On the Feast of St. Stephen, December 26, 2024, Pope Francis reflected on the life of the first martyr and the countless men and women today who share in his witness by giving their lives for the Gospel.
Pope Francis began by recalling St. Stephen’s remarkable example of forgiveness. “While, at first glance, Stephen seems powerless in the face of violence, he is, in reality, a truly free man who continues to love his persecutors and offers his life for them, just like Jesus.”
The Pope emphasized that Stephen’s death was not a defeat but a profound act of faith and love, mirroring Christ’s own sacrifice. As told in the Acts of the Apostles, St Stephen was stoned to death after being accused of blasphemy by Jewish leaders shortly after Christ’s ascension into heaven.
Pope Francis delivered his Angelus address after returning from the Rebibbia New Complex Prison in Rome, where he opened a Holy Door for the Jubilee Year: “The first one I opened at St. Peter’s, the second one is yours,” the Pope told the prisoners. “It is a beautiful gesture to open wide, to open: to open the doors. But more important is what it means: it is opening hearts. Open hearts. And that’s what brotherhood does. Closed hearts, hard hearts, do not help to live. Therefore, the grace of a Jubilee is to open wide our hearts to hope. Hope does not disappoint (cf. Rom. 5:5), never! Think well about this. I think so too, because in bad times one thinks that everything is over, that nothing is resolved. But hope never disappoints.”
Pope Francis knocks on the Holy Door of the Church of Our Father at Rome’s Rebibbia prison Dec. 26, 2024, before opening it and presiding over a Mass with inmates, prison staff and Italian government officials Dec. 26, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
A Legacy of Courage and Mercy
St. Stephen’s witness finds echoes today, the Holy Father noted, in the many Christians who suffer persecution for their faith. “Sadly, even today, many men and women are persecuted—sometimes to the point of death—because of the Gospel,” Pope Francis said. “They are not killed out of weakness or to defend an ideology but to share the gift of salvation with everyone. And they do so, first and foremost, for the good of their persecutors… they even pray for them.”
The Pope invited the faithful to reflect on their own lives: “Do I feel the desire for everyone to know God and be saved? Do I know how to wish good even for those who make me suffer? Do I care about the many brothers and sisters persecuted because of their faith, and do I pray for them?”
Christian de Chergé: A Modern Witness
To illustrate his message, Pope Francis referenced Blessed Christian de Chergé, a Trappist monk martyred in Algeria in 1996. Christian and six of his monastic brothers were kidnapped and killed by extremists during Algeria’s civil war. Despite knowing the risks, Christian and his community chose to remain among the Muslim neighbors they had served for years, offering a testimony of love and solidarity.
Brother Christian and the other monks were beatified in 2018. Pope Francis called him a “martyr of our time,” recalling that in his spiritual testament, “foreseeing his imminent death, he called his future murdered a ‘last minute friend’ and expressed this wish to him: ‘May we, blessed thieves, find each other again in Paradise, if it pleases God, our Father, both of us.'”
“Understand?” the Pope said on Thursday. “Thinking of who would kill him, he called him ‘friend’ and ‘brother’ and wished to have him with him in Heaven. This is what God’s love is like, the love that saves the world! How we need this love. Let us ask ourselves, then: Do I feel the desire for all to know God and to be saved? Do I also want the good of those who make me suffer? Do I take an interest in and pray for the many brothers and sisters who are persecuted for their faith?”
In his last testament, written years before his death, Christian addressed his future killer, calling him “my last-minute friend, who will not have known what you were doing.” He wrote: “Yes, I want this THANK YOU and this GOODBYE to be a ‘GOD-BLESS’ for you, too, because in God’s face I see yours. May we meet again as happy thieves in Paradise, if it please God, the Father of us both.”
Christian’s words echo St. Stephen’s prayer for his persecutors: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60).
Martyrs of Our Time
Pope Francis reminded the faithful that missionaries and Christians in many parts of the world face similar dangers today. According to Vatican statistics, 20 missionaries were martyred in 2023– the number of missionaries martyred in 2024 will be released within the week. These men and women, like Christian de Chergé and St. Stephen, give their lives out of love for Christ and those they serve, often in regions marked by conflict and poverty.
Their witness challenges the global Church to action. “May Mary, Queen of Martyrs, help us to be courageous witnesses of the Gospel for the salvation of the world,” Pope Francis prayed.
A Call to Prayer and Solidarity
The Pontifical Mission Societies, which support the Church’s missionary work in over 1,150 territories, join Pope Francis in urging the faithful to pray for persecuted Christians and support missionary efforts. The Pope’s call reminds us that the witness of martyrs is not confined to history; it is a living reality that invites all believers to deepen their faith and commitment to the Gospel.
As Pope Francis concluded, “God always forgives, and God forgives everything. May we, too, learn to forgive, love, and offer ourselves for the salvation of others, following the example of St. Stephen and the martyrs of our time.”
