Non-Catholics should be recognized as martyrs, Pope says
November 14, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Speaking on November 14 to participants at a conference on martyrdom, Pope Francis said that the Church should recognize all those who die for Christ, including those who are not Catholic.
The Pope pointed to the Orthodox martyrs of Libya: “They were martyrs, and the Church venerates them as her own martyrs,” he said. “With martyrdom there is equality.”
Pope Francis said that he wants the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints—which had organized this week’s conference on martyrdom—to “gather the memory of those who, even within the other Christian denominations, were able to give up their lives in order not to betray the Lord. And there are many, many of other denominations, who are martyrs.”
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Nov. 15, 2024 8:24 PM ET USA
I always find it strange when Francis refers to "other Christian denominations". It appears to me as if he considers the Catholic Church a Christian denomination, rather than the Church from which the denominations descended. If I am understanding his labeling correctly, it must result from his belief that "all religions are a path to arrive at God". If this is now true, then all religions must be denominations of something more expansive and greater in the eyes of God than Catholicism.
