What is the true “great power of the universal Church”? “Its persecuted little churches.” Words of Pope Francis. The Pontiff often recalls that there are more Christian martyrs today than in the early centuries, but – he decries - “the media don’t talk about this” because it does not hit the headlines. Comparison with the past set aside, what emerges from beyond the Tiber River sources is that in 38 countries religious freedom is violated. Of these, 23 are areas where the abuse is serious and there is complete denial of rights and freedoms, long-term detention without fair trial, rape and murder. And Christians are the most persecuted group. This data was issued by the ACS, short for Aiuto alla Chiesa che Soffre which means Aid to the Church in need, a Foundation of Pontifical Right born in 1947 to support the Church all over the planet, with particular attention where it is persecuted. Acs carried out a “journey” through 196 nations, and measured the “temperature” of peacefulness and whether people have the possibility to live their faith and participate in rites and moments of prayer, and took a “picture” that can be consulted in the ’2016 Report on Religious Freedom in the World’. The report shows that the main perpetrators of the violation against religious freedom are not governments, but the various militant and fundamentalist organizations.
North Korea is certainly the hardest regime against believers, the ACS has listed it as “severe.” It is estimated that there are about 200,000 prisoners in work camps. Among them, a large number - maybe 10%, but data is not confirmed - of Christians were taken and imprisoned for having had a Bible or been present at celebrations. There are priests accused of subversion for having exercised their religious beliefs and sent to hard labor for life, or women condemned to death for having spread the Sacred Scripture. In some cases even, family members of the “guilty” were imprisoned because in North Korea you can be guilty for association. Particularly dramatic situations are also those in northern Iraq, where yazidis, as well as Christians, are persecuted. Eritrea belongs to the black list too.
The 13th edition of the Report has introduced a new category of classification, as a result of a “new phenomenon of religious violence”: the “Islamic hyper-extremism”. Hyper extremists are the men of the al-Baghdadi Islam in the Middle East region of Iraq and Syria, or Boko Haram who wants to de-Christianize northern Nigeria, al-Shabaab in Somalia and parts of Kenya. This widespread danger threatens “everyone because one out of five countries has been a victim of this category” in the last few years. And among other things, “Islamic extremism and hyper-extremism in countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia and Syria, represent a key factor in the massive increase in the number of refugees in the world.”
As for Christians, ACS emphasizes the risk of their disappearance from the Middle East, in addition to being swept away in some regions of Africa. According to another publication, “Persecuted and Forgotten? A report on Christians oppressed for their faith”, from the Middle East, to Asia, to Africa, for a total of 22 states, Christians are exposed to various types of violence. The number of nations identified as “extreme” places for Christian persecution are ten: China, Eritrea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, North Korea, Iraq, Nigeria, Sudan and Syria.
In this dark scenario, there are also some “lights”, such as the steps forward taken by Egypt, Buthan and Qatar. But to reach full religious freedom – which Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, president of Acs, defines as “mother of all other freedoms” - the road is still long.
