Vatican City, 21 April 2015 (VIS) –
Yesterday afternoon Pope Francis sent a message to the Patriarch of
the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church, His Holiness Abuna Matthias,
upon hearing of the slaughter of 28 Ethiopian Christians kidnapped in
Libya by the group ISIS.
“With great distress and sadness I
learn of the further shocking violence perpetrated against innocent
Christians in Libya. I know that Your Holiness is suffering deeply in
heart and mind at the sight of your faithful children being killed
for the sole reason that they are followers of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. I reach out to you in heartfelt spiritual solidarity to
assure you of my closeness in prayer at the continuing martyrdom
being so cruelly inflicted on Christians in Africa, the Middle East
and some parts of Asia.
It makes no difference whether the
victims are Catholic, Copt, Orthodox or Protestant. Their blood is
one and the same in their confession of Christ! The blood of our
Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be
heard by everyone who can still distinguish between good and evil.
All the more this cry must be heard by those who have the destiny of
peoples in their hands.
At this time we are filled with the
Easter joy of the disciples to whom the women had brought the news
that 'Christ has risen from the dead'. This year, that joy – which
never fades – is tinged with profound sorrow. Yet we know that the
life we live in God’s merciful love is stronger than the pain all
Christians feel, a pain shared by men and women of good will in all
religious traditions.
With heartfelt condolences I exchange
with Your Holiness the embrace of peace in Christ Our Lord”.
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