Message of the Holy Father for the Beatification of the martyrs Mons. Pierre Claverie, O. P., Bishop of Oran, and 18 companions (religious men and women) in Algeria, 08.12.2018
We publish below the message that the Holy Father sent on the occasion of the Beatification of the martyrs Mons. Pierre Claverie, OP, Bishop of Oran, and 18 companions (religious and religious) in Algeria and of which he read the Prefect of the Congregation of Causes of the Saints, His Eminence Card. Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Special Envoy of the Pope for the Celebration:
Message from the Holy Father
Dear brothers and sisters,
this Saturday, December 8, the Church in Algeria celebrates with joy the beatification of nineteen religious and martyrs. I join in your thanksgiving for these lives totally given by love of God, the country and all its inhabitants whose humble daily life you share in a spirit of brotherhood, friendship, service. Receive here my fraternal encouragement for this celebration to help heal the wounds of the past and create a new dynamic of meeting and living together as a result of our blessed.
I am very grateful to the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and his associates, for facilitating the celebration in Algeria of the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his eighteen companions and companions. , martyrs of the greatest love. I want to express my affection for the Algerian people who suffered great suffering during the social crisis of which he was a victim in the last years of the last century.
In memory of the death in Algeria of these nineteen Christian victims, the Catholics of Algeria and the world want to celebrate the fidelity of these martyrs to the project of Peace that God inspires to all men. At the same time, they want to take in their prayers all the sons and daughters of Algeria who have been, like them, victims of the same violence for having lived, with fidelity and respect for the other, their duties as believers and of citizens on this blessed land. It is for them also that we address our prayer and express our grateful homage.
The Catholic Church in Algeria knows the heiress, with all the Algerian nation, of the great message of love proposed by one of the many spiritual masters of your land, Saint Augustine of Hippo. It wants to serve the same message, in these times when all peoples seek to advance their aspiration to "Live together in peace".
By the beatification of our nineteen brothers and sisters, the Church wants to testify to her desire to continue to work for dialogue, harmony and friendship. We believe that this unprecedented event in your country will draw a great sign of fraternity in the Algerian sky to the whole world.
We are happy that this celebration can be held in a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary who is particularly present in our two religious traditions. May the maternal gaze of the Blessed Virgin Mary, full of grace, all beautiful and pure, protect and guard you.
At the Vatican, December 2, 2018.
FRANCIS
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