Rome honors Martin Luther King.
The Associated Press
Jan. 14, 2000
Boston - American Catholic bishops have asked the Vatican to designate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a martyr for the Christian faith.
The Boston Globe reported yesterday that King and four church women murdered in El Salvador in 1980 are among U.S. nominees for a group that will be honored by Pope John Paul II.
The Pope is to name a group of 20th Century martyrs in a ceremony May 7 in Rome as part of the Jubilee 2000 celebration marking the 2000th anniversary of Christianity. A special Vatican commission is selecting honorees from 10,000 names submitted by church leaders worldwide.
The group is distinct from martyrs officially recognized as saints of the Roman Catholic Church.
Christine King Farris, King's sister, said she was surprised because the assassinated civil rights leader was a Baptist minister. "To think that his life of service and giving has been recognized, is very humbling to me," she said.
A publicist for his widow, Coretta Scott King, did not allow a reporter to ask her for comment at an Atlanta appearance yesterday.
The Pope wants the May ceremony to honor non-Catholics as well as Catholics, said Paul Henderson, who directs the U.S. bishops' office for Jubilee 2000.
"One of the Holy Father's emphases for the jubilee year is that it is not just a Catholic event but a celebration of 2,000 years of Christianity, for all," Henderson said.
Observers say honoring non-Catholic martyrs carries great symbolism as the Catholic Church reaches out to other Christian bodies. King's very name -Martin Luther - is that of the German whose criticism of the 16th Century papacy led to the Protestant Reformation.
Editor's Note
No wonder Rome honors "Dr" Martin Luther King. He was your typical Jesuit, sneaking around and pretending to be a Baptist. They would never honor his namesake, the Great Reformer Martin Luther. Rome stirred up all the anti-black prejudice in the South and then had their hero come to the rescue. Then they made a martyr of him by assassination....It was all a set-up....His race would still be in chains if Rome had her way. As a matter of fact, before 1834, blacks were not even recognized as human being by the Vatican!!
Rome was responsible for the introduction of slavery into the New World. First through her surrogate Portugal and then Spain. See Roman Catholicism and Slavery by William Roscoe Miller, LL.D., North Carolina, 1958.