Marawi Bishop Edwin dela Peña (leftmost) leads in offering candles to bombing victims at the Dimaporo Gymnasium inside the Mindanao State University campus in Marawi City on Monday (11 December 2023). MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERA
MARAWI CITY (MindaNews / 11 December) – The four worshippers killed in the bombing during Advent Mass at the Mindanao State University (MSU) here will be included in a catalogue of “New Martyrs” being compiled by the Vatican, Bishop Edwin dela Peña told reporters here Monday morning.
The bishop, who led the offering of candles at the main gate of the Dimaporo Gymnasium inside MSU-Marawi where the bomb exploded on December 3, said that the media office of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who heads the Section of Evangelization of the Dicastery for Evangelization (formerly the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples), has called him to get more details on the lives of the four worshippers who were killed.
Dela Pena said the list will include martyrs from all over the world, including Christians in Palestine who went through hardships in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Pope Francis announced in July 2023 the formation of the Commission of New Martyrs to create a catalogue of those who were “killed simply because they are Christians.”
“They are bishops, priests, consecrated persons, laypeople and families that in different countries of the world, with the gift of their lives, have offered the supreme test of charity,” the Pope wrote.
The list will reportedly include martyrs since 2000 until the 2025 Jubilee Year.
The blast at the MSU gymnasium also injured 72 other churchgoers who were attending mass for the First Sunday of Advent, which marks the new liturgical year and the start of celebration for the Nativity of Christ.
The blast occurred on the fourth day of the Mindanao Week of Peace, an inter-religious annual event.
Killed during the explosion were fresh graduate Junrey Barbante, a fisheries teacher from Maribojoc, Bohol; Evangeline Aromin, a professor of MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology and a resident of Bansalan, Davao del Sur; Riza Daniel of Kapalaran, Tangub City in Misamis Occidental; and Janine Arinas, a student and resident of Barangay Lorenzo, Kapatagan town in Lanao del Sur.
Despite the incident, the bishop said they will continue the work of the Catholic church in Marawi.
“The bombing did not stop us from continuing the service to our Catholic constituents,” he said, adding that “this is a laboratory of Muslim-Christian integration.”
Marawi Bishop Edwin dela Peña grieves outside the MSU gymnasium on Monday (11 December 2023) where a bomb exploded on December 3 during the first Advent Mass, killing four and wounding 72 others. In the background is a poster containing pictures of the four victims. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERA
Dela Peña noted that many poor Christian students from faraway places have come for the “very high level of education” that MSU offers.
The prelate stressed that while the church could not provide security to students, “we can give them that sense of well-being” while inside the campus.(Bobby Timonera / MindaNews)
