Vatican envoy says ‘almost 400 million Christians worldwide face persecution’

GENEVA, Switzerland (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations, highlighted during an event as part of the 61st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council on Tuesday the brutal persecution faced by Christians across the globe.

During the March 3 event, “Standing with Persecuted Christians: Defending the Faith and Christian Values,” Balestrero emphasized that roughly 400 million Christians across the globe face persecution, making them the most persecuted religious group in the world, per Vatican News. The archbishop pointed to several alarming recent statistics on the violent as well as the “silent” forms of persecution faced by the world’s Christians.

“Almost 400 million Christians worldwide face persecution or violence, making them the most persecuted religious community in the world. This means that 1 in 7 Christians is affected,” the archbishop said.

“Even worse, almost 5,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2025, which equates to an average of 13 per day,” he added.

Balestrero stressed that of those 400 million Christians facing violent persecution, many are subject to murder, forced exile, enslavement, false detention, the dispossession of their property, arson of churches, and other injustices and hate crimes because of their faith.

“These include prosecutions for silent prayer near abortion facilities or for quoting a Bible verse on social issues,” the archbishop lamented.

Indeed, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews, OIDAC Europe’s (Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe) 2025 report showed 2,211 anti-Christian hate crimes, including the arson and vandalism of churches, and 274 attacks on individuals were recorded in Europe alone in 2024.

READ: Arson attacks on European churches have doubled in one year: report

Within the past year alone, several notable European churches have been vandalized, desecrated, or attacked by arsonists.

A November incident in Lourdes, France, saw the entrance of the Sacré-Cœur parish, among the city’s principal places of worship outside its renowned Marian sanctuary, vandalized with graffiti containing the sacrilegious expressions “À mort Jésus-Christ” (“Death to Jesus Christ”), and the right-hand side carried the words “Sale race de Jésus-Christ” (“Dirty race of Jesus Christ”).

That same month, in Rome, human feces were found at various parts of San Nicola di Bari Church (St. Nicholas of Bari) in Ostia, including the altar. Within the same week, urine and human excrement were also found in multiple corners of a Catholic chapel, including the altar, at the Termini Railway Station, Rome’s main train station, which frequently draws Catholic pilgrims traveling to the Eternal City.

In January, arsonists set two fires, one on the altar cloth and another on a table in the front of the historic St. Peter Catholic Church in Philippsburg, Germany.

Balestrero noted that in addition to these cases, there are other “silent” forms of persecution Christians face, such as the faithful’s “gradual marginalization or exclusion” from professional and social life, which “narrow or in fact annul the rights legally recognized to the predominantly Christian population.”

Indeed, in countries such as India, where Christians make up only a tiny minority, in addition to violence facing violence and “anti-conversion laws” that are often abused to prosecute them, there are frequently mobs that show up to harass Christian communities at worship services or prayer gatherings. This instills a culture of fear and intimidation that often prevents Indian Christians from practicing or proclaiming their faith publicly.

READ: Attacks on Christians in India up 500% under Hindu nationalist rule: report

While not as extreme, this culture of fear and exclusion also exists in Western countries like the United States. In recent years, school districts across the country have forced students to read sexually explicit pro-LGBT books without allowing Christian parents the right to opt their children out of this curriculum. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled parents could opt their children out of these lessons.

Two state legislatures, Washington and Arizona, have introduced bills that would punish Catholic priests for upholding the Seal of Confession, effectively criminalizing clerics for following the canon law of the Church. Washington’s bill passed last summer but was struck down by a federal judge before it could take effect, while the Arizona bill is still being debated.

EXCLUSIVE: Catholic lawmaker vows to ‘kill’ bill that would punish priests for upholding Seal of Confession

Balestrero further underscored that it is the state’s duty to protect Christians’ freedom to practice their faith, calling it a “fundamental human right.”

“It is the State’s duty to protect freedom of religion or belief, which includes preventing third parties from violating this right,” the archbishop said. “This protection has to safeguard believers who are targeted, before, during, and after an attack.”

“A State should promote freedom of religion or belief, first and above all because it is a fundamental human right,” he added.