The Vatican released a letter Wednesday in which the pope announced that the commission will form part of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
“As I have said many times, the martyrs ‘are more numerous in our time than in the first centuries’” of the church, Francis wrote in the letter dated Monday. He was referring to the early years of Christianity, when many were killed for refusing to renounce their faith, considered a threat to the Roman imperial regime.
Among the martyrs of current times there are clergymen and also “laity and families who, in various countries of the world, by giving their lives, have offered the supreme proof of charity,” Francis wrote.
The initiative coincides with the jubilee, or Holy Year scheduled for 2025, which will attract “pilgrims of hope” to Rome, he added.
By order of the pontiff, the commission will also study the cases of non-Catholic Christian martyrs.
The commission is tasked with “drawing up a catalog of all those who have shed their blood to acknowledge Christ and bear witness to His Gospel,” the letter says. “The martyrs of the Church are witnesses of the hope that is born of faith in Christ and inspires true charity.”
The letter does not mention people Francis considers 21st-century martyrs or countries or regions where people have been killed because of their faith.
Nuns and priests from parishes or charities in Africa and other regions have been killed in recent decades.
Two months ago, the Vatican formally recognized 21 Coptic workers beheaded by Islamists in Libya as martyrs with their own holiday.
FUENTE: Associated Press
