Magic Statistics

In his message this morning on the feast day of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr, Pope Benedict XVI reminded his listeners that Christians in many parts of the world today are being persecuted and martyred for their faith.  He said that martyrdom "is exclusively an act of love towards God and all mankind including persecutors".

Speaking to the thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s square, the pontiff recalled that “the deep bond which unites Christ to the first martyr Stephen, is divine Charity: the same love which pushed the Son of God to strip himself and be obedient onto death on the cross (cfr Fil 2,6-8), also pushed the Apostles and martyrs to give their lives for the Gospel”.

A sign of this “love” are prayers offered up for “enemies” and “persecutors”, by the many “sons and daughters of the church down through the centuries”. This sets Christian martyrs apart from those who are victims of self-held ideals.

Benedict XVI then underlined how martyrdom has always accompanied the profession of the faith and still today remains deeply actual: “still today – he said – we receive news from across the world of missionaries, priests, bishops, religious brothers and sisters, and lay faithful who are persecuted, tortured, imprisoned and denied their freedom or stopped from professing their faith because they are disciples of Christ or apostles of the Gospel: often some suffer and even die because of their communion with the universal Church and their loyalty to the Pope”.

The pope did not name any specific countries, but he doesn’t need to.  Just this week, Christians have been killed and churches vandalised in India.  Ten days ago, a Roman Catholic priest was stabbed following Sunday Mass at his church in Izmir, Turkey, in the latest in a series of attacks on Christians in that country.

As well, in recent months, this blog has reported on Christians being persecuted in Nigeria, Pakistan, Belarus, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia.

Previous related posts:

• Christians persecuted? Who cares?
• Christians around the world are persecuted daily
• Most religiously free countries have Christian backgrounds
• Martyrdom in Christianity and Islam

Since Christmas Eve, Hindu rioters have been on a rampage against Christians in the eastern India state of Orissa.  On 24 December, a mob attacked a inter-denominational Christmas celebration.  The nativity display appears to have been a particular target of the violence.

"Today a Hindu mob of around 500 people came and attacked the Christians" gathering in a make-shift tent, "and destroyed the crib [used for a Christmas story] as well equipment," said Praful Nayak. “They have injured people with guns and attacked others with swords. They also used deadly weapons instruments," he said.

Several Christians were injured in the assault, including two with gunshot wounds.

More widespread aggression came on Christmas night, killing at least one man.

Hindus attacked at least 10 churches in eastern India leaving one man dead and 30 injured on Christmas night, police said.

Protesters backed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) set fire to six churches and ransacked another four in the heart of Orissa state, police officer Narsingh Bol told AFP.

One young man was killed in the attacks and 30 more people hurt, according to local administrative official Satyabratu Sahu. Police would not specify the religion of the casualties.

Other reports say the dead man was a Christian and that the rioters also torched a dozen vehicles, including two police vehicles, and attacked the house of the brother of a state government minister.

Despite a police-imposed curfew, the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reports more violence today.

Fresh violence broke out on Wednesday outside curfew-bound Barakhama and in Jaleshpata area where unidentified persons set afire houses and indulged in stone-throwing, causing minor injuries to eleven people.

Persecution Update India has posted a summary of the anti-Christian mob violence in Orissa during the past three days, saying "The believers in Orissa had their worst ever Christmas".  GCIC has received unconfirmed reports that 2000 Christians were injured on Christmas Day and 20 churches damaged, some completely destroyed by fire.

Orissa has one of the worst records of Hindu extremist attacks on Christians in all of India.  It was there in January 1999 that Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons Philip, 10, and Timothy, eight, were burnt to death in a car surrounded by Hindu militants.

Previous related posts:

• Celebrate the victory of good over evil, or I’ll clobber you
• Another UK Hindu leader tells Christians to stop evangelising in India
• Christian converts “lose their right to be Indian”
• Indian Christians carry a heavy cross
• Hindu extremists torch church, arrest carol-singers

UPDATE (27 Dec.): Glenn Penner of Voice of the Martyrs Canada has posted a news video.

UPDATE (27 Dec.): Third day of anti-Christian violence in Orissa.

The collect for today, the Feast of St Stephen, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

Grant, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

For The Epistle: Acts 7:55-60
The Gospel: St Matthew 23:34-39

More on St Stephen here.

Artwork: Annibale Carracci, The Martyrdom of St Stephen, 1603-1604, Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris.