"The addition of such a high number of martyrs to the list of the Blessed souls at the same time shows that the supreme testimony of blood is not an exception for the few, but a realistic contingency for the whole Christian people. These are men and women who differ in age, calling and social background, who paid with their lives for their faithfulness to Christ and to His Church". With these words, Benedict XVI recalled yesterday morning, before saying the Angelus prayer, the 498 martyrs who were killed in Spain in the 1930s and proclaimed Blessed in the celebration that had been officiated in Saint Peter’s Square not long before by card. José Saraiva Martins. After saying the Angelus prayer, in speaking to the Spanish-speaking pilgrims, the Pope added that the new Blessed souls, "with their testimony, enlighten our spiritual path to holiness and encourage us to turn our lives into an offering of love to God and to our brothers. At the same time, with their words and gestures of forgiveness for their persecutors, they drive us to work indefatigably for mercy, reconciliation and peaceful cohabitation". (continued)
