Pope Francis asks Church to identify 21st-century martyrs slain ‘only because they are Christians’

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has set up a special commission that will identify those he hails as the new martyrs of the 21st century. The Vatican on Wednesday released a copy of a letter in which the pope announced the commission will be part of the Holy See’s saint-making office. Francis notes in the letter that he has many times said that there are more martyrs in current times than in the first centuries of the Church. The commission’s experts will research cases of non-Catholic Christian martyrs, too. Francis is building on a campaign started by St. John Paul II to give rank-and-file faithful more recent role models among the saints.