VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Wednesday that Christians faced persecution, torture and death in some parts of the world and continued to be made martyrs for their faith. Posted on 12/26/2007 10:25:28 AM PST by monkapotamus
Pope hails persecuted Christians as modern martyrs
Wed Dec 26, 7:31 AM ET
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Wednesday that Christians faced persecution, torture and death in some parts of the world and continued to be made martyrs for their faith.
In a message to pilgrims on the day after Christmas -- the feast day of St. Stephen, considered the first Christian martyr -- the Pope said Christians who die for their faith pray for forgiveness for their killers.
"We should always note that this is a distinctive characteristic of the Christian martyr -- it is exclusively an act of love, towards God and towards men, including the persecutors," he told crowds in a rainy St. Peter's Square.
"Christian martyrdom reminds us of the victory of love over hatred and death," he said.
St. Stephen was stoned to death by a mob in Jerusalem at a time when Christianity was first starting to spread. The Pope said such martyrdoms continued to this day.
"It is not rare even today that we receive news from various parts of the world of missionaries, priests, bishops, monks, nuns and lay people persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, deprived of their liberty or prevented from exercising it because they are disciples of Christ and apostles of the Gospel," he said.
The Pope did not give any examples, but it is less than two weeks since an Italian Catholic priest was stabbed in his church in Turkey, the latest in a spate of attacks on Christians in the predominantly Muslim country.
Another Italian priest in Turkey was shot dead in his church by a teenager in February, and in April three Christians had their throats cut at a Bible publishing house there.
On Wednesday, Hindu hardliners in India burned and damaged 12 churches, killing at least one person, in an outbreak of violence sparked by the reported injuring of a local Hindu leader by a Christian group.
Understandable, since the far and away preponderance of Christian martyrs these days are protestants.
After celebrating Sunday mass, Fr Ragheed and his three aides were leaving the Parish by car, accompanied by the wife of one of the sub-deacons,, Gassan Isam Bidawed. In recent days the three insisted on accompanying Fr Ragheed to protect him. “They were young men alive with faith, who accompanied their parish priests every more, risking their lives for their belief in Christ”, their friends tell. Suddenly, at the corner of the road, their car was blocked by unknown armed men militants who ordered the woman to distance herself from the others and then, in cold blood, shot the remaining passengers, repeatedly. The aggressor’s then booby trapped the car with explosives; with the aim of further carnage should anyone come near the car to recover the bodies. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the bodies remained, abandoned on the city street, because no one dared to approach. It was only towards ten pm (Local time) that security forces finally defused the explosives allowing corpses to be recovered. Fr. Ragheed is the first Catholic priest to have been killed in Iraq since 2003.
Fr. Ragheed was born in Mosul in 1972. In 1993, He received his Civil Engineering degree from University of Mosul. He studied in Rome from 1996 to 2003 where he received a master degree in Theology.
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While we here in the states take our comfy faith for granted FAR TOO often.
The persecuted Christians in China would much rather be here, I’m sure, having a church meeting on who’s going to cut the grass this week; than running for their very lives and meeting in secret.
I’m humbled by the sacrifice of those living in dangerous countries, and dying for their faith. Here in my comfortable chair, I’ve no cause to complain about ANYTHING!
Good luck sourcing that one...
In memory of the dry white martyrs who have suffered quiet persecution at Catholic institutions under the control of heretical modernists, socialists and their liberal anti-Catholic buddies these last thirty years or so.
Granted, it is difficult; but I make a continual study (and a matter of prayer and action) over the phenomenon of modern Christian martyrdom. And I do not denigrate or minimize those Christian martyrs who are Catholic -- far from it. But the numbers are just overwhelming. Protestants tend to be more disparate, less hierarchical, less governmentally-connected, and they just suffer; they are picked off much more easily in communist- and muslim-dominated areas.
Here are some statistics that show what I am talking about:
From this Catholic site --
http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com/blog/2006/01/catholic-martyrs-in-2005.html
We find:
Each year the Fides news agency, an arm of the Vatican Congregation, publishes a list of the year's "martyrs for the faith." In 2004, there were 16 people on the list; for 2005 the list in nearly twice as long. In previous years Fides had listed 30 slain evangelists in 2000, 33 in 2001, 25 in 2002, and 29 in 2003. In this year's list Fides includes 1 bishop, 20 priests, 2 nuns, 2 monks, and 1 lay catechist.
From this seminary site:
http://christianity.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=christianity&cdn=religion&tm=31&gps=128_1013_1020_567&f=00&tt=11&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/globalchristianity/resources.php
...a chart shows that the average number of Christian martyrs each year is a whopping 173,000.
So, while I hesitate to make a protestant/catholic distinction here, I did have a point to make -- and I find it understandable that the Pope did not get down to cases and numbers, although I think it would have been appropriate. I think he probably just has a hard time assigning the label "Christians" to protestants, especially in his position.
I don't minimize the sufferings of my Protestant brethren in any way, but to say that they are bearing the lion's share of the world's Christian suffering is beyond reason.
I think he probably just has a hard time assigning the label "Christians" to protestants, especially in his position.
You think wrong. I will give you a quote from Scripture to understand the mind of the Pope on the subject:
Luke 9:49 And John, answering, said: Master, we saw a certain man casting out devils in thy name: and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. 50 And Jesus said to him: Forbid him not: for he that is not against you is for you.
We, in the Catholic Church, have the Apostolic Succession and the Truth in its fullness as given us by Christ. However, those who profess the name of Jesus--who are not of our number--are in no ways our enemy... or not Christian.
Indeed. A few years ago I attended the funeral of such a priest. The priests in attendance were all white haired, their faces weary from years of struggle in this diocese. It was quite moving when they all stood and sang "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek". 6 more years to go.
Thank you. It is OK to be put in my place by someone who has the Truth in its fullness.
I hear your sarcasm... but you are still wrong. Just for fun, why don’t you back up your own assertion? Show me ANY quote that suggests the Pope doesn’t see Protestants as fellow Christians.
I’ll wait...
Benedict “gets it” on Christian persecution at the hands of the ROP. John Paul II either didn’t get it, or turned a blind eye.
...Or dealt with it differently.
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