Pope Francis Denounces Islamic State Slaughter: ‘Their Blood Confesses Christ’

Pope Francis Denounces Islamic State Slaughter: ‘Their Blood Confesses Christ’
By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST and ASSIST News Service
VATICAN CITY (ANS – Feb. 16, 2015) – This morning (Monday, February 16, 2015), Pope Francis condemned the brutal slaying of 21 Coptic Christians perpetrated by Islamic State (IS) in Libya over the weekend, proclaiming them martyrs killed out of hatred of their Christian faith.
Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D., Permanent research fellow at the Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame University, said in a story carried by Breitbart News (http://www.breitbart.com), that At 10:30 am Monday, the Pope met with Rev. John P. Chalmers, Moderator of the Church of Scotland (Reformed), along with
other representatives of the Church of Scotland.
Dr. Williams stated that at the end of his prepared speech, the Pope switched to his native language and continued "off the cuff" in Spanish, turning to the events in Libya, and said that the witness of these brother Christians should move all Christian communions to draw closer to one another.
“Today I read about the execution of those twenty-one Coptic Christians,” the Pope said. “Their only words were: ‘Jesus, help me!’”
He then added, “They were killed simply because they were Christians.”
Francis made reference to the speech that Chalmers had given, in which he spoke of what is happening in the land of Jesus. “The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a witness that cries out to be heard,” the Pope said.
“It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants,” the Pope continued. "They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ.”
The Pope said that he drew inspiration from this witness to urge Christians to work harder toward unity.
“The martyrs belong to all Christians,” he said.
The news of the brutal killings emerged after a video showing the beheadings purportedly of 21 Egyptian Christians who had been kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) militants in Libya.
According to the BBC, the footage shows a group wearing orange overalls, being forced to the ground and then decapitated.
The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, now under the control of Islamist groups.
The BBC went on to say that the video of the beheadings was posted online by Libyan jihadists who pledge loyalty to IS. A caption made it clear the men were targeted because of their faith.
“Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the same goals,” President Sisi said.
The beheadings were described as “barbaric” by al-Azhar, the highly regarded theological institution which is based in Egypt.
Photo captions:
1) Pope Francis speaking (Photo: Reuters)
2) The Coptic Christians who were being held and feared executed by the Islamic State (from the latest edition of the Islamic State's magazine, Dabiq, issue number seven)
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