Icon of the 21 Coptic martyrs Blood of martyrs slain by ISIS ‘a seed that will bear rich fruit’
Pope Francis has said that the blood of 21 martyrs killed by ISIS on a Libyan beach in 2015 is “a seed that will bear rich fruit for Christian unity”.
In a May 10 letter to the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II, the Pope said that the men’s deaths had touched the lives of Christians around the world.
Referring to those who have suffered in Christ’s name, he wrote: “Among this ‘cloud of witnesses’ (Hebrews 12:1), I call to mind particularly the 21 Coptic martyrs killed on February 15, 2015, whose blood is not only the ‘seed of Christians’, but also, I am deeply convinced, a seed that will bear rich fruit for Christian unit.
“They too are saints, saints of every Christian tradition.”
The beheading of the 21 men, dressed in orange jumpsuits, was shown in a propaganda video released by ISIS on February 15, 2015. The jihadist group had kidnapped the construction workers in the Libyan city of Sirte. Twenty of those killed were from Egypt and one, Matthew Ayariga, from Ghana.
The 21 men were canonised by Tawadros II.
Modernising Vatican finances a ‘huge task’
The Vatican’s Council for the Economy faces a “huge task” in its efforts to quickly bring up the Holy See’s accounting and financial transparency to international standards, according to one of its lay members.
“We are very much focused on getting those basic standards in place and making sure the information that is in front of the Pope when he makes decisions is thorough, complete, and fair. And we’re not in that situation yet,” Council for the Economy member Ruth Kelly told EWTN News.
Ms Kelly is one of seven lay people on the Vatican council overseeing the administrative and financial structures and activities of the Roman Curia, institutions of the Holy See, and Vatican City State.
The lay members work together with eight cardinals to set the budget for the Holy See’s entities and raise the level of financial transparency.
The Council for the Economy is also currently implementing an investment policy for the Vatican and “a huge training program” in financial standards for those who work in its departments and dicasteries, according to Ms Kelly.
Revised canon law on crimes, penalties nears completion
The revised section of the Code of Canon Law dealing with crimes and penalties, including those related to clerical sexual abuse, should be ready for publication before the end of summer, said the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.
Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, who spearheaded the project, confirmed the imminent publication in late May after the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales released correspondence about changing the current code “to clearly distinguish” between a priest violating his promise of chastity and sexually abusing a minor.
Pope Francis already said in February 2020 that the work on a revised Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, “Sanctions in the Church”, was complete.
The revision, the Pope had said, was needed “to make it more organic and responsive to new situations and problems” that the Church has become more aware of since the code was published in 1983.
Work on the revision began in 2008. As the Church’s chief legislator, it is Pope Francis who will decide whether or not to promulgate the revised book and order that it replace the current law.