The Vatican Reveals That There Are More Than 1,700 New Martyrs of the 21st Century

The Commission for the New Martyrs—Witnesses to the Faith, established within the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, continues to gather information on Christians who have given their lives for the Gospel throughout the world in the 21st century. 

On September 14 of last year (Pope Leo XIV's birthday: he turns 71 this year), the Vatican Commission spoke of nearly 1,700 “new martyrs and witnesses to the faith”; this year, the same Commission puts the number at more than 1,700 documented cases.

The Commission It is chaired by Archbishop Fabio Fabene, secretary of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and by Professor Andrea Riccardi, vice president, who this week, together with Cardinal Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery, announced a special event to be held next Tuesday, September 15, at the Augustinianum Patristic Institute in Rome, on the topic “The 21st Century: A New Era of Martyrs?”.

Cardinal Semeraro: “Not all saints are canonized”

A common question that arises in this regard is whether all the new martyrs listed in the catalog currently being compiled and documented by the Commission will be canonized.

“The grace of holiness in the Church is manifested—though not limited to—in canonizations,” said Cardinal Marcelo Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, in his Speech.

Highlighting the ‘high standard of ordinary Christian life’

“Obviously, it is not ruled out,” added the cardinal, “that for some of those listed in the Catalog, the procedures for beatification and canonization may begin, provided the necessary conditions are met.‘ However, what we wish to emphasize is the ’high standard of ordinary Christian life’ that St. John Paul II points out in *Novo Millennio Ineunte*.”, No. 30, and the holiness ‘within reach’ that Pope Francis recalls in *Gaudete et Exsultate*, ”No. 6–8.".

“The Anthropological Value of Christian Holiness”: The Ability to Suffer for the Truth

Cardinal Prefect Marcello Semeraro also referred to the “anthropological value of Christian holiness,” which is summed up in “the ability to suffer for the truth.”.

He did so by quoting Benedict XVI at length: “To suffer with others, for others; to suffer for truth and justice; to suffer out of love and to become a person who truly loves: these are fundamental elements of humanity, the abandonment of which would destroy man himself. But the question arises once again: Are we capable of this?…”

“For this, too, we need witnesses—martyrs—who have given themselves completely, so that they may show us this day after day” (Benedict XVI continues). “We need them so that, even in the small choices of daily life, they may choose the good over comfort, knowing that this is precisely how we truly live life. Let us repeat: the capacity to suffer for the truth is the measure of humanity» (Spe Salvi, no. 39).

Ecumenical value 

Finally, the cardinal concluded by highlighting the ecumenical value of the initiative, which Saint John Paul II had envisioned for the Commission from the very beginning. Already in his encyclical *Ut unum sint* (1995), he wrote: ‘From a theocentric perspective, we Christians already have a common martyrology. This shows how, at a profound level, God maintains communion among the baptized in the supreme demand of the faith, manifested by the sacrifice of life’ (no. 84).”.

On this point, the Cardinal Prefect again referred to Pope Francis, who, upon establishing the Commission within the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, emphasized that its work “will allow the martyrs, officially recognized by the Church, to stand alongside the documented testimonies—and there are many—of these brothers and sisters of ours, within a vast panorama in which the single voice of Christian martyrdom resounds.”.

Conference Next Week

The conference mentioned at the beginning will take place at the Pontifical Augustinianum on September 15, 2026, in two sessions; the program is available at here.

On the 16th, the speakers and participants will be received in a special audience by Pope Leo XIV, who has stated: “[…] we cannot, we do not want to forget. We want to remember. We do so with the certainty that, just as in the early centuries, so too in the third millennium, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of new Christians” (Tertullian).”.