There are between 7 billion and 12 billion printed copies of the Bible worldwide with around 100 million printed every year. The complete Bible has been translated into more than 700 languages and substantial parts of it into more than 3,000 languages. It is far ad a way he most published ‘book’ in history.

And yet!!

New data reveals that more than 500 million Christians worldwide face Bible access restrictions, as laws imposed by governments hostile to Christianity and socioeconomic barriers prevent many who would like a Bible from having one. 

The Bible Access Initiative released its 2026 Bible Access List gives an updated look at Bible access around the world. The report examines 106 countries, identifying both places where Bible access is explicitly restricted and countries where people face socioeconomic barriers that prevent them from obtaining Scripture. 

The report found that Afghanistan has the strongest restrictions on Bible access, followed by Yemen, Somalia, North Korea, Eritrea and Mauritania. The Bible Access Initiative classifies all six countries as having “maximum restrictions” on Bible access.

Turkmenistan, Libya, Sudan and Iran round out the top 10 countries with the strongest restrictions. Those four countries, along with Comoros and the Maldives, are categorized as having “extreme restrictions.”

Countries classified as having “severe restrictions” include Algeria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Niger, Burkina Faso, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Morocco, Syria, Bhutan, Azerbaijan, Mali, Oman, Brunei, Myanmar, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Chad, Iraq, Central African Republic, Malaysia, Laos, India, Kuwait, Ethiopia, Cuba, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Mozambique, Bangladesh, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Cameroon, Venezuela, Togo, Turkey, Lebanon, Tanzania, South Sudan, Malawi, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Kenya are identified as having “considerable restrictions.”

Another group of countries, including Nicaragua, Russia, the Ivory Coast, Ukraine, Rwanda, Colombia, Uganda, Senegal, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Benin, Angola, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Burundi and Liberia, are categorized as having “some restrictions.”

The restrictions extend beyond government bans or censorship. The report cites “persecution through government controls, extremist violence, and family and community pressure,” while also identifying socioeconomic barriers such as poverty, poor infrastructure, illiteracy, lack of electricity and limited internet access.

Bible shortages are particularly acute in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria and India, each of which has a shortage of more than 10 million Bibles, according to the report.

Uganda, Tanzania and China each have Bible shortages ranging from 5 million to 10 million. Indonesia, Angola and Mozambique round out the top 10 countries with the largest Bible shortages. Those countries, along with Malawi, Rwanda, Madagascar and Kenya, are each short between 3 million and 5 million Bibles.

Countries with Bible shortages of 1 million to 3 million include the Ivory Coast, Burundi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Cameroon, Cuba and Ghana. South Sudan, Chad, Benin, Burkina Faso, Egypt and the Central African Republic have shortages ranging from 500,000 to 1 million Bibles.

The report’s findings challenge the idea that the Bible is universally accessible simply because it can be found online or purchased in many parts of the world.

“We often hear that the Bible is more accessible than ever, but we must not confuse availability with access,” said Bible Access List co-creator Wybo Nicolai in a statement reacting to this year’s findings.

“Persecution-related Bible access restrictions can make accessing Scripture difficult or dangerous, while socioeconomic barriers can put a Bible beyond people’s reach,” Nicolai said. “Even where Scripture is available digitally, limited internet coverage or unsafe online environments can still prevent people from accessing it.”

In the west we take access to the Bible for granted. Many copies sit on shelves or in cupboards, unread and disregarded. If we do require access to a bible we can reach any number of translation online for free.

But almost eight times the entire population of the UK of our Christian brothers and sister across the world either have no access or very limited access to the Bible.

For most Christians in the UK, these words of Jesus probably seem a bit academic. The worst that we are likely to experience for being Christian is mild ridicule. It is unlikely that we will ever experience hatred because of our faith or be required to put our lives on the line because of it.

This is far from the case in many parts of the world, where Christians are frequently martyred. this is rarely reported in our media nor is it much discussed in our churches. The following is just one example of situations outside of Western ‘bubble.

The beheaded bodies of 70 Christians were found in a Protestant church in North Kivu Province in the Congo around Feb. 15, several religious freedom advocates said, blaming the extremist Allied Democratic Forces.

The ADF is accused of approaching homes in Mayba, in the Lumbero territory, beginning Feb. 12 and capturing as many as 100 Christians through Feb. 15, marching them to a Protestant church in Kasanga affiliated with the Evangelical Community in Central Africa 20 (CECA 20), binding and beheading them, reported advocates including Open Doors, International Christian Concern (ICC) and Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

The February massacre followed a January attack, reportedly by ADF, that killed 15, ICC reported.

Church leaders are asking the international community for prayer, describing a climate of unchecked violence at the hands of ADF and other Islamic extremist groups including March 23 Movement (M23) rebels.

“We are no longer talking about simple violence,” ICC quoted a pastor Feb. 21. “We are losing fellow innocent Christians time and again. Our churches are now remaining empty. … The people of the Lord are suffering, and it’s just not bearable to watch.”

ADF, a terrorist group aligned with ISIS and originally from neighboring Uganda, has intensified in the DRC the past decade, Open Doors reported. The violence prompted Open Doors to move the DRC up six places to 35th on its 2025 World Watch List of the 50 worst places for Christians to live.

“We don’t know what to do or how to pray; we’ve had enough of massacres,” Open Doors quoted an elder of the CECA 20 church. “May God’s will alone be done.”

Those beheaded, who included children and the elderly, were likely unable to complete the journey or duties the captors demanded of them, local sources told ACN, as the captives are required to carry the loot stolen from villages.

“It is likely that these victims were unable to resist or endure the forced march, because when the rebels take hostages, they make them travel with them, either as reinforcements for their group or as forced labour for the war effort,” ACN quoted a source who was unidentified for safety concerns. “If you get tired on the way, you’re done. I believe that is what happened to these 70 people.”

The terrorists arrived in Mayba around 4 a.m. Feb. 12 and commanded 20 villagers to exit their homes quietly. When about 50 other villagers gathered the next day to plan a response, the terrorists also captured them, it was widely reported. While most said 70 were captured, ACN put the number closer to 100.

John Samuel, Open Doors’ legal expert for its work in sub-Saharan Africa, strongly condemned the violence and called upon civil societies, governments and international organizations to prioritize protection for civilians in the targeted area.

“The violence takes place in a context of impunity, where almost no one is held accountable,” Samuel said in a Feb. 18 press release. “This massacre is a clear indicator of widespread human rights violations against civilians and vulnerable communities, often targeting Christians, perpetrated by ADF – a [so-called Islamic State] affiliate.

“We further call on the international Christian community to remain in prayer for Christians and vulnerable communities in eastern DRC.”

Pray that all levels of government in DRC will respond “diligently, impartially and transparently address the violence and its effects,” Samuel pleaded, while also seeking prayers for the church in Lumbero.

Open Doors counted 355 Christians killed for their faith in the DRC in 2024, an increase from the 261 killed the previous year. An estimated 10,000 were internally displaced, Open Doors said, putting the number at 10-fold the number in 2023.

About six million people have died and many more have been displaced in a decades-long conflict in the DRC, ICC said.

These are our Christian brothers and sisters. We may not know them or anything about them other than; they are a part of the same family as we are, they are loved by God as much as we are, they are just as valued as we are.

What can we do? We can pray for the Christians of the DRC along with those in other nations who are also ‘hated for their faith’. We may feel powerless but prayer is the exercise of power granted us through our Lord Jesus Christ. We can stand ready to act as God calls us.

As the Service of Thanksgiving as part of the Inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the USA, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, courteously and bravely spoke ‘truth to power’. From the pulpit she pleaded with the new president to have mercy, mercy for the weak and powerless in society. She particularly singled out immigrants and members of the LGBT community. Her sermon was full of grace and compassion. She did not berate or challenge the president or call for civil disobedience against his policies. She simply pleaded with him to show compassion on the voiceless in society (Click on the link below to hear what she said).

Responses to her address were widespread and perhaps unsurprising in a divided and divisive society where a large percentage of the population have turned Donald Trump into a demi-God, someone who is beyond criticism or challenge. Even some who claim to be Christians fall into this category. There are of course many both across the USA and internationally who applaud what Bishop Mariann has done but at, least in the US, the death threats, demands for her deportation, exhortations for her to be dismissed from her post and so on have drowned these out.

As Christians we should be prepared to emulate Bishop Mariann in our own situations. We may not have the ear of a president or access to worldwide media coverage but there is much going on in our own communities which ‘The Church’, irrespective of denomination or tradition should be challenging. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first’. (John 15:18). Who is ‘The Church’? It is all of us who claim to be Christian, not just those in leadership positions. Even our own leaders should not be considered as ‘no go areas’. Paul the apostle challenged Peter, the one whom Jesus had declared to be the rock on which the church would be built (Galatians 2: 11-13). If Peter was not exempt from criticism why should our leaders be?

There were more Christians persecuted during the 20th century than in all previous centuries put together. The situation has not improved in the 21st century. Barnabas Aid works tirelessly with persecuted Christians throughout the world. The song in this video contrasts the freedoms of Christians in the West with the severe persecution faced by believers in other arts of the world. It urges us to acknowledge the struggles of our fellow Christians’ struggles and to actively support and empathise with them.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew chapter 25

barnabasaid.org

Where do I begin? With a prayer, a plea, or just a simple hello? I guess it doesn’t really matter, since you already know what’s in my heart before the words even reach my lips.

I want to start by thanking you. Thank you for this beautiful life, with all its twists and turns, ups and downs. Thank you for the people you’ve put in my life — family, friends, teachers, strangers — who have shaped me into who I am. Their kindness, wisdom, laughter, and love have gotten me through so much.

Thank you for the talents and abilities you’ve given me, however small they may be. I may not be the best singer, the greatest athlete, or the most eloquent speaker, but I appreciate whatever gifts I have, and I want to nurture them.

Thank you for the opportunities I’ve been given. For education, for travel, for experiences that have expanded my mind and shown me more of this amazing world you created. I know so many are not nearly as fortunate, so I do not take these blessings lightly.

Most of all, thank you for being there in both triumph and tragedy. In times of joy, when I’ve accomplished a goal or had an adventure, you were there celebrating with me. And in times of heartbreak, when I felt lost, alone, and afraid, you were right there next to me, lifting me up with your unconditional love and showing me the way forward one step at a time.

I’m grateful for each day you give me on this earth. For another sunrise peeking over the horizon. For another chance to live, learn, and grow. I know life is fragile and fleeting, so thank you for this gift.

Yet still I come to you with all my human flaws. Searching, striving, struggling, hoping. Falling down and wondering if I’ll ever have the strength to stand back up. Questioning who I am, why I’m here, and what my purpose could possibly be in this vast universe of yours.

In my darkest moments, when I feel utterly alone, give me the courage to remember that I’m never truly alone because you are always there beside me. Holding my hand, guiding me home.

In times of anger, when I’m blinded by rage at the injustices of this world, reminds me that darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only your light and love can illuminate the shadows. Calm the tempests that batter my heart and give me the wisdom and compassion to be an instrument of change.

When I feel worthless, broken, disenchanted, and begin to believe the lies that I have nothing to offer, speak truth into my heart. Remind me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made in your image. That I have a purpose here. Help me hear my calling above the noise and negativity of the world.

Forgive me for my many sins. For harboring anger and hatred when I should show mercy. For apathy when I should care. For selfishness when I should give freely. You know I am imperfect, yet you love me still. Help me reflect your light each day through kind words and selfless acts.

Guide me to build deeper connections with others. In my relationships, give me the wisdom to speak the truth with compassion. Help me see each person as the complex, beautiful child you made them to be, not simply the mask they wear on the surface. Teach me to love unconditionally.

God, when I face trials that feel too heavy for me to bear, let me remember that I never walk alone. You can see the path ahead even when all I see is darkness. Give me the faith to take things one day at a time, trusting that the sun will rise again. Help me to surrender my anxieties and burdens to your infinite strength.

As I lie down to sleep tonight, I pray that you will grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

But most of all, I pray for joy. I pray that I will wake each morning with joy in my heart, eager for whatever adventures the day may bring. I pray that I will nurture an attitude of gratitude through all of life’s ups and downs. And I pray that each night when I rest my head down, I will have joy in the memories made that day.

This is what I ask of you, God: Help me live my one life fully. Give me the strength to pursue my dreams wholeheartedly, without fear or hesitation. In each moment, help me show compassion to others and live in a way that reflects your light.

I know the road won’t always be easy, but you will be walking right beside me each step of the way. And for that promise, that faithful, unwavering love, I am forever grateful.

Amen.

80 years ago today, a priest who incarnated the ‘social gospel’ was martyred

Mar 24, 2024

ROME – Exactly 80 years ago today, on March 24, 1944, the Nazi occupiers of Rome shot 335 Italians to death, mostly civilians, in a series of caves on the southern outskirts of town called the Fosse Ardeatine.  The killings came in retaliation for an attack the day before by the Italian resistance that left 33 German soldiers dead, making it a ratio of ten Italian lives lost for every one German.

(In a rare lapse in Nazi efficiency, bureaucratic confusion led to five more people than strictly necessary being executed.)

Among the victims that day was one Catholic priest: Father Pietro Pappagallo, 55 years old at the time, who’d been in a Nazi prison since January, having been turned in by a snitch for his activity in sheltering Jews, monarchists, communists, intellectuals, anti-fascist activists, gays, and anyone else targeted by the occupation.

While there’s no special reason why the loss of a priest’s life matters more than anyone else’s, the Pappagallo story nonetheless merits retelling today, in part because it captures the entire drama of the early 20^th century birth of “social Catholicism” in miniature.

Pietro Pappagallo was born on June 28, 1888, in the mid-sized town of Terlizzi in the Puglia region of southern Italy. His family scraped by on limited means – his father was a ropemaker, while his mother raised the eight children. As a youth he worked with his father and also did seasonal labor on local farms, until his mother decided to enroll him in a local school, from which he eventually entered the seminary.

At the time, families of a candidate for the priesthood were required to make a payment to cover the cost of his studies, so Pappagallo’s mother signed over a meager couple of pieces of land she’d inherited from her family to cover the cost.

He was ordained on April 3, 1915, having escaped being drafted for World War I because of a problem with his heel. The next day he celebrated his first Mass, and on the traditional holy card printed for the occasion, he inscribed the celebrated prayer for peace composed by Pope Benedict XV, who had memorably termed WWI “useless slaughter”: “From you, God of mercies, we implore with our groans an end to this immense scourge; from you, peaceful King, we rush with our prayers for the longed-for peace.”

Benedict XV was, in some ways, the original “Peace Pope,” and Pappagallo clearly drew inspiration from him.

Just like in the United States, in the early 20^th century scores of people from Italy’s impoverished south were heading north in search of work, and Pappagallo wanted to serve them. He ended up in Rome in the 1920s, serving as director and chaplain for a boarding house attached to a massive rayon factory called Cisa Viscosa, which had been financed by American investors.

Quickly, he discovered that the hundreds of workers housed by the company were being terribly mistreated: Routinely forced to work overtime without additional pay, at the threat of being fired if they refused; denied the social security benefits allotted to other laborers in Rome; being treated in a discriminatory fashion by managers because they came from the south, and therefore were regarded as second-class citizens; and routinely suffering health problems related to the toxic chemicals used in the factory’s processes to which they were exposed with any protection.

Pappagallo immediately launched protests, which prompted the factory owners to appeal to their protectors in Italy’s fascist regime, who in turn reached out to a Vatican official named Monsignor Ferdinando Baldelli, who would later become a key aide to Pope Pius XII. Baldelli told Pappagallo to stand down, telling him it wasn’t his role to be a union organizer, and that his efforts could disrupt negotiations between church and state to settle the so-called “Roman question.”

We have the letter Pappagallo wrote to Baldelli: “Monsignor, I see myself in the workers at the boarding house. They come from my land, and they’re immigrants too. The fact that they haven’t gone overseas doesn’t make their situation any less painful or difficult … The work in the factory is dehumanizing. I don’t find it just, and I can’t appease myself with arguments about politics, which don’t interest me at all. I only know that the faith, and a sense of humanity, don’t allow me to ignore my brothers, to whose service I’ve been assigned. If you’re not on their side, I can only say that I’m upset and confused.”

Baldelli promptly had Pappagallo removed from his position at the boarding house, with the idea that he would enter a training program for priests to serve Italian immigrants overseas and leave the country.

Despite that, Pappagallo managed to hang on in the Eternal City, eventually becoming chaplain to the Oblate Sisters of the Child Jesus, a post which came with an apartment near the great basilica of St. Mary Major. He transformed the apartment into a sort of halfway house for immigrants moving south to north, and eventually convinced the sisters to give him use of several other facilities in the area for the same purpose.

Thus when the German occupation of Rome began in September 1943, Pappagallo was ideally positioned to provide refuge for all those targeted by the Nazis. One priest friend who visited Pappagallo in late 1943 would note in his diary that the apartment was a “mezzanine full of refugees.” Many of those who took refuge with Pappagallo would escape the Nazis with false passports and other documents provided by two of the priest’s nephews, Gioacchino and Tommaso, who ran a nearby printing shop and who churned out fake papers by night for people sent their way by their uncle.

Eventually an informant tipped off the Nazis, and Pappagallo was arrested on Jan. 29, 1944. He was taken to the infamous Gestapo prison on Via Tasso, which today houses the Museum of Liberation. There he was tortured at the personal direction of Herbert Kappler, an SS officer and Chief of Police in occupied Rome, but refused to divulge the names of anyone else involved in sheltering targets of the regime.

Fellow inmates would later testify that Pappagallo always shared the meager amounts of food and water he was given with others, and that he acted as a sort of spiritual father for other prisoners, even those who didn’t share his faith. Two young communists, Aladino Govoni and Tigrino Sabatini, later said they’d been intrigued by his prayer book, and so he began explaining the psalms to them, thereby not only passing the time but giving them badly needed comfort.

When the time came to carry out the reprisals on March 24, 1944, Kappler put Pappagallo’s name on the list, and so he was herded onto one of several trucks that carried the condemned out to the Fosse Ardeatine for execution. On the way, he offered blessings and heard the confessions of anyone who asked.

Once they arrived at the site, one witness would later say, Pappagallo managed to slip out of the ropes with which the prisoners’ hands had been bound, raised his arms to the heavens, and blessed those who were to die and forgave those doing the killing.

After his death, Pappagallo helped to inspire the character of Don Pietro in Robert Rossellini’s classic 1945 film Roma città aperta. In 1998, Italian President Carlo Ciampi awarded Pappagallo the Gold Medal for Civil Merit, the country’s highest civilian honor, saying the priest had sacrificed his life “with serenity of spirit, a sign of his faith that always illuminated him.”

In 2000, Pope John Paul II included Pappagallo on a list of 20^th century martyrs. In 2018, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center declared Pappagallo “Righteous Among the Nations,” recognizing his role in saving Jews during the Holocaust.

On this day 80 years ago, in other words, a priest went to his death who incarnated the burgeoning Catholic social consciousness of his day. While his executioners succeeded in ending his life, they obviously had no power to extinguish his legacy, which in many ways is the legacy of the social gospel in miniature — and which, arguably, is more alive today than ever.

Seemingly, less than half of the population of the UK believe that God even exists. It’s also likely that a good proportion of these non-believers have only a very sketchy understanding of Christianity or for that matter of any faith.

Heanor Cornerstone is a group of Christians from different backgrounds and traditions who’s mission is to present Christianity in a way that is accessible to anyone and everyone.

Part of their approach to achieving this is to produce a set of short podcasts starting from the most basic of questions: ‘Does God exist’. All sessions will be available on ‘Spotify’ and sessions will be posted here and elsewhere as they are published,

The USA brand of evangelical Christianity is not renowned for its generosity of spirit or tolerance of any views which diverge from their own somewhat narrow outlook, so the following article came as a breath of fresh air.

A devout member of a congregation which held to the view that marriage was exclusively between a man and a woman and that any other ‘marriage’ was against God’s word and so was sinful, posed this question to her pastor, “My grandson is about to be married to a transgender person, and I don’t know what to do about this, and I’m calling to ask you to tell me what to do,”

The pastor answered: ‘Does your grandson understand your belief in Jesus?’ “. “Yes.” she replied. “Does your grandson understand that your belief in Jesus makes it such that you can’t countenance in any affirming way the choices that he has made in life?’ “Yes.”

He went on to say, “Well then, OK. As long as he knows that, then I suggest that you do go to the ceremony. And I suggest that you buy them a gift.”

The pastor went on to explain that Christians not attending such a ceremony could reinforce “judgemental” stereotypes the culture holds about the Church.

He said: “Well, here’s the thing: your love for them may catch them off guard, but your absence will simply reinforce the fact that they said, ‘These people are what I always thought: judgmental, critical, unprepared to countenance anything.” And it is a fine line, isn’t it? It really is. And people need to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. But I think we’re going to take that risk. We’re going to have to take that risk a lot more if we want to build bridges into the hearts and lives of those who don’t understand Jesus and don’t understand that he is a King.”

The conversation was recounted on a podcast ‘Truth for Life’ . Within days American Family Radio took the decision to stop airing ‘Truth for Life’ after a 10 year association.

The Pastor had not compromised the views that he and his church held regarding marriage, but he gave a graceful and compassionate response to a lady who was clearly torn between the love for her grandson and her beliefs. Beyond that, his reasoning was sound and indeed scriptural. It would seem that this did not go down well with at least one Christian broadcaster!

Exactly what version of the Gospels do they read? Jesus associated with; adulterers, prostitutes, tax collectors (those collecting taxes for an occupying power and making themselves rich by overcharging), society’s outcasts, Samaritans (a people with what Jews considered to be heretical beliefs), the list goes on.

Christians are called to follow Jesus in every way. This most certainly means showing grace and compassion to those who don’t share our beliefs and above all, not putting barriers in the way of anyone coming to faith.