We are grateful to the Lord who gave to us this wonderful gifts holiness and witness of the blessed Laotian martyrs
Vientiane, Laos, 11 December 2016 -- The date of beatification was fixed Pope Francis has ordered that the beatification ceremony for all of the 17 martyrs of Laos takes place in the city of Vientiane, Laos, on 11 December 2016. The personal representative of the Holy Father at the ceremony was Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, OMI, Archbishop of Cotabato in the Philippines and the whole Beatification Eucharist was attended by 2000 Catholic faithful and priests with 15 other Bishops and Cardinals coming from nearby countries of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The martyrs of Laos, to be known as "Father Joseph Tiên and his companions," include, in chronological order of their martyrdom, Father Joseph Tien (diocesan priest in Laos); Father Jean-Baptiste Malo, MEP (French, Foreign Missions of Paris); Father René Dubroux, MEP (French); Father Mario Borzaga, OMI (Italian); Catechist Paul Thoj Xyooj (Lao); Father Louis Leroy, OMI (French); Father Michel Cockerel, OMI (French); Santa Tenaud, MEP (French); Catechist Joseph Outhay (Lao); Father Vincent Hénoret OMI (French); Father Marcel Denis, MEP (French); Father Jean Wauthier, OMI (French); Father Lucien Galan, MEP (French); Catechist student Thomas Khampheuane (Lao); Father Joseph Boissel, OMI (French); Catechist Luc Sy (Lao); Layman and Pho Inpeng (Lao). Liturgical Feast for the Lao Martyrs is set for December 16.
Historic Step for the Catholic Church in Laos was held in the Cathedral of the capital Vientiane. The Lao Martyrs were killed between 1954 and 1970 by the communist Pathet Lao guerrillas who seized power in the tiny nation of Southeast Asia. Five of them belong to the congregation of the Foreign Missions of Paris (MEP), the first missionaries who in 1885 brought the Gospel in Laos; six are Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), few native Lao Catechists and also the first Laotian priest Joseph Thao Tien, killed in 1954.
In the new climate of openness and availability shown by the Laotian government, Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, apostolic nuncio in Bangkok and apostolic delegate in Myanmar and Laos, at the end of the Mass expressed his thanks, hoping that in the near future Laos can forge diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
The Catholic community in Laos has about 60 thousand baptized (1% of the population out of 6.8 million inhabitants), spread in four apostolic vicariates and accompanied in pastoral service by a score of priests in all. Bishop Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, apostolic vicar of Pakse, described the celebration as "moment of full communion with the Holy See and with the universal Church, in a real year of grace".
Pope Francis recalled their sacrifice following his recitation of the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square last Sunday: “Their heroic fidelity to Christ can be an encouragement and example to missionaries, especially catechists, who in mission lands play a valuable and irreplaceable apostolic role, for which the entire Church is grateful.”
The pastoral activities, Ling says to Fides, proceed calmly, "we sometimes have some small problems with some diligent provincial officials, but as priests and religious we visit families, we celebrate the sacraments, we do catechism without problems". With the new deacon, whose ordination is scheduled for next March, "I will have five active and two retired priests in Pakse", he says. They are entrusted parishes and over 13 thousand faithful of the Vicariate. "It is not my job nor my merit, everything is God's work. We follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit", confides the Bishop to Fides.
Even Tito Banchong, apostolic administrator in Luang Prabang, in the north of the country, celebrated the ordination of three priests in September 2016 and is preparing for the gift of another vocation. "In my area, where for 12 years, from 2000 onwards, I was completely alone, we are blessed with the thriving of vocations to priesthood: a sign that the Lord is near. He is the God-with-us. And he was also with us in the time of suffering", says the Bishop, who between 1976 and 1986 spent five years in prison, when the pressure of the communist Pathet Lao regime on religious freedom was stronger.
On 30 January in his homily during Mass in the Casa Santa Marta, before the Bishops of Laos, Pope Francis said that "the greatest strength of the Church today is in the little Churches, tiny, with few people, persecuted, with their bishops in prison. This is our glory today, and our strength today".
At the end of the ad limina visit, Bishop Tito Banchong remarked: "We are very happy. This visit gave us the certainty of unity with the Pope. The Pope knows us, loves us, has opened his heart. He is really a father for us who listens to us. He told us to move forward in our mission: it is for us a precious encouragement". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 01/02/2017)