In May of this year,
Pope Francis announced that the 21 COPTIC ORTHODOX
MARTYRS killed by ISIS in February 2015 on a beach in
Meeting with the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Pope Tawadros II and other Coptic Orthodox representatives at the Vatican May 11, the Holy Father said: “I am glad to announce today that, with the consent of Your Holiness, these 21 martyrs will be inserted into the Roman Martyrology as a sign of the spiritual communion uniting our two Churches.”
"They were killed simply
for the fact they were Christians. The blood of our Christian brothers and
sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard. It makes no
difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are
Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ.”
“May the prayer of the Coptic martyrs, united
with that of the Theotokos, continue to grow the friendship between our
Churches, until the blessed day when we can celebrate together at the same altar
and commune in the same Body and Blood of the Savior, ‘that the world may
believe,’” Pope Francis said.
The sacred
icon here I have used before, by my friend by Nikola Sarić . He has an incredible gift of making current events so piercing to the soul- things we would rather not see. (See Blog May 2016 on his work)