Holy Father Prays for Those Who Suffer Religious Persecution

27 August, 2026

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Jim Fair

05 January, 2022

1 min

Holy Father Prays for Those Who Suffer Religious Persecution

Pope's Prayer Intention for January and Accompanying Video Released by Vatican

Vatican Media Screenshot

The Holy Father prays for those who suffer religious persecution with his prayer intention for January 2022.

The January prayer intention marks the beginning of the seventh year of the Pope Video, a ministry of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

In his message released on Tuesday, the Holy Father says that persecuting people simply because they publicly profess their faith is “inhuman” and “insane.”

Following is the full text of the video, provided by the Vatican:

How is it possible that many religious minorities currently suffer discrimination or persecution?

How can we allow that in this society, which is so civilized, there are people who are persecuted simply because they publicly profess their faith? Not only is it unacceptable; it’s inhuman, it’s insane.

Religious freedom is not limited to freedom of worship—that is to say, that people can have a worship service on the day prescribed by their sacred books. Rather, it makes us appreciate others in their differences and recognize them as true brothers and sisters.

As human beings, we have so many things in common that we can live alongside each other, welcoming our differences with the joy of being brothers and sisters.

And may a small difference, or a substantial difference such as a religious one, not obscure the great unity of being brothers and sisters.

Let us choose the path of fraternity. Because either we are brothers and sisters, or we all lose.

Let us pray that those who suffer discrimination and suffer religious persecution, may find in the societies in which they live the rights and dignity that comes from being brothers and sisters.

Jim Fair

Jim Fair has spent the past two decades as a communicator for Catholic organizations. He is a convert to the Catholic faith and is grateful to his wife, Charmaine, for her continuing efforts to save his soul. They have a son and daughter, both happily married, and four grandchildren. Before devoting his life full-time to things Catholic, Jim enjoyed a 23-year career in various communications roles for large corporations. Before that, he worked as a newspaper reporter, photographer, and editor. He has served as president of the Chicago Public Relations Forum, chairman of the American Petroleum Institute General Committee on Communications, and a fellow of Greater Leadership Chicago. He was a member of the founding committee of the chemical industry’s Responsible Care Program. Jim is an active member of St. John Vianney Parish in Northlake, Illinois, where he chairs the finance council.