Pope Francis
has proclaimed as saints some 800 Italians killed in the 15th century
for refusing to convert to Islam, and said many Christians were still
being persecuted for their faith.
The Vatican
seemed at pains not to allow the first canonisations of Francis’
two-month-old papacy to be interpreted as anti-Islamic, saying the
deaths of the ‘Otranto Marytrs’ must be understood in their historical
context.
The 800 were killed in 1480 in the siege of
Otranto, on the southeastern Adriatic, by Ottoman Turks who sacked the
city, killed its archbishop and told the citizens to surrender and
convert.
When they refused, the Ottoman commanding officer ordered the execution of all men aged 15 or older, most by beheading.
“While we venerate the Otranto Martyrs, we ask
God to sustain the many Christians who, today, in many parts of the
world, right now, still suffer violence and give them the courage to be
faithful and to respond to evil with good,” Francis said before more
than 70,000 people in St Peter’s Square.
He did not mention any countries, but the
Vatican has expressed deep concern recently about the fate of Christians
in parts of the Middle East, including Coptic Christians who have been
caught up in sectarian strife in Egypt.
A booklet handed out to participants said the
“sacrifice” of the Otranto Martyrs “must be placed within the historical
context of the wars that determined relations between Europe and the
Ottoman Empire for a long period of time”.
Healing miracle
Francis’ predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict
XVI, made a speech in Regensburg, Germany, in 2006 that was perceived by
Muslims as equating Islam with violence.
Benedict said at the time he had been
misunderstood. He is now living in retirement in a Vatican convent,
after stepping down in February.
Roman Catholic sainthood requires that two
miracles be attributed to those who are being made saints - one before
beatification, and another before canonisation.
In the case of the 800 Italians, the
requirement for the first miracle was waived because they were killed
“in hatred of the faith”.
The miracle approved for their canonisation was
that of a nun who had cancer which, according to the Church, was healed
after she prayed at a memorial to the martyrs in Otranto.
At today’s ceremony, Francis also proclaimed
Colombia’s first saint, a nun who died in 1949, and canonised a Mexican
nun who died in 1963.
At the end of the Mass, he made his first
appeal as pope against abortion, saying life must be “respected from the
moment of conception” and throwing his support behind an Italian group
promoting legal protection for embryos.