Christians have been persecuted since the very beginnings of the faith and always will be. But paradoxical as it may be, Christianity has also expanded thanks to the testimony of the martyrs. Although they’re not thrown to the lions these days, some are harshly punished for owning a Bible in Saudi Arabia (even executed in North Korea), or crucified by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Their stories deserve to be told.
It’s difficult to estimate how many Christians died in the earlier centuries, but the absolute numbers, are much bigger in our time. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI rightly declared in 2010 that Christians are the most persecuted faith group today, and Pope Francis also mentions that fact frequently.
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