Short answers, pulled from the story.
During the French Revolution, 30,000 priests were exiled and hundreds more were killed. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy passed on the 12th of July 1790 required all clerics to swear allegiance to the French government, causing all but seven of the 160 bishops to refuse the oath.
Otto von Bismarck launched the Kulturkampf in Prussia from 1871 to 1878 to reduce the political and social influence of the Catholic Church. He enacted discriminatory laws that expelled Jesuits, Franciscans, and Dominicans, and imprisoned half of the Prussian bishops while closing a third of the monasteries and convents.
The Cristero War resulted in over 3,000 priests being exiled or assassinated between 1926 and 1934. By 1934, only 334 priests were licensed by the government to serve fifteen million people, and almost 300 rural teachers were murdered between 1935 and 1939.
The Catholic Church viewed Freemasonry as a principal source of anti-Clericalism, claiming that all anti-clerical measures passed in the French Parliament were decreed beforehand in Masonic lodges. The War Minister General Louis André used the French Masonic Grand Orient's card index on public officials to determine promotions and prevent the advancement of Catholics.
Under the rule of atheist Fidel Castro, the Cuban government deported the archbishop and 150 Spanish priests to reduce the Church's ability to work. The state discriminated against Catholics in public life and education while refusing to accept them as members of the Communist Party.