VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis on Monday again pressed the international community to do something about the killing of Christians in several parts of the world and not “look the other way.”
He has been increasingly vocal about the fate of Christians being targeted by Islamic extremists in parts of the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Addressing pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square, Francis praised those who were “sensitizing public opinion about the persecution of Christians in the world.”
While not suggesting any particular course of action, he urged “concrete participation and tangible help in defense and protection of our brothers and our sisters, who are persecuted, exiled, slain, beheaded, solely for being Christian.”
The pope was building on his Good Friday denunciation of what he then called “complicit silence” about the targeting of Christians.