This man told the Pontiff: “Father, I am a Muslim. My wife was a Christian. The terrorists came to our country, they looked at us and asked us our religion. They saw my wife with the crucifix and told her to throw it on the ground. “She didn’t do it and they cut her throat in front of me.”
The Holy Father praised the courage and faith of this woman, whose “example of love for Christ led her to accept and remain faithful until death.” Likewise, he highlighted the attitude of her husband, who did not let himself be carried away by resentment, but instead focused “on the example of love of his wife.”
Furthermore, the Pope pointed out that martyrs are a constant in the history of the Church, a sign “that we are on the right path,” and even suggested that the number of martyrs today may exceed those of the early days of the Christianity.