Vatican City, Oct 28, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis Wednesday advanced the sainthood causes of nine men and women, including two Lebanese priests martyred under the Ottoman Empire.

Fr. Leonard Melki and Fr. Thomas Saleh were Capuchin friars and missionaries in what is now Turkey who who were arrested, tortured, and martyred by the forces of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and 1917 respectively.