I know so many of us believe that Christians persecution is all about men from long ago in sandals being eaten by lions in an arena.

But let me drop some factoids that might just scrub away the shiny veneer of secular modernity like a hot knife through the illusion of progress. The Vatican sent its envoy, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, into the marble halls of the United Nations in Geneva, to sound the alarm on the brutal, unrelenting persecution of Christians across this modern world.

Nearly 400 million souls bearing the name of Christ, facing violence, discrimination, outright savagery. One in seven Christians on this planet affected. One in seven! Think about that for a second. That’s not a statistic; that’s a scream echoing from the margins of empire, from forgotten villages to crumbling cities. And in 2025 alone, almost 5,000 brothers and sisters in faith were martyred for daring to love Jesus. Thirteen a day. Thirteen human beings every single day, their blood crying out.

This isn’t ancient history or some dusty biblical tale. This is now. This is the world we’re all complicit in ignoring while we scroll through our feeds, chasing dopamine hits and distractions. The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians called this gathering at the Human Rights Council a historic first. It’s not lumped in with vague “religious freedom” platitudes, but zeroing in on Christ’s persecuted followers.

Archbishop Balestrero, channeling the words of Pope Leo XIV, told the gathered leaders that religious freedom isn’t some optional extra, some “privilege” handed out by benevolent states like sweets at a coronation. No. It’s a fundamental human right, woven into the fabric of what it means to be human, to seek the divine, to worship without fear of the whip or the bullet.

But here’s the kicker, the part that should make us all sit up and feel the fire in our chests: impunity. The perpetrators walk free. The killers, the discriminators, the ones who torch churches and drag believers into the night face no reckoning. No accountability. The machine of power shrugs, looks the other way, because Christians, in too many places, are viewed as acceptable victims.

You see, the machine, the empire cannot abide those who kneel to a different ruler.

These martyrs aren’t just victims of “outrageous human rights violations,” but they are victimized again by the world’s silence. They are witnesses. They embody values that shatter the logic of power. Forgiveness over vengeance, humility over domination, eternity over expediency.

Governments have a sacred duty here. Not optional. Fundamental. Protect the believers before the attack comes, during the storm, and in the aftermath when the world forgets. Promote freedom of religion because it is right, because it is just, because without it, we are all diminished, all chained in the same cage of fear.

So wake up. This isn’t a peripheral issue for the pious. This is the frontline of the human spirit. When 400 million are targeted for their faith in the Prince of Peace, when 13 die daily for refusing to bow to idols of state or ideology, we cannot look away. We must stand with them. We must demand justice. We must remember that true freedom begins where the cross stands defiant against every empire that ever tried to snuff it out.

Love one another, as He loved us. Even when the world hates. Especially then.