Christianity is disappearing from towns and cities in parts of
the Middle East, warns a new report from the papal foundation Aid to the Church
in Need. It also said that persecution of Christians "has worsened the
most" in South and East Asia.
Urgent action by the international community is needed to prevent
more Christians fleeing countries, including Iraq and Syria, said the Oct. 23
report, "Persecuted and Forgotten?" It was based on a 2017-2019 study
of the persecution of Christians around the world.
"Each person who leaves makes it harder for those left
behind," it said.
While noting that the international community has shown
unprecedented concern about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East,
the organization said, "governments in the West and the U.N. failed to
offer Christians in countries such as Iraq and Syria the emergency help they
needed as genocide got underway."
Pope Francis has denounced the persecution, torture and killing
of Christians in the Middle East, calling it a form of genocide that must end.
In Iraq, the number of Christians has dropped from 1.5 million
before 2003 to well below 150,000 and in Syria, the Christian population has
dropped in size by two-thirds from 2 million in 2011, when its civil war began,
said the Aid to the Church in Need report.
While Kurdish and Christian fighters, allied with U.S. troops,
are largely responsible and credited for eradicating much of the Islamic State
presence in Syria, "the impact of this genocide — continuing migration,
security crises, extreme poverty and slow recovery — means that it may now be
too late for some Middle East Christian communities to recover," the
organization said.
"Around the world, Christians are a favored target for
violent militant extremists who operate without boundaries and who attack local
Christians as a legitimate alternative to a direct strike on the West," it
said.
In India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and other countries in South and
East Asia, it said, "An increasing unity of purpose between
religio-nationalist groups and governments represents a growing — and largely unrecognized
— threat to Christians and other minorities." In Asia, "Christianity
is seen as not only alien but as an agent of unwanted Western influence."
North Korea, where Christians face torture for professing their
faith, "is widely considered the most dangerous place to be a
Christian," the report said.
In Sri Lanka, Easter suicide bombings claimed more than 250 lives
and injured more than 400 people. The April 21 bombings on a handful of luxury
hotels and churches in Colombo and Negombo were carried out by local extremists
affiliated with the Islamic State group.
During Mass Jan. 27, two bombs exploded at the Cathedral of Our
Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Philippines, killing 20 people and injuring more
than 100, the report said.
In India, 477 anti-Christian incidents were reported in 2017, it
said.
Cardinal Joseph Coutts of Karachi, Pakistan, said in the report
that, while the "government provides armed police protection whenever we
request it for church services or gatherings," militant groups have become
difficult to control, "leaving us in a state of constant tension."
"Somewhere at some time there is going to be another attack —
where or when is anybody's guess," he said.
In parts of Africa, "Islamist violence is putting huge
pressure on Christians," Aid to the Church in Need said.
Christians in several African countries "are threatened by
Islamists seeking to eliminate the church — either by use of force or by
dishonest means, including bribing people to convert," it said.
In Nigeria, Islamist militants continue "a reign of terror
against Christians and Muslims alike," the organization said, noting that
more than 3,700 Christians were reportedly killed in 2018.