A type of “martyrdom” takes place in democracies when religious freedom is unjustly restricted, Pope Francis has said in an audience with a group which assists the Church in the Holy Land.

“In front of the whole world – which too often turns its gaze and looks away – is the dramatic situation of Christians who are persecuted and killed in ever-increasing numbers,” the pope said last Friday in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

“In addition to their martyrdom in blood,” he said, “there is also a ‘white martyrdom,’ such as that which occurs in democratic countries when freedom of religion is restricted. And this is a daily white martyrdom of the Church in those places.”

Pope Francis spoke with around 130 members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem on the final day of their Nov. 13-16 General Assembly in Rome. The knighthood order provides financial support to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.