Modern martyrs give witness: More Christians than ever suffer for the faith worldwide

(OSV News) -- It's a stark reality that -- no matter how many times it's repeated -- never loses the power to shock: The 20th century produced double the number of Christian martyrs than all the previous nineteen centuries put together.

In this century and the present day, religious persecution and discrimination -- a frequent precursor to martyrdom -- currently impacts nearly 5.4 billion people in 62 countries worldwide, according to the "Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025."

Released at an Oct. 21 Vatican press conference by Aid to the Church in Need, a papal charity and pastoral aid organization assisting persecuted Christians around the world, the report is simultaneously alarming and inspiring: Alarming, because so many are still suffering so much violence; inspiring, because their faithful witness is nonetheless so strong.

"The attention being paid to martyrdom is very important for our work, but also for the church," Edward Clancy, outreach director for Aid to the Church in Need USA, told OSV News. "Because it's through this martyrdom, as Tertullian said, that we, the faith may grow; so we understand where we began, and where we're going."

Tertullian, an early Christian author who wrote during the second and third centuries, and was the first theologian to write in Latin, declared in "The Apology" that, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."

Asked how Catholics might respond to the global martyrdom crisis, which -- despite their best intentions -- may seem remote in the midst of their own busy lives, Clancy offered three suggestions.

"Everything in our faith starts with a prayer -- with a communication directly or indirectly with God ... Prayer for the martyrs helps to change our hearts and open us to the will of God," said Clancy. "That's a very important first component."

"The next step," he continued, "is awareness. That is important for us, Aid to the Church in Need, as we do our part in helping to bring these stories to the people, to be aware of what's happening to our brothers and sisters in the faith around the world."

"The third thing," concluded Clancy, "would be to help these communities where the faith is so restricted -- where they need our support."

The "Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025" analyzes the situation in 196 countries and documents serious violations in 62 of them; 24 are classified as countries of "persecution" and 38 as "discrimination." Only two nations, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka, showed improvements compared with the previous edition of the report.

"The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, protected under Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is not only under pressure; in many countries it is disappearing," warned Regina Lynch, executive president of ACN International, during the Vatican launch.

On July 5, 2023, Pope Francis created a working group at the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Dubbed the "Commission of New Martyrs -- Witnesses to the Faith," it was tasked with compiling a catalogue of all Christians -- not only Catholics -- who in the last quarter of a century shed their blood to confess Jesus Christ.

"Martyrs in the Church are witnesses of the hope that comes from faith in Christ and incites to true charity," the late pope said. "Hope keeps alive the profound conviction that good is stronger than evil, because God in Christ has conquered sin and death."

As Aid to the Church in Need reported in a Sept. 12 press release, the Vatican commission identified and confirmed 1,624 cases of Christians, from various different Christian churches, "murdered because of their faith between the year 2000 and 2025."

It found that "643 were killed in Sub-Saharan Africa, 357 in Asia and Oceania, 304 in the Americas, 277 in the Middle East and the Maghreb, and 43 in Europe."

Andrea Riccardi, vice president of the commission and founder of the peace-building Community of Sant'Egidio, a lay Catholic association, said the point of the work is "to remember them so that their memory is not diluted and the names of those who have fallen for the faith are not lost."

Pope Francis died April 21, but Pope Leo XIV has continued to bring attention to the martyrs' plight. On Sept. 14, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the pontiff hosted an "Ecumenical Commemoration of Martyrs and Witnesses of the Faith of the Twenty-First Century" in Rome's Papal Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls.

Joined by representatives of other Christian churches and ecclesial communities, Pope Leo cited the witness of various martyrs before reiterating "the ecumenism of blood unites Christians of different backgrounds who together give their lives for faith in Jesus Christ. The witness of their martyrdom is more eloquent than any word: unity comes from the Cross of the Lord."

Robert Royal, founder and president of the Faith & Reason Institute, and author of "The Martyrs of the New Millennium: The Global Persecution of Christians in the Twenty-First Century," told OSV News that a lack of media attention to martyrs translates to a lack of awareness.

"Particularly in America, Christians have had it good for quite a while. Some pressure from anti-Christians notwithstanding, we don't have much of a living memory of persecution, let alone martyrdom," said Royal. "In addition, our media pay scant attention to the suffering of Christians worldwide. I was surprised when The Washington Post asked me a few weeks back to write an op-ed for them on the carnage in Nigeria. Nigeria is starting to get some attention because the slaughter is so obvious."

President Donald Trump concurred in a Truth Social posting Oct. 31.

"Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a 'COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN' -- But that is the least of it," Trump wrote.

"When Christians, or any such group, is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 Worldwide), something must be done! I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately look into this matter, and report back to me."

Trump then threatened an unspecified and potential intervention.

"The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other Countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian population around the World!"

While Nigeria's situation will gain increased attention via Trump's post, Royal noted "there are other countries just as bad -- and worse. Christians, especially Catholics, need to inform themselves about all this."

Violence that leads to martyrdom can originate from various political and social situations, he said.

"Now, as in ancient times, a lot of the martyrdom stems from Christians getting in the way of governments or other social groups," explained Royal. "A recent development is how criminality -- mafia in Europe; cartels in Mexico and Latin America -- have attacked church workers when they thwart illicit activities. It's difficult to believe, but the most dangerous country to be a Catholic priest in recent years has been deeply Catholic Mexico. The numbers show it."

But Royal said the possibility of persecution is not too far afield either. He said that "attacks on Catholics and other Christians are happening in the West, too: in France, Germany, England." He pointed to surveys showing several hundred cases of arson, vandalism, even sacrilege against churches in the U.S. and Canada, and emphasized the need for people to "keep an eye even on our Western governments, which often have agendas that seek to impose immoral choices on religious bodies."

"No one," Royal said, "is entirely free from pressure and threats these days. Be vigilant."