ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday honored hundreds of Christians who have been killed for their faith in the 21st century, praising their courage and lamenting that their numbers were growing in many parts of the world.

The Vatican has been documenting these Christian martyrs, not as part of its saint-making process but to merely collect and remember their stories. Their numbers include cases of Christians being killed by Islamic militants, mafia groups or Amazonian ranchers upset at their defense of the rainforest and poor.

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