CHRISTIANITY MOST PERSECUTED RELIGION, CARDINAL TELLS U.N.

CHRISTIANITY MOST PERSECUTED RELIGION, CARDINAL TELLS U.N.

(ANSA) - Rome, October 27 - Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, the Vatican's representative at the United Nations told the General Assembly on Tuesday.

Monsignor Celestino Migliore, the Holy See's permanent observer at the UN, said the right to freedom of religion ''is still widely violated'', despite repeated declarations from the international community and global conventions.

''Acts of religious intolerance are perpetrated in many forms,'' he said, adding that ''no religion is free from discrimination''.

''But while religious intolerance is increasing around the world, Christians are the group that is worst hit,'' Migliore continued.

According to the cardinal, over 200 million people of different Christian denominations around the world are subject to ''ongoing discrimination, both legal and cultural''.

The Vatican's representative cited repeated attacks on Christian communities in several Asian and Middle Eastern countries in recent months, with houses and churches burned, and people left dead or severely injured.

''The Holy See is therefore making a fresh request to governments to repeal those laws that encourage injustice, sectarian violence and inter-religious violence,'' he said.

Migliore also urged administrations to ''refrain from adopting restrictions on freedom of expression, which often lead to dissident voices being silenced, particularly those belonging to ethnic and religious minorities''.

The most widely reported attacks against Christians of recent months took place in Pakistan in August, when seven Christians were burned to death and scores of houses looted and set on fire following false allegations of a Koran being desecrated.

According to the 2008 annual report of Vatican news agency Fides, anti-Christian fanatics killed 20 Catholic missionaries and volunteers last year.

The victims included 16 missionaries, two priests and two volunteers as well as the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, who was kidnapped and killed in February.

In its report Fides also singled out the killings of Father Bernard Digal by Hindu extremists in India, Father Xavier Karunaratnam in Sri Lanka and volunteer Boduin Ntamenya in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

There are around two billion Christians worldwide, about half of whom are Catholics. Muslims number around 1.3 billion.