Sunday, February 19, 2006
MODERN DAY MARTYRDOM
ROME, FEB. 16, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Many of the stories go untold, but persecution against religious missionaries happens every day around the world.
Since the earliest days of the Church, missionaries have faced risks. For many, that situation hasn't changed.
A grim reminder of modern-day martyrdom was the funeral held last week in the Basilica of St. John Lateran for Father Andrea Santoro, the Italian-born missionary slain in Turkey.
Then there were the reports of other attacks: another priest, beaten in Turkey; a Jesuit, known for his spiritual retreats, killed in Burundi; a longtime Franciscan friar murdered in Angola a couple of days later; the three Dominican religious sisters sentenced to death for "proselytizing" in Sri Lanka; a bishop and three priests pelted with stones by tribal rebels in India while opening a new school …
Is this a momentary spate of persecution? No.
"On average 30 to 35 Catholic missionaries are murdered every year -- assassinated," said Father Patrick Byrne of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
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