Sad events show the Catholic Church subject to all kinds of tribulations: decadence in places of ancient Christian tradition, persecution in missionary areas. In the midst of the storms, she is alive and growing stronger, because the power of hell can never defeat her.
Newsroom (17/04/2024 12:58, Gaudium Press) Wars and persecution of the Church: “The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer,”; this sentence, spoken 107 years ago by the Blessed Virgin to the three little shepherds in the second part of the Secret of Fatima, leaves us surprised. Faced with it, we ask ourselves: what statement would be made today when we see the Holy Church sailing on the seas of this world, shaken by decadence, persecution and, even more so, by the perplexities that beset Catholics who remain faithful in Peter’s boat?
Accentuated crisis in some countries
On the one hand, in important countries, some of which have a Christian tradition, we see a sharp decline in the number of faithful, the closure of parishes and a decrease in religious vocations. In other places, we witness persecution of those who remain firm in the faith. But even more worrying is the uncertainty of those who see the world moving away from the precepts of the Gospel, anguished by a situation that seems to have no way out.
News agencies are constantly transmitting information about the situation of decadence within the boat of Peter.
A study of the Catholic dioceses of Bavaria in Germany, carried out by the German Press Agency, indicates at the end of 2023: one million three hundred thousand Catholics left the practice of attending Sunday Masses, baptisms and religious burials between 2019 and 2022, and as a result: 131 churches closed. Last year alone, more than half a million people renounced the Catholic Church in Germany, 522,821 to be exact.
The Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, in the United States, has announced – in mid-2023 – that fifteen parishes will be abolished, the number of priests has fallen by 42 per cent in the last fifty years, from 2000 to 2022, and the percentage of active Catholics has dropped by 20 points.
According to annual data from Georgetown University’s Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate, priestly vocations in the United States have fallen from 6,400 seminarians in 1970 to 2,759 in 2022.
A survey carried out by Euromedia Research found that only 58.4 per cent of Italian citizens over the age of 18 identify themselves as “Catholic”. In the last 50 years, vocations have fallen by more than 60 per cent, from 6,337 seminarians in 1970 to 2,103 in 2019.
The diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam in the Netherlands has projected that in the next five years, 60 per cent of churches will be closed, or 99 of the 164 existing churches.
Currently, less than half the population of England and Wales, 46.2 per cent, claim to be Christian. In 2011, it was 59.3 per cent.
The number of Irish people who consider themselves Catholics has fallen by 10 per cent in just six years. The number of women religious in Ireland has fallen by 50 per cent in the last 20 years.
The Swiss Institute for Pastoral Sociology (SPI) in St. Gallen revealed that 34,182 people formally left the Catholic Church in 2021.
The offer to sell convents in Europe continues. For one and a half million euros you can buy the Poor Clares convent in Sarteano, Siena, which for 500 years has housed this cloistered and prayerful congregation. From convent to school, from school to hotel, it is now up for sale.
The French Senate reports that at least 500 churches in France are permanently closed and, by 2030, almost 5,000 religious sites face the threat of being sold or demolished.
The numbers are impressive. St Paul’s wise exhortation to the Romans (12:2): “Do not be conformed to this world” has been flouted; we are witnessing the consequences. The much vaunted “aggiornamento” – updating – following the “signs of the times” in evangelisation… shows its failure.
A persecution that has always existed
In another sense, St Paul warned: “All who want to live godly in Jesus Christ will have to suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12).
The news is alarming. At the end of 2023, on 7 September, a seminarian was burnt to death when Muslim extremists, after failing in their attempt to enter a priest’s house in the diocese of Kafanchan in Nigeria, set fire to it. Two priests managed to escape, but unfortunately the seminarian did not.
Christmas 2023 was marked by serious acts of violence in Bokkos, Plateau State, Nigeria. Between 23 and 26 December, Christian communities were attacked by Muslim elements, killing around 170 people and injuring more than 300. People are summarily murdered; houses and crops, churches and clinics are set on fire. An average of 14 Christians are killed every day in Nigeria.
Attacks by Islamic insurgents in Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique, have forced priests, religious and lay missionaries to flee to other towns. On 9 February, they murdered and kidnapped an undetermined number of people; churches and the homes of hundreds of people were set on fire.
Fifteen worshippers died and two were injured during Sunday Mass on 25 February, when Islamic militants opened fire inside a Catholic church in Essakane, in northern Burkina Faso.
India is not off the list. The Hindu extremist group Kutumba Surakshya Parishad issued an ultimatum on 7 February to remove Christian symbols from church-run schools, demanding that they not wear cassocks or religious habits. They also demanded that images of Jesus and Mary be removed within 15 days, threatening harsh consequences.
A source close to the Archdiocese of Imphal (India) said that Meitei Hindu militants have destroyed a total of 290 villages and 603 churches in the last three months.
In Pakistan, Islamist groups have destroyed 21 churches and at least 100 Christian homes have been burnt down.
The NGO Open Doors, which records the persecution of Christians around the world year after year, reports that in 2023, 4,998 Christians were murdered for their faith, 4,125 were imprisoned and 14,766 Christian churches and properties were attacked for religious reasons.
Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, at the Human Rights Council session on 26 February, pointed out that discrimination against and persecution of believers is on the rise worldwide, religious freedom is violated in almost a third of the world’s countries and affects around 4.9 billion people.
The promise will be fulfilled
Decadence and persecution, and perplexity?
These sad events show that this sacrosanct institution, the Catholic Church, is subject to all kinds of tribulations. Those who are concerned about such a disparate situation: decadence in places of ancient Christian tradition and persecution in mission areas, will not lose confidence in the one who was founded on the fragile rock called Peter: “On this rock I will build my Church” (Mt 16:18). We proclaim the firm conviction that the Holy Church is an indestructible divine institution. In the midst of storms, she is alive and growing stronger, because the power of hell can never overcome her (Mt 16:18).
By Fr Fernando Gioia, EP
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
