By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — Christians in Japan should keep alive the memory of the persecution their ancestors endured for their faith and should also pray for Christians suffering persecution around the world today, Pope Francis said.
Meeting Nov. 30 with members of the Hidden Christians Research Association, the pope led them in praying for persecuted Christians “and for all those who suffer the bitter fruits of war, violence, hatred and oppression.”
The meeting took place days before the Dec. 3 feast of St. Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary who brought Christianity to Japan in the mid-1500s. The Christian community he founded in Nagasaki was particularly strong and the faith spread there until it was outlawed under the Edo shogunate in 1614. The ban on Christianity was lifted in 1873.
Pope Francis thanked members of the association for their efforts to preserve the sites related to the clandestine communities.
