Bill Donohue
As 2025 comes to a close, it is sad to note that Christians are being persecuted in many countries, the extent of which is deeply troubling. There are two faces to this crisis: some of it is violent in nature; some of it is more invidious. All of it is being done by extremists: religious fanatics and secular fanatics.
No one saw this being played out in detail better than Pope Benedict XVI. Faith and reason are critical components to the good society, he counseled, but when either is taken to extremes, it bears ugly fruit. He properly saw Muslim fanaticism as the greatest threat stemming from those whose faith perspective became unhinged from reason; he saw European secular fanaticism as the greatest threat emanating from those whose embrace of reason became unhinged from faith.
The data make it clear that Benedict got it just right.
Recently, rapper Nicki Minaj stunned a United Nations audience when she blasted the elites for failing to defend religious liberty. “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria,” she said. She is right, and much of it is due to the Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram. This is the same woman whose vile anti-Catholic performance at the 2012 Grammy Awards led me to unload on her. So if it is obvious to her that there is a crisis in Nigeria, it should be a top priority for the prestigious world body to tackle.
Pope Leo XIV is correct to note that Muslims are also being slaughtered in Nigeria. But according to the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, of the 30,000 civilians killed in a four-year period, roughly 6,000 were Muslims and 17,000 were Christians. At least 7,000 Christians have been killed in 2025—an average of 35 a day—and 19,000 churches have been destroyed. It is radical Muslims in the north who are killing Christians in the southern part of the nation, the lion’s share of whom are Catholics.
The other face of Christian persecution is taking place in Europe. We are witnessing what Pope Francis called “polite persecution.” Typically, it is “disguised as culture, disguised as modernity, disguised as progress.” It centers on thought control. “God made us free,” he said, “but this kind of persecution takes away freedom.” It is the devil, he said, who is the sponsor of “polite persecution.”
What Francis observed is happening in Europe.
The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) recently released a report noting more than 2,200 anti-Christian hate crimes throughout Europe in 2024. France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Austria have the worst record. The crimes run the gamut from killings and arson to conscience violations and parental rights abuses.
Who’s committing these offenses? Radical Muslims lead the way, followed by radical left-wing ideologues. No demographic group is more wary of exercising their religious rights than Catholic priests. This is due in no small way to left-wing media portrayals of them. In fact, in the OIDAC survey, 90 percent of respondents said they perceive a consistent media bias against Catholic priests and bishops. Regrettably, 81 percent of priests said they did not report anti-Catholic incidents to the authorities.
It is not radical Muslims who are stocking the command centers in Europe. No, it is radical secularists. To be exact, it is the political and cultural elites who are drunk on secular extremism, and it is they who are the masters of “polite persecution.” Here are some examples.
These are examples of “soft totalitarianism.” It differs from the classic “hard totalitarianism” of Hitler, Stalin and Mao—who murdered tens of millions of their own people—by concentrating more on thought control.
There are examples of “soft totalitarianism” in the United States, as well, but on this score, the Europeans win first prize.
