Pope creates commission to identify modern-day martyrs

Ronan — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 05:55:31 +0000

A quarter of a century after John Paul II held an ecumenical celebration during the Great Jubilee of 2000 to honour Christian martyrs, Pope Francis has decided to update the work of his Polish predecessor by compiling a new martyrology of Christians of all denominations.

The Vatican announced on July 5 that the 86-year-old pope has formed a commission of experts whose task is to identify the Christian martyrs of the last twenty-five years. He intends to create a new martyrology of those more recently killed for the faith in preparation for the Church's upcoming Jubilee in 2025.

"The research will concern not only the Catholic Church, but will extend to all Christian denominations," the pope states in his letter constituting the "Commission of New Martyrs-Witness of the Faith."

Persecution of Christians ‘stunningly vast'

admin — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:30:38 +0000

Seventy million Christian martyrs since the time of Christ . . . at least 100,000 new martyrs for the Christian faith each year in the first decade of this millennium . . . 11 Christians killed every hour of every day for the whole of the past decade.

These figures from a conference on the persecution of Christians around the world lead John Allen to comment: "By any standard . . . the scale of anti-Christian violence is stunningly vast. In fact, this may be one of the reasons it's difficult to raise an alarm: the numbers are so big it's hard to believe they're real."

Persecution of Christians ‘stunningly vast'

Christian martyrs - CathNews New Zealand

Pope creates commission to identify modern-day martyrs

Persecution of Christians ‘stunningly vast'