Srilanka, April 22 -- In a solemn and historic recognition, the Vatican has declared 167 Catholic victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka as 'witnesses of faith', acknowledging their deaths as acts of martyrdom driven by odium fidei, hatred of the faith. The announcement was made by the Colombo Archbishop His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith during a vigil commemorating the sixth anniversary of the attacks.

The 2019 bombings, among the deadliest acts of terrorism in Sri Lanka's history, were a coordinated series of suicide blasts that struck three churches, St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo and Zion Church in Batticaloa, as well as three luxury hotels in the capital. The attacks claimed ...