Martyrdom

A Metro Detroit imam publicly praised Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a “martyr” in remarks delivered during a Ramadan program at his mosque amid joint U.S.-Israel operations in Iran and the death of the brutal dictator.

A series of memorials and prayer sessions organized by mosques and Islamic institutions in Sydney and Melbourne mourning the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prompted outrage among politicians and the Iranian community in Australia, local outlets reported.

“A society that sacrifices its own children for pity and power is a death cult — and the liberal West is feeding the beast by validating its lies,” the son of a Hamas co-founder warned, describing Hamas’s strategy of turning Gaza’s civilians into human shields to win global sympathy.

A 16-year-old Tunisian boy fell to his death while attempting to hoist a Palestinian flag, according to regional sources, and has since been praised as a “martyr” by Palestinian factions and Arab activists, raising concerns of growing youth radicalization.

The Iran-backed terrorist Hamas organization confirmed on Friday the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, in Gaza, celebrating the “fallen martyr” and vowing not to release the dozens of Israeli hostages the group has kept for over a year.

A memorial service for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Dearborn, Michigan, featured praise for prominent terror figures as well as denunciations of the United States’ “terrorism.”

The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis will canonize eleven Christians hacked to pieces by radical Muslims in 1860 rather than renounce their faith in Jesus.

Iranian state media aired a video clip of American children from the heart of Texas, chanting references to Iran’s supreme leader and pledging allegiance to him, while praising martyrdom.

The aunt of the Palestinian terrorist responsible for a shooting attack that killed five people in a Tel Aviv suburb last week spoke openly of her support for him, stating she was “happy” he became a martyr, while praising the shooter’s confidence and courageousness. 

Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as well as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have opened registration recently for their annual summer camps for Gaza youth, where children as young as nine are trained in marksmanship, kidnapping, and tunnel warfare as they’re encouraged to become next-generation terrorists.

France’s new Prime Minister Jean Castex has marked the fourth anniversary of the murder of Father Jacques Hamel, whose throat was slit by jihadists in 2016 as he celebrated Mass in his church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.

Pope Francis spoke on Christian persecution Sunday, praising the witness of those who face physical violence “merely for the fact of being Christians.”

Pope Francis reminded visiting pilgrims Wednesday that Christians today continue to be persecuted and to give their lives as martyrs throughout the world, even in Europe.

The Islamic State still had not responded to the death of its “caliph,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as of Wednesday afternoon. The ISIS news agency Amaq took little notice of al-Baghdadi’s demise, while “chatter” in jihadi social media networks is reportedly subdued.

Pope Francis invited the faithful to reflect on Christian persecution this week, recalling the 21 Egyptian Christians whose throats were cut by Islamic State militants on a Libyan beach.

February 14 marks the yearly reminder of sweethearts and romance but many forget that the feast originated with a Christian saint from Rome named Valentine.

Pope Francis reiterated his belief that we live in an age of Christian martyrs Wednesday, even if many of them do not get the attention they deserve.

Pope Francis underscored the travails of persecuted Christians around the globe Friday, declaring that the Church is living a new period of martyrdom.

Landmark buildings around the world have been lit up in scarlet for “Red Wednesday,” an annual commemoration of persecuted Christians throughout the world.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was holding a televised rally for his AKP party on Saturday to build support for his military incursion into Syria when he noticed a girl of about five years old wearing a military uniform in the audience.

TEL AVIV – Following the release on Friday of the body of a 17-year-old Palestinian terrorist, a Palestinian Authority governor accused Israel of executing the youth in cold blood for no reason – despite the fact that prior to his death, the terrorist had left a message urging his family not to mourn his death since “marytrdom beckons me… and I will be a groom in Paradise.”

Pope Francis has established a new path to canonization as a saint, adding the “free and voluntary offering of one’s life” to the three previously recognized ways to sainthood.

Islamist and jihadi organizations encourage their followers to carry out violent attacks on Ramadan, the holiest month for Muslims, when terrorist groups especially encourage and value martyrdom.

Pope Francis has declared slain French priest Father Jacques Hamel to be a Christian “martyr,” a qualification that automatically makes the person a saint in the Church’s eyes, while also condemning murder “in God’s name” to be the work of Satan.

This week, the French archbishop of Rouen led the first pilgrimage of the faithful to the tomb of martyred priest Father Jacques Hamel, coinciding with the anniversary of one of the greatest slaughters of Christians by Muslims in history.

At a news conference on Friday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said that Canadian jihadi Aaron Driver, shot by the police after detonating a bomb in a taxicab, filmed a “martyrdom video,” pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, and was planning a “dreadful” attack.

In an address to more than 1.5 million young people in Krakow, Pope Francis challenged millennials to resist the temptation of a passive life of comfort and entitlements and to take responsibility for their existence.

Mincing no words, French Cardinal André Vingt-Trois told the Christian faithful this week that jihadists “wrap themselves in the trappings of religion” while announcing a “God of death,” whom the prelate compared to the ancient pagan god “Moloch”—who demanded live human sacrifices as a tribute.

In a move reminiscent of the first plague of Egypt, the city of Rome will dye its most emblematic fountain blood red in commemoration of the many new martyrs killed in our time for their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs is under heavy criticism after they published a comic glorifying Islamic martyrdom to children. A cartoon published in the April issue of the ministry’s Child Magazine, shows a dialogue between a child and his parents,

On the first anniversary of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) slaughter of 21 Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya, Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill denounced in a joint declaration the systematic persecution of Christians throughout the world.

Islamic State jihadists have released a publication that teaches jihadis how to blend into Western society, acting “Christian” and avoiding mosques, while building terror cells.

Christianity is experiencing an unprecedented boom on the African continent and now accounts for more than half of Africa’s total population, while Christian affiliation and practice continue to ebb in Europe, signaling a major demographic shift in global Christianity. An

Pope Francis said that in our times, the shedding of blood for Christ has become a “shared experience” of Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Protestants, Evangelicals, and Pentecostals, which is “deeper and stronger” than the differences that still separate Christians.

On Monday Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the Vatican with the new Armenian Patriarch, Gregory Peter XX Ghabroyan, and preached once more on the widespread persecution of Christians throughout the world.

The family of Chattanooga gunman Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez and their legal representation are pushing hard on the idea that he was not radical, a terrorist, or even particularly religious. The narrative they are pushing is that his deadly rampage was born of drug abuse and depression.