“Today, Christianity is the most persecuted religious group in the world,” says Tristan Azbej, State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and the Hungary Helps Program.

“According to different organizations,” he continues, “there are more than 300 million followers of Christ in the world who are either discriminated against because they are Christian or who are targeted by terrorist organizations or oppressive regimes because they give testimony to the name of Jesus Christ.”

The 2024 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom

Christian persecution is on the rise. The 2024 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom was recently published by the US Government in May, highlighting the need for governments around the world to take the lead in ensuring religious freedom. The report assesses global religious freedom conditions and makes recommendations to the U.S. government. USCIRF identified 17 countries for severe religious freedom violations, with 12 already on the State Department’s list. New recommendations include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Nigeria, and Vietnam.

Hungary’s Commitment to Aid Persecuted Christians

Hungary, a Central European country, places a strong priority on aiding Christians suffering from persecution. Tristan Azbej, the State Secretary for Aid to Persecuted Christians, holds a unique role on the old continent.

EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief Andreas Thonhauser sits down with him to discuss the situation of persecuted Christians around the world.

The Moral Obligation to Support Persecuted Christians

Azbej explains, “I hold a very unique title in the Hungarian government. My title is State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians. Hungary has a Christian democratic government, and we are one of the very few remaining European nations. We are proud of our Christian cultural heritage and our Christian faith. So, it only came naturally that we started to recognize the extent and severity of Christian persecution in the world. The program was started when we witnessed the atrocities.”

“It should be the moral obligation not only of Christian nations but the rest of the world to support that faith group that is the most persecuted today,” he continues.

He notes, “This is why the Hungarian government in 2016 set up the first-ever governmental unit dedicated to the aid of persecuted Christians.”

Rising Anti-Christian Persecution

Andreas Thonhauser, EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief, asks:

“Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world. It's a fact that is not widely known. You've been working on this issue now since 2016. Can you tell us a little bit more about how the situation has developed? Has it become worse or is it improving?”

“Unfortunately,” Azbej says, “the extent of anti-Christian persecution is increasing. It is changing and shifting in nature and geographical locations. When we started to work more than six years ago, it was still active, and we had to provide lifesaving humanitarian first relief to Christians, Yazidis, and other ethno-religious groups that were victimized by ISIS.”

The Impact of ISIS and the Current Situation

“Since then,” he continues, “ISIS in the Middle East as a caliphate has collapsed, but the number of Christians has been decimated. Even more than that, it has shrunk to a very small proportion in the Middle East. For example, in Iraq, there were 1.5 million Christians only two decades ago, and now this number is around 200,000.”

“So, it's an 80% loss,” Azbej notes. “What we are doing now in the Middle East is supporting the institutions—the social, health, and education institutions of the small remaining congregations—not only to save Christianity in the wider Holy Land, but also knowing that these Christian institutions are also benefiting the non-Christian population, the Muslims. So by supporting the Christian Churches in the Middle East, we also support other suffering people living alongside the Christians.

The Shift to Sub-Saharan Africa

“At the same time,” he continues, “the hotspot for violent Christian persecution shifted to the African continent, to the sub-Saharan African region. What we witness today in northern Nigeria is always the same type of bloodshed and anti-Christian aggression that was witnessed in Iraq and Syria in 2014 and the following years.”

The Crisis in Northern Nigeria

“Can you share with us what is happening in northern Nigeria, especially with Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen, who are the main actors there?”

“It has been surveyed that last year,” Azbej says, “around 5,000 Christians were murdered because of their faith around the world. These are the registered cases. It’s probably the tip of the iceberg. But out of that 5,000, about 90% were Nigerian Christians. So, it is a mass atrocity amounting almost to the genocidal level. And it is because of different types of social conflicts, anti-Christian jihadism. Islamist extremism is on the rise.”

“There are groups, terrorist groups like Boko Haram,” he states. “The Islamic State terrorist organization is also present in western Africa, and there are Fulani extremist jihadists who systematically murder Christians. Just one example: Last Christmas, over two days, around 300 Christians were murdered by a Fulani extremist in Nigeria. So, this is what we focus on.”

“I can report proudly,” he continues, “that through the Hungary Helps Forum and through Christian faith-based humanitarian engagements, we have directly reached more than 2 million suffering people in the world.”

Cooperation with the Holy See

“What brings you to Rome?”

“I came here for two reasons,” Azbej shares. “To meet high-ranking officials of the Holy See and also of the Italian government. With the Holy See and the Catholic Church, we have been cooperating ever since we started our mission for persecuted Christians. It only comes naturally that our program and our approach is ecumenical. We work for the persecuted Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants.”

“Thank you very much for your time. Thank you for this interview,” Thonhauser concludes.

Adapted by Jacob Stein

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