds of ancient communities that survived great empires but are failing to survive the 21st century, decimated by violence, repression, and forced diaspora. A sad example is that of the Syriac Orthodox community, which dates back to the first century (it is the closest to the Semitic roots of Christianity) and whose language is a variant of Aramaic. In the 20th century, they numbered over five hundred thousand faithful, and now, in 2025, they barely reach two thousand. Their abandoned and semi-ruined monasteries and churches dot the landscape of Turkish Kurdistan.

While the specific examples are heartbreaking, the overall data for 2024, taken from the report by the Open Doors foundation, which has been monitoring the persecution of Christians for years, is tragic: 4,744 Christians murdered for their faith; 7,679 churches attacked; 380 million Christians facing discrimination, persecution, and violence. That is, 1 in 7 Christians worldwide suffers high levels of risk, from discrimination and legal segregation in countries where Sharia law is imposed—with penalties that can include the death penalty—to murder in areas where jihadist terrorism operates. With the exception of North Korea, which holds the horrific distinction of being the most dangerous country in the world for Christians—there can only be one Messiah in Kim Jong-un’s empire—the rest of the twenty most dangerous countries are Islamic or suffer from the pressure of Islamism. The case of Nigeria is the most egregious, with systematic massacres of Catholics by Boko Haram. The same is true in Mali, Burkina Faso, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Pakistan, Afghanistan…

The reality is undeniable: Christian communities have their basic rights decimated, violated, and repressed in numerous countries, and in others they are simply murdered. From being unable to celebrate Christmas or other religious holidays, to being forbidden from displaying any Christian symbols, from suffering social segregation to having their legal rights curtailed, and so on and so forth, and this is in the countries where they “only” suffer discrimination for being Christian. In places where their faith is a jihadist target, they simply cannot live. And all of this happens amidst glaring international indifference, without media attention, without banners from noisy protesters, without rebellious university campuses, without left-wing saviors of the people, and without outraged UN bodies. Christians are of no interest, their suffering doesn’t matter, and their deaths are not news. They suffer nothingness, ostracism, and complicit silence…

They die, but the world doesn’t care.

Pilar Raola

 

Post-post

Dear readers, could I ask you to pray for my little godson and his siblings and cousins? These lovely, innocent little people need prayers –serious prayers– for their protection. I can’t say more than that unfortunately but believe me: they need our prayers. The younger is not yet one year old, the oldest is in her teens. There are six of them and I love them dearly.

God bless your prayers, God bless you.

CCR