Most believers in the West tend to be unaware of the extent to which many millions of religious minorities endure hardship for their faith in much of today's world.
This isn't the sort of mistreatment that involves a sneering remark at the workplace. Rather, it's life-altering abuse. Thousands die for their faith each year, while millions of others face various violations with basically no chance of obtaining justice.
Earlier this year, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the UN in Geneva, remarked that Christians are the world's “most persecuted religious community,” adding that all nations have a “duty to protect freedom of religion or belief, which includes preventing third parties from violating this right.”
These statements are worth making, of course. But the problem is that many countries don't seem especially willing or able to fulfill this "duty" of protecting religious freedom.
In multiple parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Christians are slaughtered for their faith — sometimes while at church.
In parts of South Asia, being a Christian could mean having your daughter kidnapped during a home invasion by non-Christian acquaintances and then forced into silence by the threat of the same thing happening to other family members.
In parts of the Middle East and North Africa region, being a Christian could mean kidnapping or slaughter. It also often entails the eradication of any place to practice your faith.
Since 1999, the U.S. Department of State has issued a list of Countries of Particular Concern (usually about 12 countries or so) that have shown indifference toward or complicity in continuous hostile acts against religious freedom.
Nobody likes to receive a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) designation: It's embarrassing to see your name next to North Korea and Iran. Also, any country designated as a CPC becomes eligible for a number of economic sanctions, including the freezing of personal assets. And whatever the power brokers of such countries may say about the West, they often place or invest vast sums of their (dubiously-obtained) wealth in Western institutions.
If you look at the State Department site, you will notice that it says: “The most recent Countries of Particular Concern designations were made by the Secretary of State on December 29, 2023.”
That's now 2.5 years ago.
This list is supposed to be updated annually. The Biden administration did not release a new list in 2024. Nor did the Trump administration release one in 2025. Now, we are halfway through 2026.
This is by far the longest such delay since the list first appeared in 1999.
It's worth pointing out that Nigeria did receive its own CPC designation on October 31, 2025. Many persons concerned with international religious freedom were indeed pleased with this designation.
Also, the current administration has made an effort to safeguard religious freedom domestically — as shown by the May 2025 establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission, whose 12 appointees included Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron.
While millions of Americans surely support the protection of religious expression in their country, the circumstances for believers in many other parts of the world are exponentially more fraught with danger and mistreatment.
Religious freedom is, at least in theory, a major aspect of American foreign policy. If the U.S. doesn't get involved in these matters, that's a pretty serious problem. Not many other countries have enough influence to put pressure on international religious freedom violators.
There must be some reason for this unprecedented CPC list delay. But letting the delay grow longer on an issue of this magnitude does not reflect well on the United States. Nor does it help anyone -- except the violators.
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Note: For those interested in seeing a faith-based organization that also produces a global religious freedom report, take a look at Aid to the Church in Need.
Its "2025 Religious Freedom Report" was released on Tuesday, October 21, in Rome. The biennial report covers the period from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2024, and examines the religious freedom situation in 196 countries.
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