“Today too, in various parts of the world, sometimes in silence – often a complicit silence – great numbers of Christians are marginalized, vilified, discriminated against, subjected to violence and even death, not infrequently without due intervention on the part of those who could defend their sacrosanct rights”. After dedicating his Wednesday General Audience to the topic of martyrdom, Pope Francis has focused again this morning on “the persecution” that Christian communities are still subjected to in many regions of the world because of their faith. “Apart from the cross, there is no Christ, but apart from the cross, there can be no Christian either”, the Holy Father said during the Mass in St Peter’s Square on the Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul. Pope Francis told persecuted Christians to press on “in the confident knowledge that we are not alone” and repeated St Paul’s words: “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken”.