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Pope creates new saints

Summary

13 May 2013

At a ceremony in Rome, Pope Francis has created the first saints of his reign¹. They include 800 Italians who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam after their city was captured by Turks six centuries ago. 

Reporter:

David Willey

Report

It's taken more than six centuries for the Catholic Church to officially recognise the heroism² of hundreds of citizens of Otranto, a small town in the south of Italy who were executed by an invading Turkish army when they refused to convert to Islam. 

But there was no hint of any anti-Islamic sentiment in the homily that Pope Francis delivered before tens of thousands of worshippers gathered in St Peters Square. Martyrs³, he said, inspire Christians⁴ who are still suffering violence in many parts of the world, to respond to evil with good. He refrained from naming any single country, although the Catholic Church is deeply concerned about attacks on Christian⁵ communities in the Middle East and in East and West Africa. 

Later this month an Italian priest murdered by the Sicilian mafia twenty years ago will be beatified - the last step before he too is declared a saint. Pope Francis, following the example of his immediate⁶ predecessors⁷, is continuing the process of honouring a new generation of modern as well as historic martyrs. He wants to remind the world that thousands of Christians are still being persecuted⁸ for their faith and sometimes being killed in circumstances related to their religion.