Martyr of charity: Difference between revisions

In the [[Catholic Church]], a '''martyr of charity''' is someone who dies outas a result of a charitable act or as a result of administering [[charity (virtue)|Christian charity]]. While a [[martyr of the faith]], which is what is usually meant by the word "martyr" (both in [[canon law]] and in lay terms), dies through being persecuted [[Anti-Catholicism|for being a Catholic]] or [[Persecution of Christians|for being a Christian]], a martyr of charity dies through practicing charity motivated by Christianity.<ref>

</ref> This is an unofficial form of [[Christian martyr|martyrdom]]; when the [[Servant of God]] [[Pope Paul VI]] beatified [[Saint Maximilian Kolbe]], he gave him that honorary title (in 1982, when Kolbe was canonized by [[Blessed Pope John Paul II]], that title was still not given official canonical recognition; instead, John Paul II overruled his advisory commission, which had said Kolbe was a Confessor, not a Martyr, ruling that the systematic hatred of the Nazis as a group toward the rest of humanity was in itself a form of hatred of the faith).<ref name="Peterson">