Yahoo – AFP,
Angus MACKINNON, April 22, 2017
 |
| Pope Francis blesses the crowd as he leaves the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiber Island after the Liturgy of the Word with the Community of Sant’Egidio in memory of the "New Martyrs" of the 20th and 21th century, on April 22, 2017 in Rome (AFP Photo/Alberto PIZZOLI) |
Rome (AFP)
- Pope Francis on Saturday described some of Europe's refugee centres as
"concentration camps" as he paid tribute to an unknown Christian
woman slain for her faith in front of her Muslim husband.
"These
refugee camps -- so many are concentration camps, crowded with people...
because international accords seem more important than human rights,"
Francis said in impromptu remarks at a ceremony in memory of modern day
Christian martyrs.
Departing
from his prepared script and appearing unusually emotional as he spoke, the
80-year-old pontiff said he wanted the woman to be remembered along with all
the other martyrs commemorated in Rome's Basilica of St Bartholomew.
He revealed
that he had met the woman's husband during his visit to a refugee camp on the
Greek island of Lesbos last year.
"I do
not know what happened to him, if he managed to get out of his concentration
camp, and get to somewhere else" Francis said, describing the man as a
father-of-three but not revealing his nationality.
"He
looked at me and said 'Father, I am a Muslim and my wife was a Christian. In
our country we were terrorised ... they saw her crucifix and they asked her to
throw it away.
"When
she refused they cut her throat in front of my eyes. We loved each other so
much."
Saturday's
service at the Basilica located on an island in the Tiber river that separates
most of Rome from the Vatican, was also addressed movingly by Roselyne Hamel.
She is the
sister of Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old priest murdered by jihadists last year
as he was celebrating mass in his church in Normandy in northern France.
"At
his age, Jacques was frail but he was strong in his faith in Christ, strong in
love for the Gospel," Roselyne Hamel said.
Describing
her sibling as "a universal brother," she said she was certain his
love for humanity would even have extended to his killers.
Other
speakers included Francisco Hernandez, a friend of William Quijano, an
organiser of "Schools for Peace" in El Salvador and a victim of gang
violence in 2009, and Karl Schneider, son of Paul Schneider, a protestant
pastor who died in the Nazi death camp at Buchenwald.
The
Basilica where Saturday's service took place is home to a large collection of
relics of Christian martyrs across the ages, including recently added momentoes
of Schneider, Quijano and Hamel.
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