Changes

==Recent developments==

==Recent developments==

The [[Second Vatican Council]] decreed: "The accounts of martyrdom or the lives of the saints are to accord with the facts of history."<ref>[http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html [[Sacrosanctum Concilium]], 92 c]</ref> Years of study were required for determining reliable historical information which could be reliably verified, after which a fully revised edition of the ''Roman Martyrology'' was issued in Latin (officially ''Martyrologium Romanum'') in 2001, followed in 2004 by a revision that corrected some typographical errors in the 2001 edition and added 117 people canonized or beatified between 2001 and 2004, as well as a considerable number of ancient saints not included in the previous edition.  

The [[Second Vatican Council]] decreed: "The accounts of martyrdom or the lives of the saints are to accord with the facts of history."<ref>[http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html [[Sacrosanctum Concilium]], 92 c]</ref> Years of study were required for determining reliable historical information which could be reasonably verified, after which a fully revised edition of the ''Roman Martyrology'' was issued in Latin (officially ''Martyrologium Romanum'') in 2001, followed in 2004 by a revision that corrected some typographical errors in the 2001 edition and added 117 people canonized or beatified between 2001 and 2004, as well as a considerable number of ancient saints not included in the previous edition.  

:"The updated Martyrology contains 7,000 saints and blesseds currently venerated by the Church, and whose cult is officially recognized and proposed to the faithful as models worthy of imitation."<ref>[http://www.adoremus.org/0205News.html#anchor303698 Adoremus Bulletin, February 2005]</ref>

:"The updated Martyrology contains 7,000 saints and blesseds currently venerated by the Church, and whose cult is officially recognized and proposed to the faithful as models worthy of imitation."<ref>[http://www.adoremus.org/0205News.html#anchor303698 Adoremus Bulletin, February 2005]</ref>

The current crisis of persecution by anti-Christian militants will certainly add more names to the Martyrology of those courageous souls who died for their witness to Jesus Christ.

The current crisis of violent persecution by anti-Christian militants will certainly add more names to the Martyrology of those courageous souls who were killed for their witness and testimony to [[Jesus Christ]].

==See also==

==See also==

[[Christian apologetics]]

[[Christian apologetics]]

==External links==

==External links==