Global Christian Persecution ‘Still On The Rise’
ROME — Global oppression or persecution of Christians has increased dramatically over the past two years, Vatican News reported Monday.
Citing a recent report by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Vatican News noted that anti-Christian terrorist violence has seen a “sharp increase” in Nigeria where “more than 7,600 Nigerian Christians are believed to have been murdered between January 2021 and June”. 2022.”
Violence against Christians has also increased in Asian countries such as India and Sri Lanka, the article says, and India experienced “710 incidents of anti-Christian violence between January 2021 and early June 2022, often instigated by Hindu nationalists”.
FILE/A supporter of Egypt’s Coptic Christian community shouts during a protest near the UN headquarters against the Egyptian government’s treatment of its Christian minority. Coptic Christians are one of the oldest Christian populations in the world and have practiced in Egypt since the beginning of Christianity, but after some recent violent incidents, they allege persecution by Egypt’s Muslim-majority government. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty)
ACN published “Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians Oppressed for Their Faith 2020-22″ in London on November 16 at the start of “Red Week” (November 16-23), which culminates in Red Wednesday, when buildings, monuments and landmarks from several different countries are lit in red.
The report found that in 75% of the 24 countries surveyed, the oppression or persecution of Christians has increased over the past two years.
Nigerian Bishop Jude Arogundade, whose diocese was stormed in June by gunmen who killed more than 40 people, gave the keynote address at the UK launch of the report in parliament.
Bishop Arogundade expressed concern that “no one seems to be paying attention to the genocide” taking place in Nigeria in swaths of the North and Middle Belt.
A Nigerian bishop has slammed Irish President Michael Higgins for blaming a recent massacre of Nigerian Christians on “climate change”. https://t.co/lo5UhRmnV5
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“The world is silent as attacks on churches, their personnel and institutions have become routine. How many dead bodies are needed to get the world’s attention? He asked.
In his opening address, Arogundade said the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has repeatedly spoken out against the unprecedented insecurity situation in the country “but to no avail”.
“We have marched for life, protested and even called on the President (Muhammadu Buhari) to resign if he is unable to fulfill the fundamental objective of government – the safety of lives and property of citizens. has changed,” he said.
“With 3,478 people killed in June this year and the increase in terror cases thereafter”, it is time for governments and all people of goodwill “to force the Nigerian government to stop the genocide”, did he declare.
“Or, at the very least, seek help from other countries before Nigeria is overrun, as is the case with Afghanistan,” he added.
“The whole nation is on edge, fearing a major offensive that could sweep across the country,” he said. “Already, many embassies have been forced to close (in the past) two weeks following an intelligence report predicting (a) major attack in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital.”
A gang of unidentified gunmen abducted a Catholic priest and a seminarian in southern Nigeria, demanding a $120,000 ransom for their release. https://t.co/SaJZFLDO8a
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The bishop also attempted to disabuse his listeners of the false news circulating regarding the causes of the persecution.
“This pogrom is not caused by climate change as some Western climate change ideologues believe. This is far from the case,” he said. “It is clearly the use of terrorism to accomplish an age-old ethno/religious goal. The world must stop this evil and hold the perpetrators accountable. »
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