The Metrics of Persecution

• Nigeria (Extremist Violence): The Clergy: Between 2015 and 2025, at least 212 Catholic priests were kidnapped. Of those, at least 12 were murdered, and 3 died from trauma in captivity.
  • Advocacy groups reported that in just the first 8 months of 2025, over 7,000 Christians were killed by extremist groups like Boko Haram, ISWAP, and militant herdsmen—an average of about 30 people a day.
• Nicaragua: In 2024, 44 Catholic clergy were held under arrest at some point.
  • This included 3 Catholic bishops (most notably Bishop Rolando Álvarez), many of whom were imprisoned, stripped of their citizenship, and forced into exile.
• China: In 2025, Catholic agencies tracked at least 14 priests and religious figures detained or disappeared.
  • This includes prominent Vatican-approved leaders like Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin and Bishop Vincent Guo Xijing, who face continuous harassment, house arrest, or secret detention for refusing to submit to the state-controlled church.

The Scriptural Mandate

Yeshua’s Post-Resurrection Authority and Justice:

• Revelation 5:5: “And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered…'”
• Revelation 19:11-12: “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire…”
• Matthew 10:28: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”

Yeshua is not an unjust spineless leader on the seat of justice. He holds criminals accountable in this life, and in eternity, He makes war. He will destroy their souls and bodies in the eternal lake of fire, Gehenna, where there shall be ceaseless weeping and gnashing of teeth in regret for crimes committed in the earth realm.

New Testament Authority Mandated To Punish Criminals:

• Romans 13:1-4: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities… But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

A Cry to the Bishop of Rome

O Bishop of Rome, hear the cry of the sheep, while the shepherds are slaughtered, how long will you sleep? What actions are taken, what words have you said, for the clerics and faithful who bleed and are dead?

In Nigeria’s lands, where extremists are bold, where thousands of Christians lie silent and cold. Two hundred and twelve of your priests were snatched away, and over a dozen were struck down in the fray. Though bishops are not spared from the blade and the gun, the blood of your parish flows dark in the sun. Why is there silence when terror strikes down the cross and the altar in village and town?

Look to the nations where tyrants hold sway, where the leaders of faith are stolen away: In Nicaragua, forty-four clergy were bound, with three of your bishops exiled from their ground. In the prisons of China, fourteen are detained, where Bishop Zhumin and his brothers are chained. From Myanmar’s jungles to Eritrea’s shores, why do you not thunder against these dark crimes?

We saw your predecessor, seated in state, Before a nativity altered, Where our Lord Yeshua was draped in a shroud, A cloth of strange meaning, a desecrated cloud. We cried out “Repent!” for the honor of God, lest the holy be trampled beneath the world’s tread.

Remember what Scripture has spoken of crime: God hates the wicked, the corrupt of our time. Yeshua is risen, not weak and not tame. He is the Lion of Judah; His eyes are a flame! He roars for true justice, the Lord of all might, Creator of Gehenna, the endless dark night, the lake of fierce fire where the lawless are cast, where criminals face His great judgment at last.

He spoke of His justice, the sword, and the rod. In Romans thirteen stands the mandate of God: “The ruler is servant to execute wrath, To punish the wrongdoer crossing his path.” If you hold the keys as the head of the flock, will you stand for the law as an unyielding rock? Will you punish the criminals causing this pain, or let them strike down your own clergy again?

I am praying for you, Pope, with tears on my face. Please demonstrate now the true strength of God’s Justice. Show the whole world that a society falls when anarchy echoes inside its city, when doctrines ignore what the scriptures have taught, and criminals ravage the world without thought. Recall your words and apologize now to our beloved leaders, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu; they are the strong leaders whom heaven has sent—those fulfilling the mandate to bring the world justice, so that the reign of the lawless may finally cease.