The power of prayer is being marshalled across Canada to call out abuse of power by China’s Communist Party in a national, ecumenical Zoom liturgy scheduled for March 21.

OTTAWA -- MPs voted overwhelmingly to condemn the Chinese government for engaging in genocide against religious minorities in that country.

VATICAN CITY - People who feel restless or lacking inner peace will discover it when they visit those who are experiencing great difficulty, suffering, illness or persecution, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY – With millions of people fleeing violence, persecution and poverty around the globe, individual nations must expand options that make it possible for migrants and refugees to cross their borders safely and legally, Pope Francis said.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – A new report estimates that between 50 and 80 per cent of Christians have fled the countries of Iraq and Syria since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.

WASHINGTON – Although the North Korean government is doing everything it can to suppress Christianity, the faith continues to spread, said a defector and missionary who called for prayers and action to increase religious freedom in the country.

Amid a backdrop of the historical Christian village of Alqosh in the Nineveh Plains in Iraq, Athra Kado passionately talked about protecting his Assyrian people as a soldier of the Nineveh Plains Protection Unit.

The greatest strength of the Church today is in the little, persecuted Churches. That was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta. At the heart of the Pope’s homily were the martyrs: “Today there are more than in the first ages” – but the media says nothing about them, he continued, because it’s not news. Pope Francis invited us to remember those who suffer martyrdom.

WASHINGTON – Global persecution of Christians has risen for the fourth year in a row and is on a “rapid rise” in Asia, the advocacy group Open Doors UK warned on Wednesday in its annual report on Christian persecution.

CHESTER, England – Christians in Pakistan are fighting persecution and terrorism with interfaith dialogue, said Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore.

Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Sunday at the Salesian centre in Baku, the central event of his 10-hour visit to Azerbaijan.

The Holy Spirit strengthens us so that we may bear witness to the Lord even through persecution – even to the point of sacrificing our life. But also through the small persecutions like gossip and criticism. That’s what Pope Francis said Monday at the daily Mass at the Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican.

TORONTO – The “fires of persecution” are bringing Christians worldwide closer together, a number of faith leaders in Toronto believe.

Pope Francis said on Tuesday that "persecution is the Church’s daily bread.”