In his homily, Pope Francis lamented the fact that "many Christian communities are objects of persecution!"
However, he noted that often in difficult moments, people call for "heroes." The Church today also needs the heroic witness of martyrs and saints, he said, explaining that this includes "the saints of everyday life," who move forward with coherency, but also those who "have the courage to accept the grace of being witnesses until the end, until death."
"All of them are the living blood of the Church. They are the witnesses who carry the Church forward," he said. By demonstrating with their lives that Jesus is alive and risen, they also "attest with the coherency of their lives and with the strength of the Holy Spirit that they have received this gift."
Pope Francis then paused for a moment and deviated from his prepared text. He recalled an encounter he had with a Muslim man he met during his 2016 trip to Lesbos who, along with his three children, had fled his village after his wife, who was a Christian, was killed by extremists.
When the militants came to their home and asked what their religion was, the woman said she was Christian, and, when she refused to throw down a crucifix she that was hanging on the wall, she was killed in front of her family.
This woman, Francis said, is "another crown" that can be added to the rest of the martyrs honored in St. Bartholomew, because "she is looking at us from heaven."
Pope Francis closed his homily saying the ability to remember the many modern-day martyrs inside a basilica filled with their relics is "a great gift," because "the living heritage of the martyrs today gives us peace and unity."
"These ones teach us that, with the strength of love, with meekness, one can fight against tyranny, violence and war and can realize peace with patience," he said, and prayed, asking that each person present might be a worthy witness of the Gospel and the love of God.
Before giving his homily, Pope Francis heard the testimonies of three people who were relatives or friends of modern-day martyrs.
First was Karl Schneider, son of Paul Schneider, a pastor of the Reformed Church who was killed in the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1939 because he defied Nazism as "irreconcilable with the words of the Bible."
In his brief reflection, Schneider said his father had been "strongly opposed every temptation to politically influence the Church."
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"All of us, even today, make too many compromises," he said, "but my father stayed faithful only to the Lord and to the faith. He was a pastor and a spiritual guide. Even in the concentration camp!"
Despite the torture and suffering his he endured, Schneider's father shouted out from his cell, offering words of comfort and hope from the Bible to the other prisoners.
Recalling words spoken by his elderly mother before her death, Schneider said his mother said her husband "was chosen to announce the Gospel and this is my consolation." As his son, Schneider said he "I feel this consolation until today."
Next was Roselyne, sister of Fr. Jacques Hamal, the 85-year-old priest who was murdered by two young ISIS sympathizers in Rouen, France in July 2016.
Speaking to the congregation, Roselyne said that in his old age Fr. Hamal had been fragile, but "he was also strong. Strong in his faith in Christ, strong in his love for the Gospel and for people, whoever it was, and – I am certain – also for his killers."
His death, she said, "is in line with the life of a priest, which was one of a life given: a life offered to the Lord, when he said 'yes' at the moment of his ordination, a life of service to the Gospel, a life given for the church and her people, above all the poorest.