By / Abeer Almadawy- Vatican

Five years ago, a hideous massacre took place in the Libyan lands on the hands of the terrorist ISIS, against twenty-one Egyptian Copts who were slaughtered in front of the world's cameras in a tragic and unfortunate scene

On the occasion of commemorating the martyrdom of twenty-one Christians at the hands of the terrorist organization ISIS in Libya in 2015, His Holiness Pope Francis sent a video message in which he said:

It's this day in February in 2015. I carry in my heart the baptism of blood. These Christian men who were baptized with water and the Holy Spirit were also baptized on that day with blood. They are our saints, the saints of all Christians, and the saints of all Christian denominations and traditions. They are the ones who made their lives with the blood of a lamb. They are the people of God, the faithful people of God.

Pope Francis went on to say that they went to work abroad in order to support their families: ordinary men, heads of families, men who desire children, men with the dignity of workers, who not only seek to carry bread home, but to carry it home with the dignity of work. These men have given testimony to Jesus Christ. They were brutally slaughtered by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and died saying: "Lord Jesus!" Confessing the name of Jesus.

The Holy Father added that it is true that there is a tragedy, and that these men lost their lives on the beach, but it is also true that the beach was blessed with their blood. But what is more true is that they have received from their simplicity and simple and sincere faith the greatest blessing that a Christian can obtain: martyrdom to Jesus Christ until death.

Pope Francis continued to say I thank God our Father, who had given us these brave brothers. I thank the Holy Spirit because he gave them strength and fortitude to confess Jesus Christ down to blood. I thank the bishops and priests of the sister Coptic Church that brought them up and taught them to grow by faith. My thanks also go to the mothers of these people, these twenty-one men who "breastfed" them by faith: they are the mothers of God's holy people who transmit the faith in a "dialect" that goes beyond languages, the dialect of belonging.
And the Holy Father added, “Unite all of you, my bishops, in commemorating this memory.” I unite with you, dear brother Tawadros and the friendly Bishop. And with you, Justin Welby, you who wanted to also participate in this meeting. With all the bishops and priests, but I am particularly united with the faithful and holy people of God who, in its simplicity, steadfastness and contradictions, grace and sin, carries forward the recognition of Jesus Christ: Jesus Christ is Lord.
Pope Francis concluded his video message on the occasion of the commemoration of the martyrdom of twenty-one Christians at the hands of the terrorist organization ISIS in Libya by saying I thank you for your testimony, you twenty-first saints, Christian saints of all Christian sects. And I thank you also, Lord Jesus, because you are close to your people, whom you will not forget. Let us pray today, on the anniversary of the martyrdom of these twenty-one Coptic martyrs, that they may intercede for all of us before the Father. Amen