Prince Charles has said that it is an “indescribable tragedy that Christianity is now under such threat in the Middle East.”
He began by observing that “the horrendous and heart-breaking events in Iraq and Syria have brought the subject of religious freedom and persecution to the forefront of the world’s news.”
The experience of Meriam Ibrahim, the Christian woman who was imprisoned and threatened with execution in Sudan also featured in his address, as did the words of the Apostle Paul that ‘suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us.’
He was speaking in a video message to mark the launch of the ‘Religious Freedom in the World Report 2014’, published by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.