In his speech, Pope Francis said he had “no words” to express his gratitude for the Orthodox leader’s gift of relics of the Coptic martyrs, who were beheaded by ISIS on a beach in Libya on Feb. 15, 2015.
“May the prayer of the Coptic martyrs, united with that of the Theotokos, continue to grow the friendship between our Churches, until the blessed day when we can celebrate together at the same altar and commune in the same Body and Blood of the Savior, ‘that the world may believe,’” Francis said.
Tawadros II said the Coptic Orthodox Church has recognized the holiness of the Coptic martyrs, and celebrates them with other modern martyrs every 8th of Amshir, the sixth month of the Coptic calendar, which roughly corresponds to Feb. 15 on the Gregorian calendar used by the Catholic Church.
“Today we hand over part of their relics, dipped in their blood shed in the name of Christ for the Church, so that they may be remembered in the martyrology of all the Churches of the world, and know ‘we too’ are ‘surrounded by such a multitude of witnesses,’” he said.
“Precisely because the saints are one of the main pillars of our Churches, beginning with the apostles Peter, Paul, and Mark,” Tawadros said, “we now write in the martyrology of the Churches the new martyrs who have guarded the faith and bore witness to Christ, who did not lose heart in the face of torture and passed on to us a living example in martyrdom.”