On June 7, 2022, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea announced the conclusion of an investigation into 81 martyrs of the Korean War.
According to the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCANews), the bishops affirmed that these Catholics were “witnesses of modern and contemporary faith.”
The 81 Catholics included priests, religious and laypeople martyred by communist forces.
The list of martyrs included Bishop Francis Hong Yong-ho of Pyongyang, as well as American Maryknoll missionary Monsignor Patrick James Byrne.
UCANews noted how these 81 martyrs are part of, “1,100 Christians including Bishop Hong [who were] massacred for their faith by North Korean forces during the Korean War.”
Many of these individuals were, “tortured and killed by the communists before and after the Korean War (1950-53).”
The next step in the canonization causes of these martyrs is for their cases to be brought to Rome and further investigated by the Vatican.
