Good news! Number of Christians martyred worldwide down by 15,000 last year

The bad news? The number of Christians martyred for their faith in 2016 was 90,000 -- 1 every 6 minutes -- making Christians the most persecuted group in the world. The previous year the number was even higher: 105,000. The statistics were cited by the prominent Italian sociologist Massimo Introvigne in an interview with Vatican Radio, referencing a study produced by the independent Center for Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. [Source]

Women from the Christian community mourn for their relatives, who were killed by a suicide attack on a church, during their funeral in Lahore, March 17, 2015. Suicide bombings outside two churches in Lahore killed 14 people and wounded nearly 80 others during services on Sunday in attacks claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban.