The Holy See has warned that nearly 400 million Christians worldwide have faced persecution, discrimination, or violence because of their faith.
Archbishop Ettore Balestrero told a United Nations meeting in Geneva on Tuesday that one in seven Christians have been affected.
He said nearly 5,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2025 alone, averaging 13 deaths each day.
Quoting Pope Leo XIV, the archbishop said religious freedom is increasingly seen as “a privilege or concession rather than a fundamental human right.”
Archbishop Balestrero described Christians who die for their faith as martyrs and said international law should recognise them as victims of “outrageous human rights violations.”
He warned that impunity remains a major global problem and urged governments to protect believers before, during, and after attacks.
He also highlighted more subtle forms of persecution in Western countries. Europe saw over 760 anti-Christian hate crimes in 2024, and the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe recorded more than 2,200 cases, including church vandalism and harassment.
New legal pressures, such as proposed euthanasia laws in France, could also force Christian institutions to act against their beliefs, potentially creating criminal or financial penalties.
“Attacks on Christians are attacks on the Cross itself,” the archbishop said.
Aid to the Church in Need International reported that 62 countries experienced grave violations of religious freedom in 2025, with 38 more seeing discrimination, affecting over 1.3 billion people globally.