Miguel Pro and the other Mexican martyrs provided millions of people with inspiration to resist the most anti-Catholic government ever seen in the Americas.

The 20th century witnessed great advances in science and medicine. But it was not an era for truth.

The Nazis gave various reasons for imprisoning these clergymen: stirring up the masses, spying, aiding prisoners, suspicion of treason, behavior unfriendly to Germany, support of Jews, insulting the Fuhrer or National Socialism, or sometimes no reason at all.

A Father Jochmann was the prison chaplain in Berlin and spent some time with Jägerstätter that day.

Bishop Romzha was only one of many brave believers who paid the ultimate price for their loyalty to the faith in Ukraine. As horrible as their experiences were, their commitment bore rich dividends.

On Monday, March 24, 1980, at 6:25 p.m. in the chapel of the Divina Providencia Cancer Hospital, where he lived in a small house, Oscar Arnulfo Romero, archbishop of San Salvador, the capital of the Central American nation El Salvador, was killed during his homily by a gunman who fired one, well-placed bullet through his heart.

Albania is a small country that prides itself on its fierce national identity and long Christian history. But after the communist takeover 1946 tens of thousands of common people perished for religious reasons.

As World War II ended, Vietnam began to suffer the same types of persecution and martyrdoms that Communism brought to China and Korea. But at that very moment a spiritual story was unfolding that shows how grace operates even in the most terrible circumstances.

As early as 1966, something unprecedented in Communist-dominated countries had occurred. There was a powerful element of independent civil society in Poland linked directly with the Church.

Pakistans relatively small Christian community of 2 million, about 3 percent of the population (two-thirds of them Catholic), has been subjected to systematic repression and death.