John Pontifex of Aid to the Church in Need, the international Catholic charity helping persecuted Christians, is the guest on this 43rd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald.

He tells Dr Gavin Ashenden of how the charity began with one priest reaching out in solidarity to Christians behind the Iron Curtain before enlarging and spreading to more than 130 countries. He describes the work undertaken by Aid to the Church in Need and he sets out how Christians are being persecuted today, including a shocking report from a recent visit to Pakistan, a country in which the Christian minority continues to live in fear of relentless harassment, discrimination and Islamist violence.