23 Catholic missionaries killed in 2017

Mourners at the funeral of the popular activist Filipino priest Fr. Marcelito Paez
At least 23 people working for the Catholic Church were killed in 2017, a Vatican agency has said. For the eighth consecutive year the place where most violent deaths occurred was America, where 11 people lost their lives. Ten pastoral workers were killed in Africa, five in Nigeria, and two . . . Read More

New UNHRC members criticised for ‘dismal rights record’

New UNHRC members criticised for ‘dismal rights record’
Afghanistan and Pakistan were among the 15 States elected last week (16 October) to serve on the UN Human Rights Council, with human rights groups calling it a “crisis in the UN and its intergovernmental system”. Maliha Lodhi, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, called it an “endorsement of Pakistan’s strong . . . Read More

G20 ‘missed opportunity’ to tackle major global issue: religious freedom

G20 'missed opportunity' to tackle major global issue: religious freedom
By not discussing international religious freedom at the G20 summit in Germany last weekend, world leaders failed to address the root cause of major global issues like the migrant crisis, says David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA. As a result, “we can expect more violence from religious intolerance, a . . . Read More

Relatives of Coptic ‘martyrs’ join summit on persecuted Christians in US capital

Relatives of Coptic 'martyrs' join summit on persecuted Christians in US capital
A “World Summit in Defence of Persecuted Christians” has started in Washington DC, and is expected to be addressed by the US Vice-President Mike Pence today (Thursday, 11 May). It has been organised by American evangelist Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. 600 participants have come from 136 countries: including Egypt, . . . Read More

Three priests killed, another tortured in Mexico

Three Roman Catholic priests have been murdered and another tortured in Mexico since September, reports the Associated Press. Rev. Jose Luis Sanchez Ruiz was found alive three days after his abduction in Catemaco town, Veracruz state, with ‘visible signs of torture’ according to a Roman Catholic Church statement. His kidnap . . . Read More

Religious freedom ambassador visits Mexico

The US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, David Saperstein, is in Mexico to discuss how its federal and state governments are adhering to their international obligations to uphold freedom of religion and belief. As World Watch Monitor has reported, Mexican Christians who branch away from the “traditionalist” village churches, which . . . Read More

Freedom of religion or belief ‘undermined’ in corrupt countries

Freedom of religion or belief ‘undermined’ in corrupt countries
Corruption is increasingly seen as a factor behind the persecution of minority Christians around the world, and the world leaders who gathered at an Anti-Corruption Summit in London in May showed they are beginning to pay more attention to the effects of corruption on freedom of religion or belief. Evidence . . . Read More

Analysis: Latin American Christians need protection from organized crime

Analysis: Latin American Christians need protection from organized crime
For three days last month, El Salvador was the deadliest country in the world. The 125 people killed in gang-related violence from 16-18 Aug. could not be matched even by the horrors in Syria and Iraq. Violence related to organized crime is perhaps the most significant threat to Latin America’s . . . Read More

Another Mexican Protestant suffers

A Mexican Protestant recently detained for the third time by local authorities has now seen his three children banned from attending the local school and his home cut off from the village’s water and electricity services. His crime? Attending an Evangelical church. The state Ombudsman in Oaxaca has publicly condemned . . . Read More