Blessed Pope Paul VI will be canonised a saint in October. The ceremony will take place at the end of the Synod of Bishops on youth and discernment, Cardinal Pietro Parolin says. The cardinals and bishops who are members of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes have voted to recognise a miracle where Blessed Paul healed Read more
Charles de Foucauld is the figure who teaches Catholics about the true nature of Christian martyrdom, too often distorted into a “persecutionism” ideology. Brother Michael Davide Semeraro, a Benedictine monk and spiritual teacher, looks at the experience of the “Little Brother” and his legacy, from an original perspective, 100 years on from his death. As Read more
The murder of twenty one Christians by Islamic State in Libya brought condemnation from around the world. Their murder puts them in a long history of persecution of the Coptic Church. Martyrdom was not new to them or their people. For nearly two thousand years, their Church had prided itself as being the Church of Read more
While he was first and foremost a faithful shepherd and a martyr for the faith, a fact now confirmed by the Vatican, Archbishop Oscar Romero was also the most trusted source of news in war-torn El Salvador up until the day he was assassinated on March 24, 1980. In a country where the major media Read more
As I have mentioned in a previous posting, there are many different sorts of martyrdom–in the broad sense of bearing witness, at a high or ultimate cost, to an awkward truth or passionately embraced cause. Independence movements, environmental campaigns, investigative journalism, humanitarian missions to war zones. They all draw inspiration from sons and daughters who perished in Read more
The Archbishop of Canterbury said Christians across parts of the Muslim world are being deliberately attacked because of their faith. The Most Rev Justin Welby said that there had been more than 80 Christian “martyrs” in the last few days alone. He was speaking about the bombing of All Saints Anglican church in Peshawar, Pakistan, Read more