ROME—Antonio Socci is a journalist and writer specializing in religious issues. He was director of the International Catholic magazine 30 Giorni and is currently editor of the Italian newspapers Il Giornaleand Il Foglio, and of the weekly Panorama.

Socci's most recent book, published in Italy, is The New Persecuted: Inquiries into Anti-Christian Intolerance in the New Century of Martyrs.

In his book, Socci notes that an average of 160,000 Christians have been killed every year since 1990, mostly by Muslims in the Third World.

“This global persecution of Christianity,” he writes, “is still in progress but in most cases is ignored by the mass media and Christians in the West.”

Socci spoke to Register Latin America correspondent Alejandro Bermúdez in Rome, where Socci is now producing a series of documentaries on religious persecution around the world for the Italian TV network RAI.

Persecution of Christians is a rather new issue in your field of interest. How did you decide to write this book?

Last year, I tackled the issue of Christian persecution for several newspapers. There were stories coming from all corners of the world—from news agencies or missionary institutes—but they never made it into the big news. And I don't mean front page. They didn't even make it into the news at all. I decided to tell those stories.

I was not too enthusiastic about the idea, but I thought that if so many Christians were being persecuted or were living under very hard circumstances just for being Christians, I was actually being asked for very little.

And how was the experience of writing the book?

I thought I was well-informed about these stories since I had been covering the news for a while. But when I started investigating deeper I realized that the proportion of this tragedy is absolutely mind-blowing. This is so regarding the Christians martyred during the 19th century, but even more regarding the constant persecution in areas in the world where some 600 to 800 million Christians live.

It is hard to believe this is happening at the very doors of the West—is it ignorance or complicity?

I tend to be prudent and also very skeptical about the tendency to blame the West for everything. Having said that, I believe that in the West there is a complete ignorance of the conditions in which Christians live in other parts of the world.

If I were to blame the West for anything it is for exactly the opposite of which it is commonly accused. I blame it for its complete lack of spine in defending its values, despite the fact it is frequently accused of trying to “impose” its values in a sort of “imperialism.”

I believe the European Union, which has a relationship of cooperation and development with many countries of the Third World, should establish from now on—since it has never done it before—the respect for human and specifically religious rights as a condition to any type of economic cooperation.

Especially considering Christianity is the foundation of the EU's identity.

Exactly. Since Sept. 11, I believe many people have realized that we live in a rare space of liberty and prosperity, mainly because we have in our past a history that has established the principle of the sacredness of human dignity, a history of respect for human freedom, which is a distinctively Christian heritage.

That is why I feel so frustrated, even if I am trying not to be judgmental, by the silence and complicity of no small part of the Catholic world in regard to dictators whose hands are stained with Christian blood.

Do you mean the official voice of the Church?

No. I believe the Pope's prudence is critical in this matter. He has gone around the world raising his voice in defense of the human person, but the Church cannot go around every single day condemning a particular regime, because that would expose Christian minorities to retaliation and further persecution. It is smarter to use diplomatic and political channels.

But I believe many in the Catholic media have committed a sin of omission in this regard—first by not telling the stories of persecution of Christians and also by letting some of the stories die and be forgotten. Moreover, when non-Christians, even nonbelievers or Jewish politicians, have spoken in favor of persecuted Christians, liberal Catholics have been among the first to protest, claiming we are fueling a “clash of civilizations.” This is simply unbelievable.

In fact, many of the complaints I have received for writing this book came from the Catholic world. The theme of the book has been positively accepted by nonbelievers and by Jewish intellectuals in Italy. The only opposition has come from the Catholic world. Catholic intellectuals have told me that everything I have said may be true, but by saying so, I risk igniting a “clash of civilizations.”

What are they talking about? One hundred sixty thousand Christians die each year only because they are Christians! If right now your daughter, your wife, your father were in jail in Pakistan as a consequence of the infamous “blasphemy” law, would you stay silent just to avoid a “clash of civilizations”? I find it completely crazy. It makes no sense.

Do you think there are real possibilities of obtaining basic rights for Christians in Islamic societies?

At present the situation is quite somber. Obviously we can't keep thinking that these societies have nothing to do with us. After Sept. 11 we have realized the first attack against world peace is the attack against human rights. Peace never comes without human rights, just as the Holy Father said in his World Peace Day message in 1999: “If you want peace, defend the rights of the human person.”

What can the West do?

Well, the conduct of the European nations has been shamefu—at least all those nations controlled by socialist parties. I think there has been a shameful and obscene policy of insensibility regarding human rights, when not of complete cordiality toward tyrants.

I think the new center-right turn can be a source of hope in Europe. We hope the political change will bring also a change in this regard.

Alejandro Bermúdez is based in Lima, Peru.