Weekly Bulletin on the Persecution
of Christians Worldwide

14 July 2026

In an effort to dispel the veil of secrecy surrounding these events, the Universal Christian Church of the New Jerusalem denounces the ongoing wave of anti-Christian persecution by publishing a weekly digest of critical reports from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. In many countries, Christians pay a daily price in blood, exile or imprisonment for their loyalty to the Gospel.

China

On 24 June, law enforcement officers raided the Cedar Protestant Church in Wuhan (Hubei Province) during a service, arresting Pastor Guo Xiaolin and his wife, Liang Cuili. Those in attendance were forced to hand over personal identification details and sign a declaration promising to not participate in ‘illegal gatherings’ again. The place of worship was subsequently sealed. Sentenced to fifteen days of administrative detention, the couple was scheduled for release on 10 July. Instead, on that day, the pastor was transferred to a criminal detention centre in a clear indication that authorities intend to initiate formal criminal proceedings against him. The current whereabouts and condition of his wife remain unverified. Their two children, aged fourteen and fifteen, have been left entirely on their own.

Egypt

On Wednesday, 8 July, a crowd of extremists stormed a building used by Coptic Christians for worship in the village of Tal al-Qibliya in the Minya Governorate, hurling stones and shouting sectarian insults. The assailants prevented the faithful from leaving the Coptic church, cut off its electricity supply, and vandalised the car of the parish priest, Father Pavlos Kamal. Several Christians were injured. Coptic Bishop Macarius of Minya, who had repeatedly alerted the authorities to the threats and intimidation suffered by the community during previous services, denounced the failure to prevent the attack. When police arrived at the scene, they arrested four of the Christian victims, releasing them two days later after they withdrew their complaint against the attackers.

India

On 4 July, a group of Hindu nationalists disrupted a thanksgiving prayer service and wedding reception for a newlywed couple in Palbari, within the Paschim Medinipur district (West Bengal). The women in attendance — both Christian and Hindu — were harassed and forcibly stripped of their traditional bridal symbols. Despite being present at the scene, the police didn’t intervene or stop the aggressors, choosing instead to detain Protestant Pastor Anup Ghosh on groundless allegations. The following day, Sunday 5 July, at least four separate incidents were recorded across the same State:

In Subhashgram, on the outskirts of Kolkata, a mob raided a Presbyterian church currently under construction, shattering windows, desecrating the altar, destroying musical instruments, and tearing down crosses that had already been erected on the roof. The congregation, consisting of approximately fifty impoverished families, had purchased the land to finally secure a permanent place of worship.

In the Murshidabad district, Barnali Chatterjee, a Christian widow, was assaulted inside her own home and her household belongings were destroyed because she refused to recant her faith and surrender her plot of land for the construction of a Hindu temple.

In Bankura, Hindu militants disrupted a prayer meeting, confiscated Bibles, and detained the worshippers, including women and children, for several hours.

In Faridpur (Purba Bardhaman district), Grace Church was attacked during Sunday worship; Evangelical Pastor Surajit Ghosh and members of the congregation were severely beaten.

Invariably, these targeted assaults are followed by retaliatory legal complaints filed against the victims themselves, accusing them of carrying out forced conversions.

On Tuesday 7 July, in the village of Polempalli, in the Sukma district (Chhattisgarh), the homes of tribal Christians were demolished and ransacked by other villagers. The families were forced to flee as torrential monsoon rain lashed the region, and their property was plundered. The reason for all this was their refusal to recant their faith in Christ.

Iran

On 29 June, Hannah Gholami, a 36-year-old woman who converted from Islam to Christianity, returned to Evin Prison in Tehran following a four-month leave of absence granted on health grounds. She is serving a two-year prison sentence on charges brought against her and three other converts of having “formed” and “belonged to a group aimed at undermining national security”. The group in question was merely a house church of evangelical converts, and the “national security threat” amounted to nothing more than a few believers gathering in communal prayer.

Nicaragua

On Sunday 28 June, Monsignor Juan Abelardo Mata Guevara, the 80-year-old Catholic Bishop emeritus of Estelí, who retired from pastoral governance in 2020, accepted an invitation to celebrate Mass at the Church of La Cruz del Calvario. During the service, he paid tribute to exiled pastors and those placed under house arrest, openly speaking about the ongoing religious persecution in the country. The following day, 29 June, the National Police detained him and transferred him to the El Chipote maximum-security prison in Managua, over 200 kilometres away.

Although released that evening, he was arrested again on the morning of 30 June and held until the afternoon. The prelate, who suffers from a heart condition and wears a pacemaker, is now under close surveillance at his home. On the same day, Catholic Deacon Wilfred Aráuz Rodríguez, the parish priest of the church where the Bishop had celebrated Mass, and Catholic Fathers Francisco Morales and Rigoberto Delgadillo Sánchez were also detained for approximately twelve hours.

Nigeria

On Friday 10 July, two Christian farmers, Gabriel Igwu and Inalegwu Adakole, were killed by armed militants in their cassava field in Akpachi, Otukpo County. Less than thirty-six hours later, at dawn on Sunday 12 July, roughly 150 Fulani jihadists invaded the Otukpo-Nobi community, killing sixteen Christians who were preparing for Sunday service and injuring around twenty more. The authorities had received advanced warning of the impending attacks but didn’t intervene.

Between Saturday 11 July and Sunday 12 July, in Plateau State, gunmen from the Fass area assaulted the villages of Kum and Wereng-Camp in Riyom County, slaughtering nine members of a single family: Celina James (38), Yohanna James (21), Janet Yohanna (18), Sele James (18), Melody James (16), Reto James (10), Endurance James (8), Peace James (3), and three-month-old infant Jennifer Yohanna. The village chief was also critically wounded. All of the victims were relatives of Protestant Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo, who had already been targeted in recent years due to his denunciations of the ongoing genocide in the state on the global stage.

Pakistan

On 3 July, blasphemy accusations were broadcast from mosque loudspeakers in the village of Jhulan, in the Hafizabad district of Punjab, against Protestant Pastor Sajeel Robin. Originally from the village but a long-time resident of the United States, he was targeted for posting religious debate videos online. More than two dozen Christian families fled their homes, taking only the belongings they could carry. The pastor’s father and maternal uncle were taken into police custody, while his brother went into hiding to evade arrest.

On Wednesday 8 July, in Mastung (Balochistan), two young Catholics – Ayush Masih (21) and Dominic Masih (24, a father of two) – were shot dead while playing cricket with other young people in the Shamsabad area. Hitmen arriving on a motorcycle opened fire on the group before fleeing. The Islamic State, Khorasan Province (ISKP), claimed responsibility for the attack. Approximately fifty Christian families reside in Mastung, largely employed as sanitation workers. Over the past decade, at least eighteen Christians have been killed there across five separate attacks.

The following day, on Thursday 9 July, in Karachi’s Baldia Town neighbourhood, unidentified individuals delivered an envelope to a Muslim shopkeeper containing a burnt page of the Quran alongside photographs of a 40-year-old Catholic man, Azeem Javaid, and his mother. As news of the alleged desecration spread, several hundred Muslims, including militants from religious parties, gathered outside Javaid’s home in a violent protest. The man, who was at work at the time, was forced into hiding, and his family has been placed under protection in a secret location. This deliberate setup directly mirrors the machinations that triggered the 2023 riots in Jaranwala, resulting in attacks on twenty churches and over eighty Christian homes.

During this season of Marian ascent, the Church entrusts to the Heart of the Universal Mother, these souls who are despised by the world, yet infinitely loved by God for their faithfulness to the Gospel.

“Anyone who has been begotten by God has already overcome the world;
this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith”
(1Jn 5:4)