Today’s martyrs remind us that God is renewing the world with his love

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On 22 April 2017, Pope Francis visited the Basilica of St. Bartholomew in Rome to participate in a para-liturgy on the theme of Prayer for Today’s New Martyrs, organized by the St. Egidio Community. His arrival was greeted by pealing bells and the singing of the Martyrs Hymn, which opens with the words: “The holy martyrs, who have followed in the footsteps of Christ and who shed their blood out of love for him, are now rejoicing forever in his presence.”

A very moving part of the service was a series of testimonies about the new martyrs: one by the son of Paul Schneider, a pastor of the Reformed Church, who was killed in the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1939; another by a friend of William Quijano, who was killed by a band of armed rebels in Salvador, and the third by Roselyne Hamel, the sister of Fr. Jacques, the French priest who was recently mrudered by Islamic fundamentalists while celebrating Mass in his parish church. “May the sacrifice of Jacques,” his sister said, “help the people of our time find a way to live in peace with one another.”