A new Vatican commission meeting Tuesday in Rome has recorded the deaths of over 1700 martyrs in the 21st century, including Christians from other denominations, with between 100 and 150 new names added this year.

Established in 2023 by Pope Francis, the Commission for New Martyrs and Witnesses of the Faith is an offshoot from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

The Commission has arranged a two-day international congress this week called “The 21st Century, a New Age of Martyrs?”

The conference speakers include Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is to talk about the peaceful role of Christians in the Holy Land.

Speaking at a press conference last week ahead of the congress Fabio Fabene, secretary of the dicastery and president of the commission, said the commission “continues to collect notifications and information about Christians who died because of the Gospel in all parts of the world.”

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the dicastery, who was also at the press conference, said that not all the martyrs in the catalog of names that have been recorded will necessarily be canonized.

“The grace of holiness in the Church is manifested—though not limited to—in canonizations,” said Semeraro.

“Obviously, it is not ruled out, that for some of those listed in the catalog, the procedures for beatification and canonization may begin, provided the necessary conditions are met,” he added.

He went on to emphasize the “high standard of ordinary Christian life” that Saint John Paul II extolled, and also Pope Francis’ phrase of the “holiness of the person next door.”

Semararo said the “anthropological value of Christian holiness” is manifested in the “the ability to suffer for the truth.”

Ecumenical martyrs

Semararo’s comments suggested that the addition of 21 Coptic Christian martyrs to the Roman Martyrology by Pope Francis in 2023 is a sign of things to come, as the commission recognizes the “common martyrology” among the baptized and those from different Christian denominations.

The commission’s work compiling a catalogue of those who “have shed their blood for confessing Christ and bearing witness to the Gospel” is not limited to Catholics.

Semararo again drew on the teachings of Popes St John Paul II and Francis as a rationale for the ecumenical dimension of the commission’s work.

Upon the establishment of the commission, Semararo pointed out, Francis said the work “will allow the martyrs, officially recognized by the Church, to stand alongside the documented testimonies—and there are many—of these brothers and sisters of ours, within a vast panorama in which the single voice of Christian martyrdom resounds.”

A century of martyrdom

Historian Andrea Riccardi, vice-president of the Commission, said that the 21st century is marked by martyrdom.

“To the question of whether we are facing a new time of martyrdom, we must answer yes. A new century of martyrdom, strongly intuited by Pope Francis. The time of martyrdom continues,” he said.

The programme for the congress shows the flashpoints for these deaths. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is slated to speak, with Islamic State terrorists having recently claimed the death of 130 Christians in August.

The continent of Africa as a whole has seen many Christians killed, with Nigeria, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, and many other countries, all seeing high levels of bloodshed.

The congress will also look at the Holy Land, Europe, the Americas and Asia. The Vatican said that it has documented 304 martyrs in South America so far this century.

“Many were killed for reasons related to drug trafficking, deforestation, or for opposing the exploitation of natural resources,” explained Semeraro.

He also said the number included missionaries and lay faithful, and that the common denominator in their cases was that they became “inconvenient” to those who control the illicit activities.

______

You are reading this Crux Now article for free. You can register for our free daily newsletter here, and you can become a Crux Now supporter for full access to all our premium content here. To find out more about why becoming a Crux Now supporter is a great idea, go here.