Pope Francis Adds 21 Coptic Martyrs Killed in Sirte, Libya, to Roman Martyrology

Pope Francis announced on Thursday that the Catholic Church will venerate the Coptic Christians murdered in 2015 by the terrorist group “Islamic State.” He made the announcement during a meeting with a Coptic delegation. Francis said he would enter the 21 martyrs in the Martyrologium Romanum, the Catholic list of saints, as a sign of spiritual communion, with the approval of Coptic Pope Tawadros II. With the admission, the martyrs may be venerated liturgically in the Catholic Church.

Tawadros II presented Francis with a relic of the 21 martyrs as a guest gift. Francis said, “I lack the words to express my gratitude for the precious gift of a relic of the Coptic martyrs killed in Libya on 15 February 2015.” He described the martyrs as baptized not only with water and the Spirit but also with blood, “a blood that is a seed of unity for all followers of Christ” (John 17:21).

The Coptic Church placed the murdered Christians among its holy martyrs within days of their deaths, according to the report, and Tawadros II was the one who did so. The Coptic Church marks February 15 as the commemoration of the “21 martyrs of Sirte.” In 2021, Francis had already honoured the dead as “saints of all Christians, of all denominations and Christian traditions.”

The 21 men were abducted in the Libyan port city of Sirte. Twenty of them were known Coptic Christians, and 13 of those came from the village of Al Our in Upper Egypt, where a church dedicated to them has stood since 2018. The report states that the 21st victim probably came from Ghana. It says it cannot be known with certainty whether he had already been baptized. According to reports, he may have received so-called blood baptism. The report says he was so moved by the steadfastness of his fellow prisoners that he also refused a forced confession to Islam, and that he is said to have declared, “Your God is also my God.”

The report notes that since the early Christian era, the Church has taught that people who are not baptized but give their lives for the Christian faith enter God’s bliss directly. On that basis, the Church regards all 21 dead of Sirte as martyrs without distinction.

Tawadros II had been in the Vatican since Wednesday. The visit marks the fiftieth anniversary of the first meeting between a Catholic pope and the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch, a office that also carries the title of pope. At their 1973 meeting, Pope Paul VI (1963–1978) and Coptic Pope Shenouda III (1971–2012) reached agreement on a fundamental theological consensus. The churches had been separated since the fifth century, and the agreement came after centuries of unsuccessful discussions.

Source: Read the original report (translated from German)