The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) published its report Persecuted and Forgotten? on 27 October. It covers 2024 to 2026 and examines 18 countries. ACN says conditions for Christians worsened in 55 per cent of them compared with the previous period, and improved in none.
The report says more than 220 million Christians are directly exposed to the most severe forms of persecution, and 413 million live in countries with serious violations of religious freedom. Among its findings: more than 3.5 million people are displaced inside Nigeria, over 1,000 Christians have been killed in Mozambique since 2017, more than 700 incidents against Christians were recorded in India in 2025, and about 190,000 people are held in political prison camps in North Korea, with Christians believed to be a significant share.
In Africa it describes violence by Islamist extremist groups in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mozambique. In Asia it points to secrecy and harsh punishment in North Korea, forced “sinicisation” in China, anti-conversion laws and violence in India, and forced conversions of minority girls in Pakistan. It also cites the June 2025 suicide bombing at a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus that killed 25 people, and pressure on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.
The report argues that violence against Christians is often described as ethnic, land-related or geopolitical, which can hide its religious dimension. These are the findings of one religious charity, and other organisations count and classify persecution differently.
Photo: Kritzolina / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
