Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis released a letter today, announcing the creation of a Commission for the New Martyrs - Witnesses of the Faith, ahead of the Jubilee of 2025, at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, tasked with drawing up a catalogue of all Christians - not only Catholics - who gave their life for the Gospel in this first part of the 21st century, and then constantly updating the list.
For the Jubilee of 2000, Pope John Paul II set up a similar a commission to focus on the martyrs of the 20th century, the victims of totalitarian regimes (Nazi, fascist, communist), but also the martyrs of evangelisation and charity of every Christian confession.
Coordinated by Prof Andrea Riccardi, historian and founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio, the work resulted in a list of about 13,000 people, including more than 1,700 martyrs in Asia and more than 1,100 in the former Soviet Union.
Their memory was the focus of one of the most solemn moments of the Jubilee, an ecumenical service led by Pope John Paul II at the Colosseum on 7 May 2000.
Now Pope Francis is urging the faithful to look at the 21st century when martyrs “are more numerous in our time than in the first centuries”.
In his letter, the pontiff explains the sense of the commission’s work. “Martyrs in the Church are witnesses of the hope that comes from faith in Christ and incites to true charity. Hope keeps alive the deep conviction that good is stronger than evil, because God in Christ conquered sin and death.”
Taking its cue from the work done in 2000, the commission will be chaired by the secretary of the dicastery Bishop Faio Fabene with Prof Riccardi as vice president and Fr Marco Gnavi as secretary. The latter served in the same capacity during the Great Jubilee of 2000.
One of the other members of the Commission chosen by Pope Francis is Fr Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen, a Dominican from Vietnam and secretary general of the Pontifical Missionary Union.
The commission “is not intended to establish new criteria for the canonical ascertainment of martyrdom,” Francis writes. With respect to the causes of beatification, plans remain distinct, to promote a broader look at those who are still killed for the sake of the Gospel.
Like John Paul II, the "ecumenism of the blood” will be the guiding institution. “The research will concern not only the Catholic Church, but will extend to all Christian denominations. Even in our times, in which we are witnessing a change of epoch, Christians continue to show, in contexts of great risk, the vitality of Baptism that unites us.”
The pontiff also cites some categories of new martyrs, who “despite being aware of the dangers they face, manifest their faith or participate in the Sunday Eucharist”, while “Others are killed in the effort to assist in charity the lives of the poor, in caring for those rejected by society, in cherishing and promoting the gift of peace and the power of forgiveness. Still others are silent victims, as individuals or in groups, of the upheavals of history. To all of them we owe a great debt and we cannot forget them.”
Pope Francis goes on to say that the Commission established at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints “will be required to avail itself of the active contribution of the particular Churches in their structures, of religious institutes and of all other Christian realities”.
Lastly, “In a world where at times it seems that evil prevails, I am certain that the drafting of this Catalogue, also in the context of the now imminent Jubilee, will help believers to read our times too in the Paschal light, drawing from the treasury of such generous faithfulness to Christ the reasons for life and goodness.”
