I, personally, prefer beaches and cruises as my way of vacationing because the relaxing is a nice balance for my regularly intense and stressful day to day life. Reading about life in other countries is a way for me to “visit” other countries though! Sophia Institute Press published in 2025, one such book, which covers Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, China, and the West is: The Martyrs of the New Millennium by Robert Royal.
The back cover of the book says that the reader will discover the “most dangerous place to be a Catholic priest.” This peaked my interest to search the book for the answer! Lucky for you, I’ll provide it here!
The answer was surprising because Mexico is 75% catholic. Plus, our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego in Mexico! Furthermore, “public spaces in Mexico are saturated with Christian churches, processions, and shrines.”
Sounds beautiful, right? Well, let’s get to danger:
”Mexico ranks as the most dangerous country in the world for Catholic priests…between 2007 and 2022, a mere fifteen-year span, somewhere between forty-five and fifty Catholic priests were assassinated in what reports have characterized as ‘narco related violence.’ If nuns, seminarians, and lay pastoral workers are added, the count is even higher.”
Before that, was the Cristero War in Mexico between 1926 to 1929. Among those killed during the Cristero War, St. John Paul II declared 25 of lay and religious leaders to be saints and martyrs.
The book goes through martyrs in the rest of Latin America as well as the rest of the world. I plan to write a “Be Not Afraid” article at some point as that was Saint John Paul II’s central message during his pontificate. “Be not afraid” or “fear not” also appears in the Bible 365 times. One for every day of the year! Maybe God wants us to be fearless every single day?
Many prayers for those around the world experiencing religious persecution.
Saint Pope John Paul II, pray for us!
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