The persecution of Christians in the world increases.
This is what emerges from the study by the
pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need
"Persecuted more than ever. Report on Christians oppressed for their faith 2020-2022".
The director of Acs Italia Alessandro Monteduro points out that "in 75% of the 24 countries examined, the oppression or persecution of Christians has increased.
Africa is experiencing a sharp increase in terrorist violence
, due to which over 7,600 Nigerian Christians have allegedly been murdered between January 2021 and June 2022".
We surveyed 24 countries
where violations of religious freedom are of particular concern
: Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, China, North Korea, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Maldives, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Turkey and Vietnam.
Archbishop Jude A. Arogundade, bishop of Ondo, whose Nigerian diocese was targeted by armed men who killed more than 40 people during the celebration of Pentecost last June, commenting on the presentation of the Report, declared that, despite the growing alarm over the increase in violence in some parts of the country, "no one seems to pay attention to the genocide" taking place in Nigeria's Middle Belt.
"The world is silent as
attacks on churches, their staff and institutions have become routine
.
How many corpses does it take to get the world's attention?"
In Asia "state authoritarianism has led to a worsening of oppression, above all in North Korea, where religious faith and practices are routinely and systematically repressed", continues Monteduro.
But there are also
other countries where Christian lives are at risk
: India recorded 710 episodes of anti-Christian violence between January 2021 and the beginning of June 2022, partly caused by political extremism.
In
China, "the authorities have increased the pressure on Christians themselves
, through indiscriminate arrests, the forced closure of churches and the use of oppressive surveillance systems", Monteduro points out.
The Report also shows that in the Middle East the migration crisis threatens the survival of some of the
oldest
Christian communities in the world.
In Syria, Christians have dropped from 10% of the population to less than 2%, from 1.5 million in the pre-war period to around 300,000 today.
Although the exodus rate in Iraq is lower, a community that numbered around 300,000 before the Daesh/Isis invasion in 2014, by spring 2022 it had halved.
The ACN study also shows that in countries as diverse as Egypt and Pakistan, Christian girls are usually subjected to systematic kidnappings and rapes.
In 2023, Aid to the Church in Need, continuing its path of study and analysis on violations of religious freedom in the world, will present the new edition of the Report on Religious Freedom.