Religious freedom under growing threat worldwide, experts warn at Catholic gathering in Italy

Speakers at the Rimini Meeting highlighted persecution of Christians, violence in Nigeria and Lebanon, and the importance of defending freedom of belief for people of all faiths.

RIMINI, Italy — Freedom of religion or belief, a pillar of human dignity and democratic societies, is threatened in many regions of the world by persecution, discrimination, and faith-related violence. In an international context marked by conflicts and radicalization, protecting it is proving crucial for peace and social cohesion.

A panel discussion held on Aug. 21, the opening day of the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, titled “The Freedom to Believe: A Human Right at the Center of Geopolitical Challenges,” explored the role of religious freedom in contemporary geopolitical dynamics, with particular attention to minorities in crisis areas and the contribution of faith communities to reconciliation processes. It also examined the responsibilities of the European Union, Italy, and international cooperation in strengthening diplomatic and political instruments to defend this fundamental right.

Following introductory remarks by Maria Cristiana Mele, Italy’s special envoy for the promotion of religious freedom and the protection of religious minorities worldwide, speakers included Cristina Duranti, director of the Good Shepherd International Foundation; Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Diocese of Sokoto, Nigeria, who said: “In Nigeria, if you ask someone whether he is Christian or Muslim, he will answer: I am hungry”; Mairead McGuinness, the European Union special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief; and Andrea Avveduto, journalist and spokesman for the Italian Committee for Freedom of Religion or Belief, who moderated the discussion. Daniela Canclini, president of the Italian Committee for Freedom of Religion or Belief, delivered the concluding remarks.

In his remarks, Kukah highlighted the “actions” of terrorist groups in Nigeria: “Islamic extremism has changed over time. If 15 or 20 years ago Boko Haram persecuted only Christians because it aimed to convert the population to Islam at gunpoint and establish a caliphate in which sharia would be imposed; the groups operating today have no contact with the population. They live in hiding and emerge only to kill, loot, and rape. They do not kill on a confessional basis, so it is inaccurate to say that today they persecute only Christians.

“Their attacks make no distinction based on belief: They kill people on farms, in churches, in mosques, at home, everywhere. There are also several groups affiliated with ISIS but divided among themselves, so if you are killed, you do not even know who did it. The situation is extremely complicated. The only thing that unites these groups with one another and with Boko Haram is violence and the mineral trade.”

He also described the difficulties involved in combating terrorist groups: “The situation is extremely difficult to contain, and the government is present only through the military, which nevertheless allows things to happen. Nigeria is a corrupt state. It has lost the ability to enforce the laws, which do exist, just as there is a constitution. At every political election the same thing happens: There is a suitable candidate, capable, the ideal person to have a positive impact on the government of the country. He will not be elected, because another, wealthier candidate will buy the election with money.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News, asked Avveduto to explain why the freedom to believe is increasingly under threat.

ACI Stampa: Why is the freedom to believe increasingly under threat?

Avveduto: We are living in a time in which faith has once again come to be perceived as a problem rather than a resource. On the one hand, there are authoritarian regimes and totalitarian ideologies, which see in the believer someone who obeys an authority higher than the state and therefore fear him; on the other, there is the growth of extremisms that exploit religion to justify violence and the seizure of power.

In between is the fragility of many states: Where institutions collapse, religious freedom is the first to fall, because minorities are left without protection. And there is also a more subtle threat, typical of our secularized societies: the temptation to reduce faith to a purely private matter, expelling it from the public sphere. The freedom to believe is threatened wherever the person is not recognized in his or her entirety, which also includes the spiritual dimension.

Why are more and more Christians under threat?

The numbers are striking: According to Open Doors’ World Watch List 2026, the number of Christians exposed to persecution worldwide has risen to 388 million, 8 million more than the previous year — a record year. One Christian in 7 globally suffers persecution. The reasons are different and intertwined: the expansion of Islamist extremism, especially in sub-Saharan Africa; regimes that see Christians as a foreign body or ideological enemy; organized crime that targets Christian communities because they are defenseless.

The center of gravity of Christianity has shifted to Africa, and it is precisely there that it is principally under attack: Christians are often visible minorities, communities that educate, provide care, and build social cohesion; precisely for this reason, they become targets of those who want chaos or a monopoly on power. The paradox is that Christians are persecuted not despite the good they do but often because of it.

Another region is the Middle East. The conflict between Israel and Iran is affecting Lebanon: How are Christians living through it?

Lebanon is once again paying for wars decided elsewhere. Since the beginning of March, the bombings have caused more than 2,000 deaths and over 1 million displaced people, and Christians have not been spared: Members of the community who have nothing to do with Hezbollah have been killed in the attacks. And yet, amid all this, the faith endures: In Christian villages in the south, such as Rmeich, Debel, and Ain Ebel, priests say that daily Mass and the rosary prayed together are what sustain the people under bombardment.

Lebanese Christians are experiencing a double suffering: the material suffering of war and the moral suffering of a country held hostage, whose sovereignty is contested among outside powers. But they also remain bearers of a vocation: As the Maronite patriarch recalls, echoing the words of the popes, “Lebanon is more than a territory; it is a message of freedom, dignity, pluralism, and coexistence.” For this reason, supporting the Christians of Lebanon means supporting the very idea of a pluralistic Middle East.

Another difficult situation is found in Nigeria, as Bishop Hassan Kukah described, and in Sudan: How can Christians be supported?

Nigeria today is the deadliest place in the world for Christians: It alone accounts for about 3,490 victims, 70% of the global total of Christians killed for their faith, amid attacks on villages, burned churches, kidnappings of priests, and even schoolchildren. Sudan, devastated by civil war, is also among the countries experiencing extreme persecution. How can they be supported? First of all, by not forgetting them: The first persecution is silence.

Then through concrete closeness: supporting the local Churches, schools, clinics, and projects that allow communities to remain in their own land rather than flee. There is also the level of political and diplomatic pressure, so that governments are called to their responsibility to protect. And finally prayer, which for the persecuted themselves — they always say this — is not a symbolic gesture but the sign that they belong to a larger body that does not abandon them.

Why is religious freedom a good for everyone, as the Church emphasizes in its magisterium?

Because it is the mother of all freedoms. It concerns the most intimate core of the person: conscience, the relationship with truth, and with the ultimate meaning of life. A state that respects this inner sanctuary will also respect freedom of thought, expression, and association; a state that violates it will sooner or later violate everything else.

This can be seen empirically: The countries where believers are persecuted are the same countries where all human rights are trampled upon. Religious freedom, moreover, does not protect only believers: It also protects those who do not believe, because it affirms that no power may impose or prohibit a worldview. It is the foundation of a truly pluralistic society, where diversity is not merely tolerated but recognized as a source of richness.

So why does the Church fight for religious freedom for everyone?

Because it does not ask for privileges but for a right that arises from the dignity of the person created in the image of God, a dignity that belongs to every human being, Christian or not. This is the teaching of the Second Vatican Council through the declaration on religious freedom, Dignitatis Humanae: Truth imposes itself solely by virtue of its own truth, never through coercion. Faith, to be authentic, must be free; an imposed faith is not faith.

For this reason, the Church defends with the same voice the persecuted Christian in Nigeria, the discriminated-against Muslim, the threatened Jew, the massacred Yazidi: because defending religious freedom only for oneʼs own people would deny its very foundation. And it is also a matter of credibility: The Church knows that the strongest witness is that of those who defend the rights of others, not only their own.

A few months ago in Italy, the Pact among Religions was signed. Can it be a first step toward cooperation and dialogue among faiths?

Yes, and it is a significant step precisely because it is not a declaration of intent but a public and structured commitment. On June 25, at the Ara Pacis in Rome, the leaders of religious confessions present in Italy signed the pact “The Italian Way of Interreligious Dialogue,” which was then presented to Italian President Sergio Mattarella: 15 religious confessions, from the Catholic Church to Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox, Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu, and Baháʼí communities, the fruit of three years of joint work.

The document contains nine commitments and nine concrete actions: educating communities in dialogue, working together for the common good, and promoting a culture of peace. It is important for two reasons. The first is because it shows that religions are not the problem but part of the solution and, as Mattarella said, dialogue pursued sincerely produces understanding and cooperation, and gives life to forms of coexistence that are essential for banishing all intolerance.

The second is this: In a world where religion is exploited to fuel conflicts, a pact among different faiths is the most eloquent refutation of that exploitation. Of course, a document is not enough: It will be everyday practice — in cities, in schools, among young people — that will show whether this first step becomes a journey. But the direction is the right one, and beginning in Italy it can become a model elsewhere.

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.