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Words in the News

Pope creates new saints
13 May 2013
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At a ceremony in Rome, Pope Francis has created the first saints of his reign. They
include 800 Italians who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam after their city
was captured by Turks six centuries ago.
David Willey reports for the BBC:

It's taken more than six centuries for the Catholic Church to officially recognise the

heroism of hundreds of citizens of Otranto, a small town in the south of Italy who were

executed by an invading Turkish army when they refused to convert to Islam.

But there was no hint of any anti-Islamic sentiment in the homily that Pope Francis

delivered before tens of thousands of worshippers gathered in St Peters Square.

Martyrs, he said, inspire Christians who are still suffering violence in many parts of the

world, to respond to evil with good. He refrained from naming any single country,

although the Catholic Church is deeply concerned about attacks on Christian communities

in the Middle East and in East and West Africa.

Later this month an Italian priest murdered by the Sicilian mafia twenty years ago will be

beatified - the last step before he too is declared a saint. Pope Francis, following the

example of his immediate predecessors, is continuing the process of honouring a new

generation of modern as well as historic martyrs. He wants to remind the world that

thousands of Christians are still being persecuted for their faith and sometimes being

killed in circumstances related to their religion.

Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2013

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 Vocabulary and definitions

heroism actions that show great bravery

to convert (here) to change your religious belief

sentiment feeling or attitude

homily short speech on a moral or religious subject

martyrs people who suffer or are killed because of their

religious beliefs

refrained from stopped himself from (doing or saying something)

beatified (after someone's death) said by officials in the

Catholic Church to be an especially good or holy
person

honouring publicly showing respect

persecuted treated very badly or unfairly for a long time

Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/05/130513_witn_saints.shtml

Related story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22501551

Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2013

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