Long-time Fox News contributor Father Jonathan Morris said that Christian persecution is not only holding strong but is “growing throughout the world” in a Good Friday conversation with Alex Marlow on Breitbart Radio.

“Christians are the most persecuted group in the world,” Father Morris told the Breitbart News editor-in-chief – whether in the more overt forms in the Middle East, China, and elsewhere – or in the “less obvious, silent persecution” that takes place in Western countries.

This “silent” persecution takes many forms, the priest continued, sometimes fueled by “government programs” and other times as a form of “cultural persecution” through ridicule of Christian beliefs and the message that Christians “have no place in modern society.”

As an example, Father Morris cited last year’s Democratic National Committee meeting where director Tom Perez said that in the modern Democratic Party there is no room for pro-life candidates or politicians.

“If that is not persecution, I don’t know what is,” Father Morris said. It is the most “narrow-minded” and “despicable” position imaginable, and one that would have been unthinkable even 20 or 30 years ago.

To say that anyone who believes that the life of an unborn child deserves respect and protection “cannot take part in the Democratic Party” is a clear form of persecution, he said.

Father Morris also told Alex Marlow that he believes that Christians need to do a better job explaining their beliefs to society at large, following Saint Peter’s counsel to “always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But do this with gentleness and respect.” Many opportunities are lost because Christians fail to be better witnesses to the compelling message of the gospel, he suggested.

Asked about the recent controversy over an alleged denial of the existence of hell by Pope Francis, Father Morris said, “I don’t know exactly what happened, and that’s another point, because we should know what happened – because they shouldn’t allow the pope to do these interviews without having some sort of recording device, or with a journalist who at least takes notes.”

The bad news from this is, if you were hoping there are no consequences to sin, you are mistaken, Father Morris said, because hell does exist.

“No priest, no pastor, no pope, no journalist can change that,” he observed. “It’s in the Bible. Jesus said it in his own words.”

By the same token, “the Good News hasn’t changed either,” he continued. “Christ has conquered death, conquered sin, and that is what we celebrate on Good Friday.”

Listen to the whole interview here.

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