SW News:

The Catholic Church in Cambodia paid rich tributes to all the laypersons, the clergy and religious who were martyred during the regime of dictator Pol Pot in the 1970s. At Tang Kork District in Kampong Thom Province, bishops, priests, male and female religious and laypersons took part in the Holy Mass to remember the martyrs.

Addressing more than 3,000 Catholics, the priests and bishops addressed the believers who were killed by the Pol Pot regime as the fathers of the present-day Catholic community in the Asian country.

According to Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, “The testimony of the martyrs guides us along the way.” The prelate who belongs to the MEP congregation, which is based in France, said that the Church is new in the country after it was almost wiped out by the Khmer Rouge regime.
He said there are close to 23,000 Catholics and several congregations have been established by those who recently embraced Catholicism. “The Lord accompanies us, and we always look hopefully into the future," he said.

The Mass commemorating the martyrs was concelebrated by Bishop Enrique Figaredo Alvargonzalez of Battambang, Bishop Pierre Suon Hangly of Kompong-Cham. It was back in 2015 that the Church in the country officially opened the beatification process of martyr bishop Joseph Chhmar Salas and 34 others killed by the regime. The Mass was celebrated at the place where the martyr spent the last few days of his life. Objects used by him, including his cot, were displayed for public veneration during the ceremony. His gold pectoral cross is now with Bishop Schmitthaeusler.

According to Father Paul Roeung Chatsirey, the postulator of the cause of beatification of the martyr bishop and MEP Mission director in Laos and Cambodia, testimonies and evidence were collected with the support of collaborators and the documents were handed over to the Vatican.

Between 1970 and 1977, the Khmer Rouge regime put close to two million people to death. They include lay people, catechists, and missionaries. Among the martyrs were members of the MEP hailing from Vietnam and France, apart from Cambodia itself.