Pope Francis explained that in the Gospel, Jesus himself tells us about persecution: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of man will be delivered to the high priests and to the scribes. They will sentence him to death, they will deliver him to the heathen to make fun of him, whip him, crucify him.”
“It’s not just a death sentence: there’s more. There is humiliation, there is rage. And when there is persistence in the persecution of a Christian, of a person, there is the devil […] Let us think of the persecutions of so many saints, of so many Christians who not only kill them, but also cause pain and try by all means to humiliate them, until the end. Do not confuse a simple social, political, religious persecution with the fury of the devil. The devil is fierce, […]”

“But let’s not forget: when there is fury, there is hatred, the revenge of the vanquished devil. It is so until today in the Church. Let us think of so many Christians, how cruelly persecuted they are. These days, newspapers were talking about Asia Bibi: nine years in prison, suffering. It’s the devil’s fury,” Pope Francis added.

Source: christianophobie.fr