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[Catholic Caucus] The Martyrs of San JoaquinPolitical power grows out of the barrel of a gun. – Zedong Mao (1893-1976)The train’s forged-steel wheels slowed down and screeched to a stop at Kilometer Marker 491, in the windswept, desolate Highlands of Jalisco.In one of the railcars, six Catholic men waited their fate, on that morning, April 25, 1927, in Rancho San Joaquin, when, suddenly, a soldier called out three names: Andres Sola y Molist. José Trinidad Rangel Montano. Leonardo Perez Larios.Forced off the train, the three were goaded down a ravine and ordered to stand in a large pool of spilled...

Thousands gathered in prayer Saturday at a cathedral in Albania to celebrate the beatification of 38 Albanian Catholic martyrs executed or tortured to death during the former communist regime. In April, Pope Francis officially recognized as martyrs Archbishop Vincens Prenushi and 37 other priests who died in prison or were murdered from 1945 to 1974 by the late communist dictator Enver Hoxha's regime, which banned religion in 1967 and persecuted its believers. During Francis' visit in 2014, giant posters of the 38 clergy were placed along the Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard in Tirana, the capital. On Saturday, up to...

12 September, 2004 VATICAN - CHINA Mgr Gao Kexian, martyred Bishop, killed by five years in prison by Bernardo Cervellera The Press Office of the Holy See announced yesterday the death of Mgr Gao Kexian, Bishop of Yantai. Bishop Gao, who was in prison since October 199, died at the end of August. Rome (AsiaNews) – Bishop John Gao Kexian, 76, a reserved and timid man, died in an unknown prison in northern China. His remains were sent to his relatives at the end of August without any explanations. He joins the ranks of the martyred who gave their lives...