Spain Adds 'Christianophobia' To Its Official Dictionary

The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), which is the official institution that regulates the Spanish language, added the word “cristianofobia” (Christianophobia) to the 24th edition of its dictionary (Diccionario de la Real Academia Española - DRAE), with the sole definition: “aversion toward Christianity, Christians, or things Christian.” The academy does not often add new words to the Spanish lexicon, having added the letter K to the alphabet only in the last 40 years.

This addition was especially welcomed by the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers, which spearheaded a campaign—joined by nearly 16,000 people—to urge the director of the RAE, Santiago Muñoz Machado, to include the term.

Members of the foundation held several meetings with RAE representatives on the matter, starting in January of this year. 

Previously, the DRAE had already included other terms related to the rejection of religion in general—such as “antirreligioso” (antireligious)—as well as terms specifically concerning Christians and Catholics, such as “anticristiano” (antichristian), “anticatólico” (anticatholic), “anticlerical” (anticlerical), and “anticlericalismo” (anticlericalism).

Furthermore, the term “islamofobia” (Islamophobia) had already been included, defined as “aversion toward Islam, Muslims, or things Muslim.” Its counterpart, “judeofobia” (Judeophobia), is not in the dictionary. However, the adjective “antisemita” (antisemitic) is included, which can refer to the Jewish religion, the Jewish people, or the state of Israel.

In a 2022 interview with the Uruguayan newspaper El País, Santiago Muñoz Machado, director of the RAE, explained that the process for including new words in the dictionary is not arbitrary. Anyone can request the inclusion of a word in the dictionary. Thereafter, a process ensues to verify that the word is actually in use, where it is used, and with what intent it is used. Once the studies are completed, the RAE sends it for study by the 23 Spanish-language academies around the world. These in turn may approve, reject, modify, or amend the word. Once the process is concluded, the word may be incorporated into the authoritive dictionary. 

Ephemeral terms and slang that are a passing fad are not often included. 

Christianophobia in Spain and Europe

Around the same time that the inclusion of “Christianophobia” in the RAE dictionary was announced, the Spanish State Attorney General’s Office included—for the first time—a reference to hate crimes against Catholics in its Annual Report. However, these figures differ significantly from those in the annual report produced by the Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience (OLRC).

While the Public Prosecutor’s Office lists only one instance of discrimination against Catholics and two cases of incitement to hatred, the OLRC reported that more than half of the religiously motivated attacks recorded in Spain in 2025 were directed against Catholics. There has been a spate of profanations of Catholic churches in the last few years, including incidents of arson.

In February, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for the appointment of a coordinator to combat Christianophobia. The resolution noted that, “while Christianity remains the most persecuted religion in the world today—affecting more than 380 million people—there is no European coordinator tasked with fighting Christianophobia, even though a coordinator has been appointed to combat Islamophobia.”