Prince Charles warns that Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East are being neglected

Prince Charles has said that the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities is an urgent problem, but it is not getting enough attention from the international community.

In a pre-recorded message on BBC Radio 4's "Thought for the Day," the Prince recounted his meeting with a Jesuit priest from Syria who told him about the struggles of Christians that he was forced to leave behind in the war-torn country. The priest told him that it could be possible that no Christians would be left in Iraq within five years.

"Clearly for such people religious freedom is a daily stark choice between life and death. The scale of religious persecution around the world is not widely appreciated, nor is it limited to Christians in the troubled regions of the Middle East," said the Prince of Wales, according to Catholic Herald.

Charles also noted that other religious minorities are being persecuted in different countries around the world as well.

"A recent report suggests that attacks are increasing on Yazidis, Jews, Ahmadis, Baha'is and many other minority faiths, and in some countries even more insidious forms of religious extremism have recently surfaced which aim to eliminate all types of religious diversity," he said.

He also pointed to a report from the U.N. which stated that 5.8 million more people have abandoned their homes in 2015 than the previous year, bringing the annual total to 65.3 million. He likened the widespread violence and religious intolerance to the "dark days of the 1930s," when his parents' generation fought against the attempts to exterminate the Jews in Europe.

The prince's message was welcomed by Iraqi church leaders in Britain, but they said that Western governments must take action to protect religious minorities.

Charles has previously spoken about the threats faced by Christians in the Middle East. He has met with Christian leaders from the Middle East and made a donation to the charity organization Aid to the Church in Need, which provides support for Christians in Iraq and Syria.

The prince has expressed his plans to change his title from "Defender of the Faith" to "Defender of Faith" as a gesture to non-Christian religions. The title was granted by the Pope to Henry VIII for defending the teachings of the Catholic Church.