Francis: Christ transforms death into dawn of new life

Pope Francis appealed on Thursday for Christians who suffer violence, discrimination and all manner of injustice because of their faithfulness to Christ and His Gospel. The Pope's call for prayerful solidarity with persecuted faithful came on the Feast of St Stephen, the first martyr, and a day after bomb attacks on a Catholic church and a Christian neighbourhood market in Baghdad, Iraq, that killed thirty-eight people. "We are close to those brothers and sisters who, like St. Stephen, are unjustly accused and subjected to violence of various kinds," said Pope Francis. He went on to say, "This happens especially where religious freedom is still not guaranteed or not fully realized." The Holy Fathe ...