Scottish Catholic Observer

One only has to look around the world to see the terrible pressures the human race is under. Whether it is the widespread flooding in Australia, that has drowned half a continent and ruined countless lives; the French and British skiers who were crushed by an avalanche in the Alps this week or the devastated island of Haiti—which, as Cardinal Keith O’Brien reports, remains a shattered society one year after it was hit by a earthquake—it is clear that the world faces severe and widespread problems.

With such death and destruction through natural disasters, it is little short of madness that so many people devote so much time to attacking those of different faiths and religions.

As believers of the one true Faith, Catholics have all to often borne the brunt of such persecution and the Pope is wise to restate the fact that Christians today are the most persecuted group in the world.

Sadly this is especially true in Muslim countries. The Holy Father made special mention of Pakistan and there is no question that that country’s inherently prejudiced, anti-Christian blasphemy law must be repealed. It is nothing more than a licence to harass and attack the Christian minority.

Even more upsetting is that many Pakistanis have feted the assassin who killed a liberal politician who wished to repeal those laws. Such scenes are profoundly upsetting. While murderers are hailed in the streets and Christians treated so abominably, Pakistan cannot be considered a civilised country.

It is worth noting however, as the Pope does, that attacks on Christians are not limited to Muslims. In Communist China the Pope rightly declares the state can have no control over the Church, and that western democracies must learn to curb their anti-Christian legislation that see Catholic doctors pressured to hand out contraceptives and Crucifixes ripped off school walls. And this persecution of Christians is the merest tip of the iceberg of the many hateful attacks against those who follow Jesus’s teachings, attacks that occur all over the world every single day.

The Holy Father is aware that attacks against the religious freedoms are the greatest danger in the world today, which is why he has repeatedly addressed the issue in recent months.

When there are so many natural disasters in the world—flooding, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and more—killing so many, it is a great tragedy that some groups are determined to add to the death toll by attacking those of the Christian Faith.

Until such vicious attacks stop there can be no peace on earth.