Oran, Algeria, Apr 11, 2018 / 14:57 pm
The Algerian government has approved the holding of a beatification Mass in Oran for seven French Trappist monks who were martyred in the country in 1996, AFP reports.
"The beatification will take place in a few months, in the coming weeks, in Oran," Algeria's Foreign Minister, Abdelkader Messahel, told France 24 television April 10.
In January Pope Francis had authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to recognize the martyrdom of Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, men and women religious, who were killed in hatred of the faith in Algeria between 1994 and 1996.
Claverie was a French Algerian and the Bishop of Oran from 1981 until his Aug. 1, 1996 martyrdom. He and his companions were killed during the Algerian Civil War by Islamists.