Pope Francis’s recognition of the 21 killed by Daesh as martyrs is a welcome theological and ecumenical development says Hugh Somerville Knapman OSB.
Occasionally in one’s life an idea comes to mind that perhaps is a little sounder than the usual humdrummeries that crave cranial residence. Less frequently one finds the courage, and encouragement, not only to bid it stay, but to expand and develop. Such an idea came to my mind in the wake of the sad, indeed harrowing, occasion of the brutal murder of 20 Copts and a Ghanaian Muslim on a Libyan beach by the fanatics of Daesh in 2015. Many reports say that the Ghanaian, Mathew Ayairga, was offered the chance to go free by his coreligionists but, struck by the Christian faith and fortitude of his fellow captives, he declared “Their God is my God.” Having declared himself a Christian he was murdered with the others.
