365 Million Christians at Risk Worldwide in 2024

Jan 19, 2024 | 0 comments

‘Open Doors’ Web Page

Christians face “very strong” persecution in 78 countries worldwide, up from 76 last year – according to the NGO Open Doors – which records rising religious persecution worldwide.

There is a threat of further population movement in Africa as a result. More than 365 million Christians — or one in seven — face extreme persecution worldwide. This is a new record.

While North Korea is reckoned the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian, most Christian deaths in 2023 occurred in Nigeria, where an estimated 4,118 Christians were killed in the period 1 Oct 2022 to 30 Sept 2023.

Many of the deaths in Nigeria were at the hands of Fulani herders whose livelihood has been endangered by climate change in Africa. There is a fear of further population movement towards Europe as a consequence.

Other countries in which Christians died as a result of persecution were: Congo (261), India (160), Uganda (55), Myanmar (34) and Burkina Faso (31).

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ACI’s Campaign for Lumen Gentium 37

The Promise of Synodality

What we have experienced of synodality so far gives ACI real hope that a longstanding structural injustice in the church may at last be acknowledged and overcome.

As all Irish bishops well know, the 'co-responsibility' they urge lay people to share - as numbers and energies of clergy decline - has been sabotaged time and again by canonical rules that deny representational authority and continuity to parish pastoral councils.  ACI's 2019 call for the immediate honouring of Lumen Gentium Article 37 becomes more urgent by the day and is supported by the following documents - also presented to the ICBC in October 2019.

The Common Priesthood of the People of God and the Renewal of the Church
It was Catholic parents and victims of clerical abuse who taught Catholic Bishops to prioritise the safeguarding of children in the church

Jesus as Model for the Common Priesthood of the People of God
It was for challenging religious hypocrisy and injustice that Jesus was accused and crucified. He is therefore a model for the common priesthood of the laity and for the challenging of injustice - in society and within the church.

A Suggested Strategy for the Recovery of the Irish and Western Catholic Church
Recovery of the church depends upon acknowledgment of the indispensable role of the common priesthood of the lay people of God and the explicit abandonment by bishops and clergy of paternalism and clericalism - the expectation of deference from lay people rather than honesty and integrity.

For the full story of ACI's campaign for the honouring of Article 37 of Lumen Gentium, click here.

Prayer

"Come Holy Spirit, Renew Your wonders in this our day, as by a new Pentecost. Grant to Your Church that, being of one mind and steadfast in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and following the lead of blessed Peter, it may advance the reign of our Divine Saviour, the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace. Amen."

Saint Pope John XXIII, 1962 - In preparation for Vatican Council II, 1962-65.

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