The report of the Pontifical Association Aid to the Church in Need indicates that nearly 4 billion people live today in 26 countries considered to be the most affected by violations of religious freedom. That’s more than half the world’s population. A large part of these countries are located in Africa. 

“Bloody persecution covers about 200 million Christians who live in situations of threat to their life, health, loss of property, displacement and conversion,” explains Tomasz Zawal, director of the regional office in Poznań. 

“All organisations that monitor religious freedom in the world agree on one thing: Christians are the most persecuted religion,” emphasizes Fr. prof. Waldemar Cisło, director of the Polish section of PKWP.

The countries of Africa where the bloodiest persecution take place include Nigeria, Libya, Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Mozambique. In recent years, the situation has deteriorated in all of these countries.

The summary also shows that Christians in Mozambique are experiencing cruel crimes. Islamists murdered thousands of people there, forced hundreds of thousands to leave their homes. Mozambique is rich in oil and other minerals, which also contributes to the deepening terror. As Tomasz Zwał points out, there are “global concerns that use ethnic animosities, sometimes watering them with religious animosities in order to gain access to raw materials”. – This is an attempt to profit regardless of the costs – he emphasizes.