Catholic San Francisco | Beth Griffin, Catholic News Service | Sept. 28, 2019
UNITED NATIONS –Christians are the most persecuted religious group worldwide, but hypocrisy, political correctness and ignorance prevent the international community from implementing a comprehensive response to pervasive violence against them, said speakers at a U.N. event Sept. 27.
The participants in a high-level panel discussion said 80% of people killed because of their religious beliefs are Christian and the number of Christians hurt or displaced is on the rise.
Teodoro Lopez Locsin Jr., Philippines secretary of foreign affairs, said 4,100 Christians were killed for their beliefs in 50 countries in 2018 and an average of 250 Christians have been killed each month of 2019. He said the deaths are “a votive offering of the West to the oil-rich East.”
“The next Holocaust will be of Christians,” Locsin said, even though many of the world’s greatest powers profess to be Christian or have a Christian heritage.
“In global politics, the fact that Christians are being persecuted is being ignored,” said Peter Szijjarto, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade. He told CNS that his government is “fighting against the perception that Christianophobia would be the last acceptable form of discrimination.”
Szijjarto said it is regrettable that while Muslim leaders speak enthusiastically about the plight of their mistreated people, Christians seem to be shy about calling attention to the violence against Christians. He attributed this to religion being seen as a local issue and not a global one.
“The international community is absolutely not sensitive” to Christian persecution, and prefers to address issues of “religious minorities,” he said.