Pope Francis adds 21 Coptic Orthodox martyrs to Catholic list of saints
By Devin Watkins
“May the prayers of the Coptic martyrs, united with those of the Theotokos, continue to help our Churches grow in friendship, until the blessed day when we can celebrate at the same altar and receive together the Body and Blood of the Savior.”
Pope Francis expressed that desire for greater Christian unity on Thursday during an audience in the Vatican with Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II.
The Patriarch of the See of St. Mark has spent the last three days in Rome to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Joint Christological Declaration, a milestone in relations between the Coptic Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
In his address, Pope Francis said 21 Coptic Orthodox martyrs would be inserted into the Roman Martyrology “as a sign of the spiritual communion that unites our two Churches.”
The 21 Coptic Christians—of whom 20 were Egyptian and 1 hailed from Ghana—were beheaded in Libya in 2015 by militants of the so-called Islamic State. A video published by the terrorist organization showed the men praying as they died.
The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates their feast day on 15 February, the date they were martyred.
During their audience, Pope Tawadros gave Pope Francis a reliquary of the Coptic martyrs, for which Pope Francis expressed his heartfelt gratitude.
“These martyrs were baptized not only with water and the Spirit, but also in blood, in a blood that is the seed of unity for all followers of Christ,” said Pope Francis.
On X today, one can read Catholic Bishop CJ Scicluna writing about the "martyrs" and asking Catholics to pray to them to intercede for us:
Today 15 February the Coptic Church and The Catholic Church commemorate the 21 martyrs of Libya who died for their faith in Jesus Christ on the shores of the Mediterranean at the hands of ISIS on 15 February 2015. May they intercede for us.
They are not in Heaven so how can they intercede for us.?
Denzinger. Sources of Catholic Dogma.
714 It firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life, but will depart "into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels" [Matt. 25:41], unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock; and that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those remaining in it are the sacraments of the Church of benefit for salvation, and do fastings, almsgiving, and other functions of piety and exercises of Christian service produce eternal reward, and that no one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, even if he has shed blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church. *
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