The Massacre at Otranto - The 4 Freedoms Library2024-03-28T09:07:59Zhttp://4freedoms.com/forum/topics/the-massacre-at-otranto?groupUrl=christians&commentId=3766518%3AComment%3A123498&groupId=3766518%3AGroup%3A96886&feed=yes&xn_auth=no(Vatican Radio) At Mass for t…tag:4freedoms.com,2013-05-13:3766518:Comment:1236252013-05-13T09:16:51.537ZKinanahttp://4freedoms.com/profile/Kinana
<p><i>(Vatican Radio) At Mass for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, [12 May 2013] Pope Francis canonized 800 Martyrs from the Italian city of Otranto, along with two Latin American religious Foundresses, Mother Laura Montoya e Upegui – the first Colombian saint – and Mother Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, from Mexico. <br></br><br></br></i><i style="font-size: 13px;">Text from page <a href="http://en.radiovaticana.va/articolo.asp?c=691365">http://en.radiovaticana.va/articolo.asp?c=691365</a> </i><i><br></br>of…</i></p>
<p><i>(Vatican Radio) At Mass for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, [12 May 2013] Pope Francis canonized 800 Martyrs from the Italian city of Otranto, along with two Latin American religious Foundresses, Mother Laura Montoya e Upegui – the first Colombian saint – and Mother Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, from Mexico. <br/><br/></i><i style="font-size: 13px;">Text from page <a href="http://en.radiovaticana.va/articolo.asp?c=691365">http://en.radiovaticana.va/articolo.asp?c=691365</a> </i><i><br/>of the Vatican Radio website </i></p>
<p><i>Below is a Vatican Radio translation of his homily which he delivered partly in Italian and partly in Spanish.<br/></i><br/><br/>********************************<br/><br/>Dear brothers and sisters!</p>
<p><br/>In this seventh Sunday of Easter we are gathered to celebrate with joy a feast of holiness. Thanks be to God who has made His glory – the glory of Love – to shine on the Martyrs of Otranto, on Mother Laura Montoya and María Guadalupe García Zavala. I greet all of you who have come to this celebration - from Italy, Colombia, Mexico, from other countries - and I thank you! Let us look on the new saints in the light of the Word of God proclaimed: a Word that invited us to be faithful to Christ, even unto martyrdom; a word that recalled to us the urgency and the beauty of bringing Christ and his Gospel to everyone; a word that spoke to us about the witness of charity, without which even martyrdom and mission lose their Christian savour.<br/><br/>The Acts of the Apostles, when they speak of the Deacon, Stephen, the first martyr, insist on telling us that he was a man “full of the Holy Spirit (6:5, 7:55).” What does this mean? It means that he was full of the love of God, that his whole person, his whole life was animated by the Spirit of the risen Christ, so as to follow Jesus with total fidelity, even unto to the gift of self.<br/><br/>Today the Church proposes for our veneration a host of martyrs, who were called together to the supreme witness to the Gospel in 1480. About eight hundred people, [who], having survived the siege and invasion of Otranto, were beheaded near that city. They refused to renounce their faith and died confessing the risen Christ. Where did they find the strength to remain faithful? Precisely in faith, which allows us to see beyond the limits of our human eyes, beyond the boundaries of earthly life, to contemplate “the heavens opened” – as St. Stephen said – and the living Christ at the right hand of the Father. Dear friends, let us conserve the faith [that] we have received and that is our true treasure, let us renew our fidelity to the Lord, even in the midst of obstacles and misunderstandings; God will never allow us to want [for] strength and serenity. As we venerate the martyrs of Otranto, let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good.<br/><br/>The second idea can be drawn from the words of Jesus that we heard in the Gospel: “I pray for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may be one, as You, Father, are in me and I in thee, that they also may be in us. (Jn 17:20)” Saint Laura Montoya was an instrument of evangelization, first as teacher and then as the spiritual mother of the indigenous peoples, in whom she infused hope, welcoming them with the love [she] learned from God, and bringing them to him with pedagogical efficacy that respected, and was not opposed to, their own culture. In her work of evangelization, Mother Laura became, in the words of St. Paul, truly everything to everyone, (cf. 1 Cor 9:22). Even today her spiritual daughters live and bring the Gospel to the most remote and needy places, as a kind of vanguard of the Church.<br/><br/>This first saint born on the beautiful Colombian soil, teaches us to be generous [together] with God, not to live the faith alone - as if we could live our faith in isolation - but to communicate, to radiate the joy of the Gospel by word and witness of life in every place we find ourselves. She teaches us to see the face of Jesus reflected in the other, to overcome indifference and individualism, welcoming everyone without prejudice or constraints, with love, giving the best of ourselves and above all, sharing with them the most valuable thing we have, which is not our works or our organizations, no: the most valuable thing we have is Christ and his Gospel.<br/><br/>Finally, a third thought. In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays to the Father with these words: “I have made known thy name to them and will make it known: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (Jn 17:26)” The martyrs’ faithfulness even unto death, the proclamation of the Gospel are rooted in the love of God that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5), and in the witness we must bear to this love in our daily lives. St. Maria Guadalupe García Zavala knew this well. Giving up a comfortable life – how much damage does the comfortable life, life of comfort, do? The gentrification of the heart paralyzes us – and [she], giving up a comfortable life to follow the call of Jesus, taught people to love poverty, in order the more to love the poor and the sick. Mother Lupita knelt on the floor of the hospital before the sick, before the abandoned, to serve them with tenderness and compassion. This is what it means to touch the flesh of Christ. The poor, the abandoned, the sick, the marginalized are the flesh of Christ. And Mother Lupita touched the flesh of Christ and taught us this conduct: [to be] unabashed,[to be] unafraid, [to be] not loathe to touch the flesh of Christ. Mother Lupita understood what it means “to touch the flesh of Christ.” Today her spiritual daughters also seek to reflect the love of God in works of charity, without sparing sacrifices, and [while] facing with meekness, with apostolic constancy (hypomone), any obstacle.<br/><br/>This new Mexican saint invites us to love as Jesus loved us, and this leads one not to retreat into oneself, into one’s own problems, into one’s own ideas, into one’s own interests in this little world that has done us so much damage, but to get up and go to meet those who need care, understanding and support, to bring the warm closeness of God’s love through gestures of delicacy and sincere affection and love.<br/><br/>Fidelity to Christ and his Gospel, in order to proclaim it in word and deed, bearing witness to God’s love with our love, with our charity toward all: the saints proclaimed today offer shining examples and teachings of these. They also pose questions to our Christian life: how am I faithful to Christ? Let us take this question with us to consider during the day: how am I faithful to Christ? I am able to “show” my faith with respect, but also with courage? Am I attentive to others, do I recognize when someone is in need, do I see in everyone a brother and a sister to love? Let us ask that, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the new saints, the Lord might fill our lives with the joy of His love. So be it.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Text from page <a href="http://en.radiovaticana.va/articolo.asp?c=691365">http://en.radiovaticana.va/articolo.asp?c=691365</a> <br/>of the Vatican Radio website </p> “There are rumours that the I…tag:4freedoms.com,2013-05-13:3766518:Comment:1237022013-05-13T04:33:15.061ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<blockquote><p>“There are <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">rumours</span> that the Islamic countries have complained a lot about this canonization” </p>
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<p>Why of course, Muslims don't like any reminders to be made of their atrocities. Its the same with Kashmir, Armenia, Moghul India, Post-partition Pakistan, Turkey, <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_spelling">etc,</span> <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_spelling">etc,</span> etc.</p>
<blockquote><p>“There are <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">rumours</span> that the Islamic countries have complained a lot about this canonization” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Why of course, Muslims don't like any reminders to be made of their atrocities. Its the same with Kashmir, Armenia, Moghul India, Post-partition Pakistan, Turkey, <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_spelling">etc,</span> <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_spelling">etc,</span> etc.</p> This from a Muslim perspectiv…tag:4freedoms.com,2013-05-12:3766518:Comment:1234982013-05-12T17:06:59.138ZKinanahttp://4freedoms.com/profile/Kinana
<p>This from a Muslim perspective</p>
<p align="center"><b>Pope Canonizes Saints Who Refused Islam</b></p>
<p><b><span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">OnIslam</span> & News Agencies</b></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sunday, 12 May 2013 00:00</p>
<p>The pontiff canonized more than 800 Italians, who <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">were allegedly killed</span> in the 15th century by Ottoman forces for refusing to renounce Christianity</p>
<p>VATICAN CITY – In his first canonization ceremony since he…</p>
<p>This from a Muslim perspective</p>
<p align="center"><b>Pope Canonizes Saints Who Refused Islam</b></p>
<p><b><span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">OnIslam</span> & News Agencies</b></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sunday, 12 May 2013 00:00</p>
<p>The pontiff canonized more than 800 Italians, who <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">were allegedly killed</span> in the 15th century by Ottoman forces for refusing to renounce Christianity</p>
<p>VATICAN CITY – In his first canonization ceremony since he was elected a pontiff, Pope Francis on Sunday, May 12, proclaimed as saints hundreds of Italians, who were allegedly killed for refusing to convert to Islam.</p>
<p>“The Church proposes for our veneration a host of martyrs, who were called together to the supreme witness to the Gospel,” Pope Francis said in his homily cited by the Vatican Radio.</p>
<p>The pontiff canonized more than 800 Italians, who <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">were allegedly killed</span> in the 15th century during the Ottoman conquest for refusing to renounce Christianity.</p>
<p>Their elevation was decided by Francis’ predecessor Benedict XVI, who resigned in February for health reasons.</p>
<p>“The more than 800 Martyrs of Otranto, when faced with the choice of renouncing Christ or death, remained faithful to the Gospel,” the pontiff said.</p>
<p>“It is precisely their faith that gave them the strength to remain faithful.”</p>
<p>Sunday’s canonization is the largest number of Catholics to be elevated to sainthood at once in the history of the Catholic Church.</p>
<p>The names of the new saints were not revealed, except for Antonio Primaldo, who led the fighting against Ottoman forces in 1480.</p>
<p>A booklet handed out to participants said the "sacrifice" of the Otranto Martyrs "must be placed within the historical context of the wars that determined relations between Europe and the Ottoman Empire for a long period of time".</p>
<p>Christians believe that more than 800 Italians were killed by Ottoman forces during their conquest of the southern Italian city of Otranto in 1480.</p>
<p>They say that residents fought back in a <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">week-long</span> siege imposed on the city by the Ottoman forces.</p>
<p>When the city fell to the Ottoman forces, more than 800 kept their resistance, locking themselves up into the town’s Cathedral.</p>
<p>They were later captured by Ottoman forces and allegedly killed for refusing to renounce Christianity.</p>
<p><b>New Crisis</b></p>
<p>The pope also said that Christians were still being persecuted in different areas around the world.</p>
<p>“As we venerate the martyrs of Otranto, let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good.”</p>
<p>He did not mention any countries, but the Vatican has expressed deep concern recently about the fate of Christians in parts of the Middle East, including Coptic Christians in Egypt.</p>
<p>The pope’s canonization is expected to raise anger among Muslims over linking Islam to violence.</p>
<p>In 2006, former pope Benedict XVI quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor that everything Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) brought was evil and inhuman.</p>
<p>Benedict had repeatedly said the words did not reflect his personal views but stopped short of a clear apology to Muslims.</p>
<p>The pontiff’s remarks had strained relations between Muslims and the Vatican and prompted Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world, to <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">halt</span> dialogue with the Church.</p>
<p>Relations hit new ebb after the pope said Christians in the Middle East were facing persecution following a church attack in Egypt.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.onislam.net/english/news/global/462616-pope-canonizes-saints-who-refused-islam.html">http://www.onislam.net/english/news/global/462616-pope-canonizes-sa...</a></p>
<p>--</p>
<p>'The pontiff’s remarks had strained relations between Muslims and the Vatican...' So there must be <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">preconditions</span> on what to say when having a dialogue with Muslims. </p>
<p>And can one image why that 'Relations hit new ebb after the pope said Christians in the Middle East were facing persecution following a church attack in Egypt.'</p> Better extermination than I…tag:4freedoms.com,2013-05-12:3766518:Comment:1235432013-05-12T13:11:19.556ZKinanahttp://4freedoms.com/profile/Kinana
<p></p>
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<h1 class="entry-title"><strong>Better extermination than Islam: the Pope makes them saints</strong></h1>
<h1 class="entry-title">The Beatification of the Otranto Martyrs</h1>
<div class="entry-meta"><span class="sep">Posted on </span><a href="http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/05/the-beatification-of-the-otranto-martyrs/" rel="bookmark" title="1:13 pm">May 11, 2013</a><span class="by-author"> …<span class="sep"><br></br></span></span></div>
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<h1 class="entry-title"><strong>Better extermination than Islam: the Pope makes them saints</strong></h1>
<h1 class="entry-title">The Beatification of the Otranto Martyrs</h1>
<div class="entry-meta"><span class="sep">Posted on </span><a href="http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/05/the-beatification-of-the-otranto-martyrs/" title="1:13 pm" rel="bookmark">May 11, 2013</a><span class="by-author"> <span class="sep"><br/></span></span></div>
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<div class="entry-content"><p align="center"><img src="http://gatesofvienna.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/popefrancis.jpg" border="0" vspace="5" title="Pope Francis"/></p>
<p>The following moving story about the beatification of the Otranto martyrs was published today in the Italian newspaper <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/interni/meglio-sterminati-che-lislam-papa-li-fa-santi-916164.html"><em>Il Giornale</em></a>. Many thanks to Scaramouche for the translation:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Better extermination than Islam: the Pope makes them saints</strong></p>
<p><em>by Fausto Biloslavo</em></p>
<p><em>In Otranto 500 years ago, 800 martyrs chose to be slain rather than to deny Christ. This is also happening today.</em></p>
<p>The 800 Christian martyrs of Otranto are to become saints after more than 500 years, a milestone for the faith and today more relevant than ever.</p>
<p>On Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis will preside over the canonization of the martyrs of Otranto massacred by Ottoman janissaries. In Libya, Nigeria, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and other Muslim countries, Christian minorities are still under threat, especially after the increasingly Islamist Arab Spring. “It is clear that there are still Christian martyrs today. The canonization of the 800 of Otranto is a sign that the Church is not afraid of taboos,” emphasizes Massimo Introvigne, the coordinator of the Observatory on Religious Freedom for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Roma Capitale [Note: this is the administrative authority for greater Rome]. “There are rumours that the Islamic countries have complained a lot about this canonization,” said the expert. “So do not expect a second Regensburg speech (as delivered by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who infuriated Islam, A/N) from the Holy Father. But diplomacy will surely have suggested that the Pope will throw water on the fire.”</p>
<p>In 1480 the Ottoman fleet of Gedik Ahmet Pasha attacked Otranto. After two weeks of siege, the defences gave way. The survivors gathered in the cathedral, which was turned into a stable by the Ottoman knights. The bishop, Stefano Pendinelli, was slashed to pieces by scimitar blows and the captain of the guard sawn apart alive. The 800 males over the age of 15 held captive by the Turks were offered their salvation in exchange for conversion to Islam. A tailor, Antonio Primaldo said, “So far we have fought for the fatherland and to save our heritage and life. Now we need to stand up for Jesus Christ and to save our souls.” The Ottoman commander ordered him to be beheaded, but his body, according to the legend, remained standing until the head of the last of the 800 martyrs of Otranto, who refused to renounce their Christian faith, was cut off.</p>
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<blockquote><p>Pope Clement XIV recognized them as “Blessed,” but not until the 6th July 2007 did Benedict XVI issue the decree that recognized martyrdom “in hatred of the faith.” Last 12th February, the day of his resignation, the Pope announced that “the Blessed Antonio Primaldo and Companions, Martyrs, will be enlisted within the Register of Saints on Sunday May 12th 2013.” The Church is showing remarkable courage with these uncomfortable beatifications. “With the martyrs of Otranto a taboo is broken. Christians are still being killed today by Islamic extremists from Nigeria to Pakistan,” notes Introvigne. Dominique Rezeau, one of the more esteemed Catholic priests, told Fides agency that “of one hundred thousand Christians who lived in Libya before the revolution, there remain only a few thousand.” In Tunisia, the Salafists want the Caliphate and the death penalty for apostates. In Syria two weeks ago two Orthodox bishops Gregorios Yohannna Ibrahim and Boulos al-Yazigi were kidnapped. Since 9th February, there has been no news of a couple of priests. “The canonization of the martyrs of Otranto is of current relevance. It must be said that today Turkey receives the Christian refugees fleeing Syria, but there are countries like Nigeria where Boko Haram (Islamic terrorist group) wants to drive Christians out with terror or force them into a ghetto. We are facing an Islamist Spring,” observed Attilio Tamburrini former director of the annual report of Aid to the Church in Need. Paolo Affattato of the Fides agency is “a little cautious on the current relevance of the martyrs of Otranto. Apostasy, however, still prevails today in countries like Iran or Pakistan. Muslims who wants to convert to Christianity risk their lives and have to flee.”</p>
<p><a href="http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/05/the-beatification-of-the-otranto-martyrs/">http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/05/the-beatification-of-the-otranto-martyrs/</a></p>
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</div> Pope Francis to canonise 800…tag:4freedoms.com,2013-05-01:3766518:Comment:1228942013-05-01T14:56:23.002ZKinanahttp://4freedoms.com/profile/Kinana
<h1 class="entry-title">Pope Francis to canonise 800 Italians slain during historic siege</h1>
<p class="date">By <span class="poster_name"><a href="http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/author/carol-glatz/" rel="author" title="Posts by Carol Glatz">Carol Glatz</a></span> on Tuesday, 30 April 2013…</p>
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<h1 class="entry-title">Pope Francis to canonise 800 Italians slain during historic siege</h1>
<p class="date">By <span class="poster_name"><a title="Posts by Carol Glatz" href="http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/author/carol-glatz/" rel="author">Carol Glatz</a></span> on Tuesday, 30 April 2013</p>
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<div class="post-img"><img class="attachment-thumbnail-440 wp-post-image" alt="People view relics of the martyrs in the Cathedral of Otranto (Photo: CNS)" src="http://d2jkk5z9de9jwi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/SKULLS.jpg" width="440" height="331"/><p class="image-caption image-caption-wide"></p>
<p class="image-caption image-caption-wide">People view relics of the martyrs in the Cathedral of Otranto (Photo: CNS)</p>
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<div class="entry-content"><p>Pope Francis is preparing to canonise an estimated 800 Italian laymen killed by Ottoman soldiers in the 15th century. The canonisation service will be on May 12 in St Peter’s Square and it will be the first carried out by the Pontiff since he was elected in early March.</p>
<p>The killing of the martyrs by Ottoman troops, who launched a weeks-long siege of Otranto, a small port town at the most eastern tip of southern Italy, took place in 1480.</p>
<p>When Otranto residents refused to surrender to the Ottoman army, the soldiers were ordered to massacre all males over the age of 15. Many were ordered to convert to Islam or die, but Blessed Antonio Primaldo, a tailor, spoke on the prisoners’ behalf. “We believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God, and for Jesus Christ we are ready to die,” he said, according to Blessed John Paul II, who visited Otranto in 1980 for the 500th anniversary of the martyrs’ deaths.</p>
<p>Primaldo inspired all the other townspeople to take courage, the late Pope said, and to say: “We will all die for Jesus Christ; we willingly die so as to not renounce his holy faith.” There were not “deluded” or “outdated,” Blessed John Paul continued, but “authentic, strong, decisive, consistent men” who loved their city, their families and their faith.</p>
<p>The skulls and other relics of the martyrs currently adorn the walls around the altar of Otranto Cathedral as a memorial to their sacrifice. According to the archdiocese’s website, popular tradition holds that when the soldiers beheaded Primaldo, his body remained standing even as the combatants tried to push him over. Legend has it that the decapitated man stood until the very last prisoner was killed, at which point Primaldo’s body collapsed next to his dead comrades.</p>
<p>In 1771, the Church recognised the validity of the local veneration of Primaldo and his companions and allowed them to be called Blessed. In 2007, retired Pope Benedict XVI formally recognised their martyrdom and, in 2012, he recognised a miracle attributed to their intercession. Martyrs do not need a miracle attributed to their intercession in order to be beatified. However, miracles must be recognised by the Vatican in order for them to become saints.</p>
<p>The miracle involved the late-Poor Clare Sister Francesca Levote. She was suffering from a serious form of cancer but was healed after a pilgrimage to pray before the martyrs’ relics in Otranto in 1980, a few months before Pope John Paul’s visit in October. She died in February 2012 at the age of 85.</p>
<p>In a letter published in December 2012, Archbishop Donato Negro of Otranto said that the martydom of the townnsfolk must represent a “purification of the memory of the Catholic Church and a rooting out of every possible lingering resentment, rancor, resentful policies, every eventual temptation toward hatred and violence, and every presumptuous attitude of religious superiority, religious arrogance, moral and cultural pride.”</p>
<p>Remembering Christian martyrs is an occasion to examine one’s own life and make sure it corresponds with the Gospel call to love and forgive, he added.</p>
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<div class="entry-content"><a href="http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/04/30/pope-francis-to-canonise-800-italians-slain-during-historic-siege/" target="_blank">http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/04/30/pope-francis-to-can...</a></div>
<div class="entry-content"></div> On the day the outgoing Pope…tag:4freedoms.com,2013-03-11:3766518:Comment:1204602013-03-11T10:19:02.891ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<p>On the day the outgoing Pope announced his resignation, he also announced he would canonize the martyrs of Otranto.</p>
<p>He has now canonized the jihad victims of Otranto.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/03/one-of-pope-benedict-xvis-last-acts-canonizing-800-christian-martyrs-murdered-by-muslims.html" target="_blank">http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/03/one-of-pope-benedict-xvis-last-acts-canonizing-800-christian-martyrs-murdered-by-muslims.html</a></p>
<p>There were many…</p>
<p>On the day the outgoing Pope announced his resignation, he also announced he would canonize the martyrs of Otranto.</p>
<p>He has now canonized the jihad victims of Otranto.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/03/one-of-pope-benedict-xvis-last-acts-canonizing-800-christian-martyrs-murdered-by-muslims.html" target="_blank">http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/03/one-of-pope-benedict-xvis-last-acts-canonizing-800-christian-martyrs-murdered-by-muslims.html</a></p>
<p>There were many reasons I disliked this pope. But this was one of the reasons to like him.</p> These are better photos of th…tag:4freedoms.com,2013-03-11:3766518:Comment:1203862013-03-11T10:15:35.137ZJoehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/38DD
<p>These are better photos of the skulls. I remember the first time I heard about this story (only 4 years ago), I was aghast that I could have been brought up a catholic in Europe, considered myself well-educated, and had never heard of this.</p>
<p>Here are two better photos that capture the scale and horror of the massacre. It is salutory to consider the difference between the christian and islamic concept of martyr. Islamic martyers are aggressors.…</p>
<p></p>
<p>These are better photos of the skulls. I remember the first time I heard about this story (only 4 years ago), I was aghast that I could have been brought up a catholic in Europe, considered myself well-educated, and had never heard of this.</p>
<p>Here are two better photos that capture the scale and horror of the massacre. It is salutory to consider the difference between the christian and islamic concept of martyr. Islamic martyers are aggressors.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/54804226?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/54804226?profile=original" width="468"/></a></p>
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<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/54804181?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/54804181?profile=original" width="378"/></a></p>