Listing the countries where they believe the persecution of Christians is most severe, US Catholics identify Iran as the worst offending nation. North Korea, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are pegged, in descending order, as the next five worst-offending countries where Christians suffer grave persecution.

Asked to rank policies by the US government and other Western powers to help persecuted Christians, US Catholics say diplomatic pressure on offending countries is most important, followed by economic sanctions and emergency asylum for victims of persecution; almost half of US Catholics say financial support of persecuted Christian communities is the most important.

As to actions US Catholics can take themselves, 68% of respondents ranked prayer as “very important,” followed by raising awareness of the plight of Christian persecution at the parish level (59%), donating to agencies that help persecuted Christians (53%) and contacting Members of Congress (52%).

Just over one-fifth of US Catholics say their parish is “very engaged” on the issue of Christian persecution, which is up by some 16% from a year ago. At the same time, 20% say their parish is “not engaged” and 22% say they are “unsure” about their parish’s level of engagement.

The complete poll results can be found here: churchinneed.org

Source: aleteia.org