蜜桃交友

By Linda Bordoni

In a message to the people of Algeria Pope Francis urged them to go forward in healing the wounds of the past and nurturing a culture of encounter and coexistence.    

The 19 martyrs were killed between 1994 and 1996 during the civil war in Algeria between the government and Islamist groups. All were religious and they all shared a love of Christ and a desire to serve the Muslim people of the nation.

The Pope鈥檚 message was read after the Beatification Mass presided over in the city of Oran by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.

Pope Francis described the celebration as a joyful one for the Church in Algeria and said he joins the community in giving thanks 鈥渇or these lives given totally for the love of God, the country and all its inhabitants鈥�.

Encounter and coexistence

May this celebration, he said, 鈥渉elp to heal the wounds of the past and to create a new dynamic of encounter and coexistence in the following of our Blessed鈥�.

The Pope thanked the political authorities of Algeria for having 鈥渕ade possible the celebration on Algerian soil of the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and of his eighteen martyr companions鈥� and he expressed affection and closeness to the Algerian people 鈥渨ho experienced great suffering during the social crisis of which they were victims in the last years of the last century鈥�.

He said that while he celebrates 鈥渢he fidelity of these martyrs to God's plan for peace" he also prays for the 鈥渟ons and daughters of Algeria who, like the martyrs, became victims of the same violence for having lived with respect for others and fidelity towards their duties as believers and citizens.

鈥淚t is also for them that we raise our prayer and express our grateful homage,鈥� he said.

St. Augustine of Hippo

The Catholic Church in Algeria, the Pope continued, considers itself the heir, together with the whole Algerian nation, of the great message of love spread by one of the many spiritual teachers of the land, Saint Augustine of Hippo.

The Algerian Church, he said, 鈥渨ishes to serve the same message in these times when all peoples are seeking to advance their aspiration to live together in peace鈥�.

鈥淏测 beatifying our nineteen brothers and sisters, Pope Francis said, the Church wishes to bear witness to her desire to continue to work for dialogue, harmony and friendship鈥�.

We believe, he concluded, that this unprecedented event in the country 鈥渨ill draw in the Algerian sky a great sign of brotherhood addressed to the whole world鈥�.