If we are to transmit the faith in order to transform the world, the first challenge is to ourselves: how do we become credible witnesses to Christ in today’s world?

Martyrs of Today

by Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I

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It is difficult to estimate how many men, women and children have been killed for their faith, but one respected researcher, Professor Todd Johnson, a Protestant expert on religious demography, has come up with the number of 70 million Christian martyrs since New Testament times. 

Two thousand years is a long time, and the number is plausible. 

What is surprising and frightening is that the same researcher estimates that over half of the martyrs, about 45 million Christians, were martyred in the last century, most of them victims of Nazi and Communist persecution. 

The killings continue into this century, with about 100,000 new martyrs each year. 

This means that 11 Christians have been killed every hour for the past 10 years, and the killings continue. 

The places where Christians are martyred now are mostly parts of Africa and of Asia: Congo, Sudan, Nigeria, India, Iraq, Syria.

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