According to information gathered by Agenzia Fides, 20 missionaries were
killed in the world in 2023: 1 Bishop, 8 priests, 2 non-religious men, 1
seminarian, 1 novice and 7 laypersons.
Although the lists compiled by Fides are always open to updates and corrections, there were 2 more missionaries killed compared to the previous year.
This year the highest number of missionaries killed is again registered in Africa, where 9 missionaries were killed: 5 priests, 2 religious men, 1 seminarian, 1 novice.
In America, 6 missionaries
were murdered: 1 Bishop, 3 priests, 2 lay women. In Asia, 4 lay men and
women died, killed by violence. Finally, a layman was killed in Europe.
As it has been for some time, Fides uses the term "missionary" for all
the baptized, aware that "in virtue of their Baptism, all the members of
the People of God have become missionary disciples. All the baptized,
whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in
the faith, are agents of evangelization" (Pope Francis, Apostolic
Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, 120).
Moreover, the annual list of Fides does not look only to Missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but tries to record all baptized engaged in the life of the Church who died in a violent way, not only "in hatred of the faith".
For this reason, we
prefer not to use the term “martyrs”, if not in its etymological
meaning of “witness”, in order not to enter into the question of the
judgment that the Church might eventually deliver upon some of them,
after careful consideration, for beatification or canonization.
One of the distinctive traits that most of the pastoral workers murdered
in 2023 have in common is undoubtedly their normal life: that is, they
did not carry out any sensational actions or out-of-the-ordinary deeds
that could have attracted attention and put them in someone's
crosshairs.
Scrolling through the few notes on the circumstances of
their violent deaths, we find priests who were on their way to celebrate
Mass or to carry out pastoral activities in some distant community;
armed assaults perpetrated along busy roads; assaults on rectories and
convents where they were engaged in evangelization, charity, human
promotion. They found themselves, through no fault of their own, victims
of kidnappings, acts of terrorism, involved in shootings or violence of
various kinds.
In this 'normal' life lived in contexts of economic and cultural
poverty, moral and environmental degradation, where there is no respect
for life and human rights, but often only oppression and violence is the
norm, they were also united by another 'normality', that of living the
faith by offering their simple evangelical witness as pastors,
catechists, health workers, animators of the liturgy, of charity....They could have gone elsewhere, moved to safer places, or desisted from
their Christian commitments, perhaps reducing them, but they did not do
so, even though they were aware of the situation and the dangers they
faced every day. Naive, in the eyes of the world. But the Church, and
ultimately the world itself, moves forward thanks to them, who "are not
flowers sprouting in a desert", and to the many who, like them, testify
their gratitude for the love of Christ by translating it into daily acts
of fraternity and hope.
During the Angelus on the feast of Saint Stephen, the first martyr of
the Christian community, Pope Francis recalled: "There are still those –
and there are many of them – who suffer and die to bear witness to
Jesus, just as there are those who are penalized at various levels for
the fact of acting in a way consistent with the Gospel, and those who
strive every day to be faithful, without ado, to their good duties,
while the world jeers and preaches otherwise. These brothers and sisters
may also seem to be failures, but today we see that it is not the case.
Now as then, in fact, the seed of their sacrifices, which seems to die,
germinates and bears fruit, because God, through them, continues to
work miracles (cf. Acts 18:9-10), changing hearts and saving men and
women" (Angelus, December 26, 2023).