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NAGASAKI, JAPAN - OCTOBER 02: A Christian cross stands in the ruins of Hara Castle which was the final battleground of an uprising of Christian peasants against excessive taxation and religious persecution by the local lord, on October 02, 2019 near Nagasaki, Japan. Pope Francis is due to make only the second ever Papal visit to Japan later this year where he will visit Tokyo as well as Hiroshima and Nagasaki to remember the victims of the atomic bombings of the two cities at the end of World War II. Japanese Christianity has roots going back to the arrival ofÌýPortuguese CatholicsÌýin 1549 and many early Christians were persecuted and forced into hiding by a campaign of repression by the rulers of the time who forced Christians to publicly renounce their faith. Many continued practicing Christianity in secret and in modern times became known as 'hidden Christians'.ÌýThese secret believers would often conceal Christian iconography in closedÌýshrines or inconspicuous parts of buildings. In the current era only around 2 percent of the Japanese population claimÌýChristianÌýbelief with the majority of people now thought to beÌýnonreligious, although the majority of those who are religious identify withÌýShintoism or Buddhism. (Footage by Carl Court/Getty Images)