St Thomas Becket The White House issued a proclamation honouring the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket and inviting “the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches and customary places of meeting with appropriate ceremonies.”
The proclamation, signed by President Donald Trump December 28, described Becket as “a statesman, a scholar, a chancellor, a priest, an archbishop and a lion of religious liberty.”
It also said Becket’s death “serves as a powerful and timeless reminder to every American that our freedom from religious persecution is not a mere luxury or accident of history, but rather an essential element of our liberty.”
It urged Americans to “celebrate and revere” the saint’s courageous stand for religious liberty and to reaffirm efforts to end religious persecution worldwide.
The White House acknowledged religious believers everywhere who suffer persecution for their faith, particularly Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong and Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu, China, describing them as “tireless witnesses to hope.”
“To honour Thomas Becket’s memory, the crimes against people of faith must stop, prisoners of conscience must be released, laws restricting freedom of religion and belief must be repealed and the vulnerable, the defenceless and the oppressed must be protected,” the proclamation said, adding that the “tyranny and murder that shocked the conscience of the Middle Ages must never be allowed to happen again.”