21 Libyan martyrs to be recognized by the Catholic ChurchThe blood of the martyrs is the seed of unityThe new commission will form part of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and, according to the letter of Pope Francis, has been constituted in the framework of the Jubilee 2025.
The aim is for this commission to draw up "a catalog of all those who have shed their blood to confess Christ and bear witness to his Gospel," Pope Francis said in the statement.
The Pope recalled that "the martyrs in the Church are witnesses to the hope that springs from faith in Christ and incites to true charity. Hope keeps alive the profound conviction that good is stronger than evil, because God, in Christ, has conquered sin and death".
The commission will be in charge of searching for new martyrs, a task already begun during the Jubilee 2000. Its work will consist of "identifying witnesses to the faith in this first quarter century and continuing it in the future".
More martyrs now than in the early centuries
The Holy Father pointed out that martyrs are more numerous now than in the first centuries of Christianity: "Indeed, martyrs have accompanied the life of the Church in every age and flourish as 'ripe and excellent fruits of the Lord's vineyard' even today. As I have often said, the martyrs 'are more numerous in our time than in the first centuries': they are bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, lay people and families, who in the various countries of the world, with the gift of their lives, have offered the supreme proof of charity (cf. LG 42).
As St. John Paul II wrote in his Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, everything possible must be done to ensure that the legacy of the cloud of "unknown soldiers of the great cause of God" (37) is not lost. Already on May 7, 2000, they were remembered in an ecumenical celebration, which saw representatives of Churches and ecclesial communities from all over the world gathered in the Colosseum to evoke, together with the Bishop of Rome, the richness of what I later called the 'ecumenism of blood'. Also in the next Jubilee we will be united in such a celebration".
The Pope pointed out that this new commission does not imply a change in the definition of martyrdom: "The aim of this initiative is not to establish new criteria for the canonical confirmation of martyrdom, but to continue the monitoring of those who, to this day, continue to be killed for the mere fact of being Christians (...). It is a matter, then, of continuing the historical recognition to collect the testimonies of life, up to the shedding of blood, of these our sisters and brothers, so that their memory may become a treasure to be treasured by the Christian community".
"Ecumenism of blood".
The investigation will not be limited only to Catholic martyrs, but will cover all Christian confessions: "The investigation will not only cover the Catholic Church, but will extend to all Christian confessions. Even in our time, in which we are witnessing a change of epoch, Christians continue to show, in contexts of great risk, the vitality of the Baptism that unites us. Indeed, there are many who, despite being aware of the dangers they face, manifest their faith or participate in the Sunday Eucharist.
Others die in the effort to help in charity the lives of the poor, to care for those discarded by society, to value and promote the gift of peace and the power of forgiveness. Others are silent victims, individual or collective, of the vicissitudes of history. We owe them all a great debt and we cannot forget them. The work of the Commission will make it possible to place, alongside the martyrs officially recognized by the Church, the documented testimonies - and there are many - of these brothers and sisters of ours, within a vast panorama in which the unique voice of the martyrdom of Christians resounds".
Finally, the Pope pointed out that this research is a hymn to hope in our world: "In a world in which evil sometimes seems to prevail, I am sure that the preparation of this catalog, also in the context of the now imminent Jubilee, will help believers to read our times in the light of Easter, drawing from the chest of such generous fidelity to Christ the reasons for life and good".
