2019 : the “year of martyrs”
During last year, almost 3000 cases of attacks against Christian worship places have been reported in Europe. This amount accounts for an average of 5 attacks per day. Attacks on Christian worship facilities are primarily arson, burglary, theft, desecration and other acts of vandalism.
Due to the scale of events, the past year has been called “the year of martyrs” by the Papal Aid to the Church in Need. According to the American Gatestone Institute, the majority of these kind of attacks took place in France and Germany but also in countries like Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Italy and Spain.
“Christians in Europe are oppressed in many different ways, ranging from interfering with freedom of conscience, expression and association, to refusing or obstructing [injured Christians] access to justice and legal services,” Ellen Fantini, from the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christianity.
The scale of persecution of Christians is noticed by Thomas Heine-Geldern from the Papal Aid to the Church in Need. In his opinion, due to the number of attacks and killings of Christians, last year was “the bloodiest in the history of Christianity”. In this respect, the most terrible event was the attacks on three temples in Sri Lanka, which resulted in the deaths of over 250 people.
Source : pch24.pl
