Among the unanswered questions in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis earlier this week is whether the two children who died are martyrs.
Like St. Óscar Romero in 1980 and St. Thomas Becket in 1170, they died while praying in church.
But does that make Harper Moyski, 10, and Fletcher Merkel, 8, martyrs as the Catholic Church defines the term?
The answer isn’t clear-cut, partly because not all the facts are known and partly because the Church’s concept of martyrdom has been expanding in recent decades.
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