Pope Leo XIV on Sunday honored hundreds of Christians who have been killed for their faith in the 21st century, praising their courage and lamenting that their numbers were growing in many parts of the world.

The Vatican has been documenting these Christian martyrs, not as part of its saint-making process but to merely collect and remember their stories. Their numbers include cases of Christians being killed by Islamic militants, mafia groups or Amazonian ranchers upset at their defense of the rainforest and poor.

The service, at the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, came 25 years after St. John Paul II presided over a 2000 Jubilee commemoration of new martyrs held at the Colosseum. The evening prayer service highlighted the continued persecution of Christians worldwide, with the Pope emphasizing that their witness represents “an unarmed hope” that chooses the power of the Gospel over violence.

The Pope concluded by invoking the memory of Abish Masih, a Pakistani child killed in an attack on a Catholic Church, who had written in his notebook: “Making the world a better place.” Leo urged the assembled faithful to let this child’s dream inspire courageous witness to faith as “leaven for a peaceful and fraternal humanity.”