21st Century Martyrdom
Playback speed
“Martyrs are more numerous in our time than in the first centuries: they are bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, lay people and families, who in the different countries of the world, with the gift of their lives, have offered the supreme proof of charity.” Those were the words of Pope Francis as he announced he was setting up a new commission to record Christians who died for their faith in the 21st century. Martyrdom has a long history stretching all the way back to Stephen in the book of Acts, but for those of us in the safe West we rarely think about it happening right now, in the third millennium. Yet by some counts, there are more martyrs now than ever before. Where and why are Christians dying today in the world? And how can we be inspired and encouraged by their example, or is the glorification of martyrs actually something which should have died out centuries ago?
Guests this week:
- Archbishop Angaelos, Coptic Orthodox Church
- Andrew Boyd, Release International
- Mervyn Thomas, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Released on 9 Oct 2023
Coming up next
Can the church end poverty for good?
17 October marks the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Eight years ago the UN set itself the ambitious target of eliminating severe poverty globally by 2030. But despite almost a century of steady progress, numbers of people living on...
Jazz nights, WhatsApp, and ‘poverty of heart and spirit’: Church planting in a post-Christian city
Europe is often described as the world’s first post-Christian continent. In what was the cradle of Christendom, a tidal wave of secularisation has swept through from the post-war era onwards. But while mainline and established denominations – whether...
The church under attack in Nicaragua
The increasingly dictatorial government of President Daniel Ortega has turned its oppressive gaze onto the Catholic Church in Nicaragua in recent years. Angered by the church sheltering anti-government protesters in 2018, the state has intimidated, h...