Christians are being violently persecuted across the globe while world governments and international bodies continue to ignore the crisis, said a top Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, accusing the United Nations and its member states of failing to respond to what he described as the world’s most severe and widespread religious persecution.
Archbishop Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states, told the U.N. General Assembly last week that more than 360 million Christians live in places where they face high levels of discrimination and violence, according to Catholic News Agency.
He said the attacks have increased in recent years and include destruction of churches, imprisonment, forced displacement and killings.
“The data show that Christians are the most persecuted religious group worldwide,” Gallagher said. “Yet the international community seems to be turning a blind eye to their plight.” He also criticized the erosion of religious freedom more broadly, calling it one of the most urgent threats to peace.
In his remarks, Gallagher linked the persecution of Christians to a larger failure by global institutions to uphold the right to religious belief and expression. He said true religious freedom must allow individuals and communities to practice and profess their faith publicly and privately, without obstruction.
He also condemned what he described as a “culture of death” promoted through abortion and euthanasia, and called on nations to defend life from conception to natural death. “The right to life,” he said, is a “fundamental prerequisite for the exercise of all other rights.”
Gallagher also warned against the growing use of surrogate motherhood, calling it a violation of the dignity of women and children. The Holy See, he said, was renewing its call for an international ban on the practice, Vatican News reported.
Throughout his speech, the archbishop framed the global neglect of Christian persecution as part of a broader moral collapse, where economic and political interests have replaced basic human rights. He cited a range of crises, including poverty, armed conflict, climate change and systemic inequality, which he said continue to erode dignity and stability.
He called for the cancellation of debts owed by the poorest countries, arguing that these obligations trap nations in poverty and should be forgiven as a matter of justice. He urged a global recommitment to human development policies that place individuals at the center of economic planning.
Last month, Bill Maher, host of the long-running HBO show “Real Time,” criticized American media and public discourse for ignoring the large-scale killings of Christians in Nigeria.
“They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country,” Maher said, referring to attacks by Islamist terror group Boko Haram. “If you don’t know what’s going on in Nigeria, your media sources suck.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who was on Maher’s panel, praised him for raising the issue and criticized what she said was a lack of media coverage.
Maher noted that since 2009, over 100,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria and 18,000 churches burned.
Gallagher also addressed numerous global hotspots and conflicts, including Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria. He reiterated Pope Leo XIV’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and denounced attacks that violate international humanitarian law.
The Holy See’s representative argued that global peace cannot be achieved through power politics or military escalation, and instead urged nations to invest in diplomacy, disarmament and development. He proposed that a fraction of global military spending be redirected to eradicating poverty, hunger and climate degradation.
He also addressed the need to reform the U.N. and return to the core principles of the 1945 Charter, saying the current multilateral system suffers from a “crisis of credibility.” The U.N., he asserted, must avoid being diluted by new ideologies and instead focus on the original aims of peace, justice and respect for law.
Pope Leo XIV has also called on the U.N. to be a forum for moral clarity and collective action, not a platform for ideological power struggles.
Gallagher warned the U.N. body that silence and inaction in the face of such violence amounts to complicity. He said freedom of religion is not just the absence of persecution, but the ability to live one’s faith fully and without fear.
The archbishop closed his address by urging world governments to prioritize the protection of the most vulnerable, including those targeted for their beliefs and to reject policies that reduce people to economic units or political pawns. He described the poor as potential builders of a more humane future.
