Catholic martyrs of various nationalities have been beatified in Laos, in the first such gesture toward communist regime victims in south-east Asia.
"The Catholic Church in Laos is very small, humble, almost hidden; its story is not well-known," Oblate Father Roland Jacques, vice postulator of the martyrs' cause, said in a commentary for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, to which six martyrs belonged.
"Planted with the sweat and blood of three generations of missionaries, it can rely today only on its own forces, supported by a handful of priests from Vietnam or Thailand. That goes to show how much this event was unique, unheard of for this small country and very young church."
