The general secretary of VOX, Ignacio Garriga, denounced in the European Parliament the international silence and manipulation regarding the systematic persecution of Christians in Africa, a situation he openly described as “genocide”. His intervention took place at a working meeting of the Patriots group on religious freedom, co-chaired by MEPs Margarita de la Pisa and György Hölvényi, dedicated to analyzing the democratic transition in Africa and the role of the Church.
Garriga stated that “it has not been possible to talk about Africa without talking about the persecution of Christians”, recalling that “more than 380 million Christians are suffering violent persecution” that ranges from harassment and threats to mass murders. He pointed out that Nigeria is the epicenter of this tragedy, with “more than 7,000 Christians killed since January of this year” and more than 50,000 since 2009, and warned of similar patterns of violence in Congo, Somalia, or Kenya. “We are talking about a genocide”, he insisted.
Direct accusation against the silence of Western governments and international organizations
The VOX leader denounced that this reality faces “an imposed informational silence by the West” and an “institutional manipulation” that avoids recognizing the religious motivation of the crimes. He criticized that Spanish public television has gone so far as to label the Christian genocide as a “hoax”, and accused organizations such as the UN Human Rights Office, Amnesty International, or Médecins Sans Frontières of deliberately minimizing the religious dimension of the massacres, reducing them to ethnic or political conflicts.
Global persecution: China, India, Hispanoamerica, and the extreme case of Nicaragua
Garriga emphasized that the persecution against Christians is not limited to the African continent. He recalled that in China and North Korea “state harassment has been systematic”, that in India serious discriminations persist, and that in Hispanoamerica terrorist groups, drug traffickers, and even governments, such as that of Nicaragua, have persecuted priests, expelled religious personnel, and attacked temples in a continuous manner.
Defense of the role of Christians and criticism of European inaction
In his intervention, he highlighted that Christians are “a fundamental piece for promoting peace and the development of peoples” and lamented that Europe has forgotten its roots. He criticized that “the left feels a deep hatred toward everything Christian” and denounced a convergence of interests between political leftism and Islamism in their attack on Christianity. He also reproached the European Christian Democracy for its lack of reaction to these persecutions.
He pointed out that “the patriot forces have been left alone” in defending persecuted Christians, citing the example of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and recalling that it was Donald Trump who placed the violence against Christians in Nigeria on the international agenda.
Final call to Europe: “Forgetting them would be betraying ourselves”
Garriga concluded by warning that Europe cannot turn its back on persecuted Christians, as doing so would mean betraying its identity and history. He recalled the testimony of the martyrs—“more than 2,000 beatified and 11 canonized in Spain”—as a call to hope, conversion, and the defense of truth. “Where there is living faith, even in the midst of persecution, hope is reborn, and from today’s cross a new spring will spring for the Church and for our nations”, he affirmed.