Pope denounces collective 'complicit silence' in killing of Christians

Pope Francis has criticised what he calls "our complicit silence" with regards the killing of Christians, during yesterday’s Good Friday service in Rome.

The pontiff was joined by tens of thousands of pilgrims for the annual Way of the Cross ceremony at the Colosseum. This year, some of the cross bearers were Nigerians who had escaped Boko Haram persecution together with Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Nearly 150 people, mostly Christians, were killed in an al-Shabab attack on a Kenyan university on Thursday. The Pope had described this act as one of “senseless violence”.

"We still see today our persecuted brothers, decapitated and crucified for their faith in you [Jesus], before our eyes and often with our complicit silence," Pope Francis said.

The Pope has spoken out against the persecution of Christians before, saying that the world would be justified using military force to combat the "unjust aggression" by Islamic State.

At another ceremony marking Good Friday, the Vatican's official preacher Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa condemned the "disturbing indifference of world institutions in the face of all this killing of Christians".

Cantalamessa brought the Kenya attack as an example of this, as well as February’s beheading of 22 Egyptian Coptic Christians by Islamic State militants in Libya.