BY Daniel Harkins | February 16 | 
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Pope says blood of murdered Christians in Libya is a ‘testimony which cries out to be heard.’
Speaking during his address to the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, Pope Francis referred to the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians.
Pope Francis used his meeting with the Moderator of the Church of Scotland to talk about the brutal murder of Christians in Libya saying ‘the blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard.’
A video emerged on Sunday of militants apparently decapitating 21 Coptic Christian Egyptians in Libya. The militants claimed loyalty to the Islamic State (IS).
At the end of his address in Italian to Rev John Chalmers and representatives of the Church of Scotland, the Pope said he would ‘like to turn to my native tongue to express feelings of profound sorrow.’
“Today I read about the execution of those twenty-one or twenty-two Coptic Christians,” he said. “Their only words were: ‘Jesus, help me!’ They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians.
“You, my brother, in your words referred to what is happening in the land of Jesus. The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ. As we recall these brothers and sisters who died only because they confessed Christ, I ask that we encourage each another to go forward with this ecumenism which is giving us strength, the ecumenism of blood. The martyrs belong to all Christians.
“Let us pray for one another, and continue to advance in the way of wisdom, good will, strength and peace.”
Egypt has since bombed what it says are IS targets in Libya, killing 50 militants.
The murdered Christians had been seized in December and January from areas controlled by Islamist groups.
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