Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII

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Persecutions of the Catholic Church
Overview Historical persecution of Christians Catholic Church persecutions 1939–1958 Eradication of the Church under Stalinism Eastern Catholic persecutions Persecution of Christians in the modern era
Roman Empire Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire Diocletianic Persecution
Neo-Persian Empire Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem
Byzantine Empire Massacre of the Latins
Muslim world Muslim conquests Conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques Armenian genocide Assyrian genocide Greek genocide Kosheh massacres
Saudi Arabia Christianity in Saudi Arabia
Sudan Christianity in Sudan
Egypt Maspero demonstrations
Islamic terrorism Genocide of Christians by the Islamic State
Japan Martyrs of Japan
European wars of religion Thirty Years' War Reformation
France Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution War in the Vendée Martyrs of Compiègne
Mexico Cristero War Iniquis afflictisque Acerba animi Saints José Sánchez del Río Anti-clericalism in Mexico Miguel Pro
Spain Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War Red Terror Dilectissima Nobis Martyrs of Turon Martyrs of Daimiel Bartolomé Blanco Innocencio of Mary Immaculate José María of Manila 233 Spanish Martyrs 498 Spanish Martyrs 522 Spanish Martyrs
Netherlands Titus Brandsma
Germany Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Germany Mit brennender Sorge Alfred Delp Alois Grimm Rupert Mayer Bernhard Lichtenberg Max Josef Metzger Karl Leisner Erich Klausener
China Martyr Saints of China Auguste Chapdelaine Persecution of Christians in China Ad Sinarum gentem Cupimus Imprimis Ad Apostolorum principis Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei Beda Chang Dominic Tang
Vietnam Vietnamese Martyrs Nguyễn Văn Thuận Ngô Đình Diệm (Buddhist crisis, Huế Phật Đản shootings, Huế chemical attacks, Double Seven Day scuffle, Xá Lợi Pagoda raids, 1963 South Vietnamese coup, arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm)
Poland Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland Maksymilian Kolbe Polish anti-religious campaign 1945–1990 Stefan Wyszyński 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs Policies In Poloniae annalibus Gloriosam Reginam Invicti athletae Jerzy Popiełuszko
Eastern Europe József Mindszenty Eugene Bossilkov Severian Baranyk Josef Beran Drina Martyrs Zynoviy Kovalyk Aloysius Stepinac Meminisse iuvat Anni sacri Sára Salkaházi Walter Ciszek Pietro Leoni Theodore Romzha
India Violence against Christians in India 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka
El Salvador Four U.S. missionaries Ignacio Ellacuría Rutilio Grande Ignacio Martín-Baró Segundo Montes Óscar Romero 1989 murders of Jesuits
Nigeria Religious violence in Nigeria
Guatemala Stanley Rother
Great Britain and Ireland Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom List of Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation Forty Martyrs of England and Wales Irish Catholic Martyrs Dissolution of the Monasteries Penal Laws Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
United States James Coyle Know Nothing The Menace Oregon Compulsory Education Act Pierce v. Society of Sisters Philadelphia nativist riots Ursuline Convent riots
Philippines Lorenzo Ruiz Pedro Calungsod Gomburza
Turkey Murder of Andrea Santoro
North Korea Catholic Church in North Korea
Norway Anti-Catholicism in Norway
Canada 2021 Canadian church burnings
Catholicism portal
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Persecutions against the Catholic Church took place during the papacy of Pope Pius XII (1939–1958). Pius' reign coincided with World War II (1939–1945), followed by the commencement of the Cold War and the accelerating European decolonisation. During his papacy, the Catholic Church faced persecution under Fascist and Communist governments.

The Nazi persecution of the church was at its most extreme in Occupied Poland. The defeat of Fascism at the end of World War II ended one set of persecutions, but strengthened the position of Communism throughout the world, intensifying a further set of persecutions – notably in Eastern Europe, the USSR, and, later, the People's Republic of China. The Catholic Church was under attack in all Communist governed countries and lost most of its existence in Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Communist China and the Soviet Union (including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).