2016: 90,000 Christians killed for their faith in the world. Radio Vaticano

2016: 90,000 Christians killed for their faith in the world. Radio Vaticano. [Google translated].

"between 500 and 600 million Christians who can not practice their own faith in complete freedom."

According to Massimo Introvigne, director of the Centro Studi Nuove Religioni ( CESNUR ), the number of Christians killed for their faith in the world in 2016 would be 90 000 - and the year is not over -: 1 Christian all 6 minutes! As for Christians prevented from freely professing their faith, they would be between 500 and 600 million .


R. - The influential Center for Study of Global Christianity next month will publish its statistics in 2016, about 90,000 Christians killed for their faith, one death every six minutes, a bit 'decreased compared to 105,000 two years does. Of these, 70 percent, or 63,000, were killed in tribal conflicts in Africa. The American Center include them in the statistics because they believed that in large part it is Christians who refuse to take for reasons of conscience weapons. The other 30 percent, or 27,000, comes instead from terrorist attacks, destruction of Christian villages, governmental persecution, as in the case of North Korea.

Q. - As for an estimate of Christians persecuted in the world, how many you are around?

R. - Combining statistics from at least three different US research centers as well as mine, Cesnur, and comparing them with each other in 102 countries around the world, estimates vary between 500 and 600 million Christians who can not practice their own faith in complete freedom. Without wishing to forget or belittle the suffering of members of other religions, Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world. 

Someone may remain puzzled by the statistics because somewhere the Center for Study of Global Christianity gives us this figure of 90,000 while others speak of a few thousand, others several hundred. When the discrepancies are so large, it is clear that you are counting different things.

Who counts people confronted consciously to tragic choice: "Either he must deny your faith or perish", it counts every year several hundred.

Those with a wider notion: not "candidates for beatification" but people who put in mind that they could be killed making certain gestures or practices of faith, speaks of several thousand. But if you talk to people who are killed in a broad sense because they are Christians, then we come to 90,000 ie one death every six minutes.

Q. - you can not fail to mention one that is precisely the brutal persecution of Christians, and others, perpetrated by the self-styled Islamic State in the conquered territories. There are examples of Christians who have lost their lives to remain faithful to the Lord in these territories?

R. - Yes, in the territories of the so-called Islamic State there are several cases, including some that the Church is studying in preparation for a possible beatification; There are Christians who have consciously chosen to remain in these areas and to continue, as they could, to bear witness to their faith.

Speaking of the Islamic state must not forget that the Islamic state also kills many Muslims and that in 2016, according to our estimates, the number of Christians killed for their faith and the number of Muslims killed for their faith, except for the ' Africa, but we speak of the other continents, particularly Asia, is a very similar number.

Muslims generally are killed by other Muslims: Shia Muslims are killed by Sunni Muslims and this is the most frequent case. Sometimes Sunni Muslims are killed by Shiite Muslims, Muslims who do not agree with a certain declination of Islam are killed by extremist Muslims, as in the case of the Is.

Q. - What strikes you most about this phenomenon of persecution?

R. - Two points. The first is that a little 'in all countries growing intolerance and intolerance is the antechamber of discrimination which then in turn is the antechamber of the persecution. And then the calm attitude, noble, many times exemplary Christian minorities subjected to all sorts of harassment but only in rare cases have responded to violence with violence, while in most cases they peacefully demonstrated their faith, very often persecutors, forgiving and praying for them.

Walid Phares.: "21 Egyptian Coptic Christians Murdered by the Terrorist group IS could be declared as martyrs."

The 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians Murdered by the Terrorist group IS could be doctrinally declared as martyrs. HT: Walid Phares.

It was learned from well informed sources in the that "the 21 Egyptian Christian Copts who were slaughtered by the Jihadists of the Islamic State on the sole basis of their Christian faith, could be doctrinally declared as martyrs.

The question is who would be the designating party, the Coptic Orthodox Church or the Vatican? 

Both Churches elevate individuals to martyrdom, some even to Sainthood, on the sole ecclesiastic basis and consideration of killed because of their faith and not other political, military or ideological considerations." Such possible decision could have significant ramifications on the moral and psychological levels, worldwide.

The Meaning of Martyrdom for Christians and Muslims

The meaning of martyrdom is radically different for Christians and Muslims. This difference is based on how, according to their religious beliefs, they look upon each other.

The word "martyr," in both the Christian and Islamic traditions, means "witness." In this regard, "martyr" refers to a witness for the faith. The Greek word (martus) signifies a witness who testifies to a fact of which he has knowledge from personal observation.

Eventually, the term "martyr" was applied exclusively to those who died for their faith. Martyrdom, nonetheless, was always clearly distinguished from suicide or anything suggestive of suicide. According to St. Gregory of Nazianzus, it is mere rashness to seek death, but it is cowardly to refuse it. In the modern age, G.K. Chesterton has remarked that the Christian "must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that " [m]artyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death" (no. 2473).

Islam also distinguishes martyrdom from suicide. Its tradition clearly and forcefully condemns suicide. Accordingly, the Koran says: "Do not kill yourselves, Allah is merciful to you, but he that does that through wickedness and injustice shall be burnt in fire." Similarly, the prophet Abu Huraira states: "The one who throws himself from a mountain and kills himself will be eternally in hell."

At the same time, according to Islamic tradition, anyone who kills himself for the sake of Allah is doing something not suicidal but sacrificial, and therefore is considered a martyr.Here Islam and Christianity part company.

"Therefore, the one who blows up the enemies of Allah by blowing up himself as well cannot be considered a suicide, and he is, Allah willing, a martyr." The author cites a number of Islamic authorities, including the Koran, and comes to a conclusion that is not only non-Christian in its essence, but one that should be shocking to Christians:

Through the above evidence from the [Koran] and the Sunnah, it is clearly demonstrated that the "Islamic-bombing-assault' or the 'martyrdom operation' is Islamically legitimate as far as it is within the framework of Islam. The concept of martyrdom (shahada) in Islam is to be understood in light of the Islamic concept of the Holy Struggle (jihad).

The meaning of martyrdom is radically different for Christians and Muslims. This difference is based on how, according to their religious beliefs, they look upon each other. The Christian sees the Muslim, as well as anyone else, as his neighbor whom he is commanded to love. The Muslim quite easily, and consistent with the Koran, sees his fellow Christian as an infidel. In this purview, it is at least theoretically possible, given the Islamic tradition, for a Muslim to involve himself in a "martyrdom operation" in which he, together with Christians and other "infidels," are killed (in the name of Allah, to be sure). This is certainly an important concern and can be a serious obstacle in the path of peaceful relations between Muslims and Christians. Inter-religious dialogue is most desirable, but its basis must be in truth and not mere wishful thinking.

Christians do not seek martyrdom. They seek love, friendship, peace, and the God who has instituted these values and has commanded their adoption. They also hope that their Muslim neighbors will reciprocate in kind. They do not desire martyrdom either for themselves or for their Muslim neighbors. But they will accept martyrdom rather than renounce their faith. In this way, the Christian is a witness, as the word "martyr" suggests. But he is primarily a witness to love, and, like His Holiness John Paul II, a witness to hope. Hmmm......In layman terms: In Christianity the one killed is the Martyr; In Islam the one doing the Killing is the Martyr.Read the full text here.

Video - Pope Francis I canonizes 802 New Saints Who Were Killed By Ottoman Soldiers After Refusing To Convert To Islam.

Pope Francis To Canonize 800 Christians Who Were Killed After Refusing To Convert To Islam By Ottoman Soldiers.

Church of Saint Caterina in Otranto. 

Pope Francis To Canonize 800 Christians Who Were Killed After Refusing To Convert To Islam By Ottoman Soldiers.HT: InfidelBloggers.By Pastorius.

Pope Francis is preparing to canonise an estimated 800 Italian laymen killed by Ottoman soldiers in the 15th century. The canonisation service will be on May 12 in St Peter’s Square and it will be the first carried out by the Pontiff since he was elected in early March.

The killing of the martyrs by Ottoman troops, who launched a weeks-long siege of Otranto, a small port town at the most eastern tip of southern Italy, took place in 1480.

When Otranto residents refused to surrender to the Ottoman army, the soldiers were ordered to massacre all males over the age of 15.

Many were ordered to convert to Islam or die, but Blessed Antonio Primaldo, a tailor, spoke on the prisoners’ behalf. “We believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God, and for Jesus Christ we are ready to die,” he said, according to Blessed John Paul II, who visited Otranto in 1980 for the 500th anniversary of the martyrs’ deaths.

Primaldo inspired all the other townspeople to take courage, the late Pope said, and to say: “We will all die for Jesus Christ; we willingly die so as to not renounce his holy faith.” There were not “deluded” or “outdated,” Blessed John Paul continued, but “authentic, strong, decisive, consistent men” who loved their city, their families and their faith.

The skulls and other relics of the martyrs currently adorn the walls around the altar of Otranto Cathedral as a memorial to their sacrifice. According to the archdiocese’s website, popular tradition holds that when the soldiers beheaded Primaldo, his body remained standing even as the combatants tried to push him over. Legend has it that the decapitated man stood until the very last prisoner was killed, at which point Primaldo’s body collapsed next to his dead comrades.

In 1771, the Church recognised the validity of the local veneration of Primaldo and his companions and allowed them to be called Blessed. In 2007, retired Pope Benedict XVI formally recognised their martyrdom and, in 2012, he recognised a miracle attributed to their intercession. Martyrs do not need a miracle attributed to their intercession in order to be beatified. However, miracles must be recognised by the Vatican in order for them to become saints.

The miracle involved the late-Poor Clare Sister Francesca Levote. She was suffering from a serious form of cancer but was healed after a pilgrimage to pray before the martyrs’ relics in Otranto in 1980, a few months before Pope John Paul’s visit in October. She died in February 2012 at the age of 85.

In a letter published in December 2012, Archbishop Donato Negro of Otranto said that the martydom of the townnsfolk must represent a “purification of the memory of the Catholic Church and a rooting out of every possible lingering resentment, rancor, resentful policies, every eventual temptation toward hatred and violence, and every presumptuous attitude of religious superiority, religious arrogance, moral and cultural pride.”

Remembering Christian martyrs is an occasion to examine one’s own life and make sure it corresponds with the Gospel call to love and forgive, he added.Hmmmm.....'An observation about the different use of the word “martyr”: in Christianity, unlike in Islam, martyrs do not kill'.It was actually Pope Benedictus XVI who took the step! Pope Benedictus XVI Canonized Christian Martyrs slain by Turkish Muslims before leaving office.Read the full story here.

Pope Benedictus XVI Canonized Christian Martyrs slain by Turkish Muslims before leaving office.

Church of Saint Caterina in Otranto. 

Pope Benedictus XVI Canonized Christian Martyrs slain by Turkish Muslims before leaving office.(WW).Enza Ferreri, Blog of London-based Italian journalist on politics, society, religion, environment, posted the following on his blog: Pope Benedetto XVI announced that he will leave his ministry at 8pm on February 28.

He made this announcement during a consistory for the canonization of the martyrs of Otranto beheaded one by one by the Ottoman Turks.

Antonio Primaldo and his companions, 800 Christians, were murdered for hatred of their faith by Muslims during the Turkish siege of the town of Otranto, in South-East Italy, on August 13, 1480.

As the Qu’ran commands, these infidels were offered the choice to convert to Islam or be slayed. When they refused, the martyrs of Otranto were massacred.

The Qu’ran is obeyed and applied in the same way now as it was in 1480. The only difference between now and then is in the power and military force Muslim armies had then but now now. Let’s make sure that it remains this way in the West.In other parts of the world, Christians are still massacred by Muslims for their faith. Nothing has changed in Islamic doctrine, only the relationship of strength can be a defence for whomever Muslims consider their enemies.

An observation about the different use of the word “martyr”: in Christianity, unlike in Islam, martyrs do not kill. [My emphasis].Hmmmm......You have to hand it to his Holiness, he left in Style. “Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be,” ~ Pope Benedict XVI.'I wonder which religion he was talking about?'Read the full story here.