FRANCE OBSERVES MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR 20TH CENTURY MARTYRS

PARIS, APR 20 (ZENIT.org).- "All too often we forget that the greater part of Christians who have been killed for their faith belong to this century," stated Didier Rance, director of the French section of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Because of this, last Tuesday -- as has been the case on all Holy Tuesdays -- ACN promoted a moment of silence in all churches in France in memory of the martyrs of our century.

The memorial did not just refer to the victims of Nazism and communism, but also to tragic episodes like the 1997 massacre of monks in Algeria, where they had promised to witness to Christ with a life of prayer, at a time of rampant Islamic extremism.

In 1999 alone, 17 priests, 9 nuns, 4 seminarians and 2 catechists died while carrying out their missionary work. Didier Rance, a deacon of the Byzantine rite, concluded, "Martyrdom forms part of our days."

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