Violence and persecution levelled at Christians around the world

In 2050, Christianity will still be the religion with the most adherents worldwide, with a following outnumbering that of Islam, although the latter will not be far behind it numerically. However, this forecast should not be allowed to obscure the fact that Christianity remains very diverse, being divided into Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant branches, and that demographic trends are different for each of them. Despite the fact that Christianity remains the most widely practised religion, Christians are in the minority in many regions of the world, where various communities suffer discrimination and even serious human rights violations. Those responsible may be the state, other social groups or a combination of the two. In this context, the United Nations has recently taken up the cudgels to defend these oppressed minority communities, and the European Parliament has adopted a growing number of resolutions on the subject. This briefing has been published further to a request in connection with a conference organised by Parliament in the framework of Article 17 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.