"ISIS had written really vile things about Jesus and the church. The convent was burned and gutted. Everything was stolen. Anything holy in their mind was burned."

A total of 40 percent of surveyed countries registered "high" or "very high" levels of overall restrictions, according to Pew Research Center’s annual study on global restrictions on religion.

Sunday's bombings, claimed by the Islamic State group, are the latest escalation by the extremist group — which recently vowed to step up its attacks against Egypt's embattled Christian minority.

“It is the ugly face of clericalism that unfortunately still has too much influence in our church,” Archbishop Gregory said.

Egypt's Coptic Christians have become the preferred target of the Islamic State group, an apocalyptic cult seeking religious war.

As extraordinary as the apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, nearly 100 years ago were, the sanctity of the shepherd children did not hinge on their having seen Mary, a cardinal said.