Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Phnom Penh (Agenzia Fides) - "Cambodian Bishop Chhmar Salas and fellow martyrs launch us an urgent appeal: be brave and be faithful. All this was possible thanks to Jesus Christ, who loved everyone till the end, offering his life on the Cross. This is what our martyrs lived in their life: to love until the end. Loyalty. Love more and more. Chhmar Salas and fellow martyrs invite us to enter the wonderful plan of God: to be disciples of the Lord to build His Kingdom on earth. By experiencing the love on earth, we build a new Earth, peace and justice": with these words, reported to Agenzia Fides, His Exc. Mgr. Olivier Schmitthaeusler, Vicar Apostolic of Phnom Penh, explains what the opening of the diocesan phase of the process of beatification for 35 Cambodian martyrs means for the Church in Cambodia.
We are talking about Cambodian Bishop Chhmar Salas and 34 priests, men and women religious, killed or left to die between 1970 and 1955 at the time of khmaer Rouge and the regime of Pol Pot.
"In 2000 we asked John Paul to make memory of our martyrs of Cambodia in Tangkok, where our Bishop Chhmar Salas died in 1977. For years, we have been helping our young baptized to get to know and love their martyrs. Thanks to Mgr. Yves Ramousse, former Vicar Apostolic of Phnom Penh, we were able to establish a list of 35 alleged martyrs.
In view of this event - says the Bishop to Fides - I sent a priest of the Foreign Mission of Paris in Thailand to study canon law in Rome and in 2012 he also attended the formation provided by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which allows him to become Postulator of the Cause".
In addition, the Bishop continues "in August 2014, Pope Francis explicitly encouraged the Church in Cambodia to move forward in this work and asked Cardinal Amato to contact me personally to support me in this work. Thanks to this encouragement, we managed to set up the diocesan Tribunal and the congregation of the Foreign Missions of Paris agreed to be the promoter of the cause. Therefore on May 1, 2015, we officially opened the diocesan inquiry in Tangkok, in the presence of more than a thousand Christian faithful and 40 priests of the three ecclesiastical regions of Cambodia. The Church has officially formed the special judicial Commission that will conduct a thorough investigation, composed of: Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, President; Fr. Paul Chatsirey Roeung, Postulator; Fr. Mario Ghezzi, Commissioner of Justice and Fr. Gianluca Tavola, another Commissioner; Teang Savon, assistant. All members made a solemn oath of allegiance". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 18/06/2015)
