Violence and persecution: the persecution of Christians continues unabated

Rome. “Every night, whilst our captors slept, we prayed, knowing we were not alone, that there were people like you who would never abandon us. That is what gave us the strength to endure back then, and that is what continues to give us strength today.” These are the words of Solomon Ako, a 33-year-old Christian from northern Nigeria, who was abducted by militants and tortured. “They immediately demanded that we convert, and when we refused, they began beating us. They whipped us. They tied our legs and put chains round our ankles.” He and the other hostages were kept for hours submerged in cold water up to their necks. Far from abating, persecution against Christians is on the rise worldwide. This is the key finding emerging from the latest report by the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Examining the period from August 2024 to June 2026, it is noted that in more than half of the eighteen countries studied, the situation has not improved. Far from it. Extremist violence, authoritarian government and religious nationalism are the all-too-familiar combination that exposes Christians to violence of every kind. It is not merely a question of religion: political instability, ethnic background and competition over land all play a part. But – as the report makes clear – “the religious dimension is also often underestimated, especially outside the affected countries”. According to available data, 413 million Christians live in countries where serious violations of religious freedom occur, and of these, 220 million are “directly exposed to persecution”. Africa, which, according to figures provided by the Fides news agency, has now overtaken Europe in terms of the number of Catholics, faces the most precarious situation. Across the vast sub-Saharan region, Islamist groups have expanded their sphere of influence and, as ACS notes, six of the ten countries most affected by terrorism are in Africa. In that very region, in addition to Nigeria, the focus is on Burkina Faso and Mali, where entire Christian communities “have been forced to comply with Islamic rules on dress and social behaviour, whilst others have been subjected to killings and forced displacement”. 

Further south, the situation is no better: in Mozambique, where since 2017 an Islamist insurgency (complete with flags reminiscent of the Caliphate of the late Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi) has swept through the province of Cabo Delgado, at least a thousand Christians have been killed. All this amidst “beheadings, kidnappings, and the destruction of churches and homes”. This is nothing new, just as the tragedy that Nicaragua continues to endure – with persecution by the Sandinista government – is nothing new. What is less well known, at least in the West, is the situation in Iran. The report by Aid to the Church in Need provides a detailed account of how religious freedom is understood in the Republic of the Ayatollahs: “Arrests of Christians rose considerably in 2025, with 254 cases reported – roughly double the figure for 2024. This increase has been accompanied by increasingly severe court sentences, as well as further punitive measures, including exclusion from education, employment and healthcare. Despite the release of a limited number of people detained on religious grounds, the overall picture points to a gradual tightening of restrictions on religious freedom, characterised by increased surveillance, a rise in legal proceedings and the adoption of punitive measures for behaviour deemed incompatible with the laws of the Islamic Republic”. It is important to understand the situation, given that “although some communities, including the Roman Catholic community and certain Orthodox and Protestant denominations, are officially recognised and authorised to hold their own religious services, their members are subject to harassment and intimidation, including a ban on reading or distributing the Bible in Farsi”. It is a country where “conversion from Islam remains illegal, and people accused of apostasy or related activities face arrest, detention and imprisonment, often on the basis of charges of ‘threatening national security’ interpreted very broadly. Evangelical Christians are frequently associated with ‘foreign intelligence services’, according to a narrative that portrays an entire religious community as a security threat, thereby severely increasing their vulnerability”. The influence of religious nationalism is also on the rise, gaining ever greater strength across Asia. One need only consider that in India, in 2025, there were more than seven hundred incidents of anti-Christian violence. A key factor is the growing number of laws prohibiting religious conversion, which are used to target minorities, including Christians. During the period covered by the report, there were increasing numbers of religious services being disrupted, acts of vandalism against churches and physical assaults.