most persecuted followers of any religion
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regimes in China and North Korea; old tribal and ethnic rivalries in parts of Africa . . .” (And, he adds hauntingly, “even secular prejudice against any religious faith in parts of Europe and North America.”)
Governments stand idly by. Just ask one of the more than 300 Christians injured, or the families and friends of the 27 massacred in Cairo on Oct. 9, in what John Allen calls the Christian Kristallnacht in Egypt, as soldiers not only failed to protect the Christians, but actually participated in the binge of violence. Cardinal Kurt Koch, the Vatican’s chief ambassador to religions of the world, who was recently here in New York, has even spoken of an Ecumenism of the Martyrs, as every person of any faith must now experience a fresh solidarity among peoples of all religions to defend the religious freedom and safety of those shedding their blood because of their faith. The Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, asks for a “World Day of Prayer for Victims of Religious Persecution.”
A couple of years ago, I visited a refugee camp in Orissa, India, right after New Year. Thousands of Catholic refugees crowded the camp, tenderly cared for by Blessed Mother Teresa's sisters, helped by Catholic Relief Services. They had been driven out of their village, as they watched their women raped, huts burned, and dozens of neighbors hacked to death by machetes, during an attack by Hindu extremists. It was still too perilous to return home. The government hardly seemed eager to protect them if they went back to their leveled village.
One little girl whispered to me, “I hope our Christmas tree, the crib set, and the presents are still there. We had to run away before midnight Mass and leave them all at home . . .” I’ll sure remember that little girl as I kneel safely and smile securely in Christmas peace before the manger in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
+ Mgr. Timothy M. DOLAN
Archbischop of New York
Note: Le texte français peut se trouver sur le site de l'Observatoire de la christianophobie