Detroit — Following the reported beheadings of 21 Coptic Orthodox Christians by militants in Libya claiming to be affiliated with the Islamic State, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron offered his condolences and prayers to leaders of the Coptic Orthodox church in North America.

In a Feb. 23 letter to Bishop Karas of the Coptic Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, the archbishop wrote to express Detroit-area Catholics’ “solidarity with all Coptic Orthodox Christians in facing the brutal death of the twenty one Coptic Orthodox men killed in Libya for their faithful profession of the Holy Name of Jesus Christ.”

In a video released Feb. 15 by the Islamic State purporting to show the barbaric executions, some of the Christians could be seen repeating the words “Lord, Jesus Christ” at the moment of their deaths, according to an Egyptian Catholic bishop in a published report.

Archbishop Vigneron has emphasized prayers for religious liberty and protection of Middle Eastern Christians in recent years, including hosting two special prayer services at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in 2013 and 2014. In 2010, the archbishop participated as one of three Latin-rite bishops from North America in the special Synod of Bishops for the Middle East in Rome.

In an interview with the Detroit Free Press following his Ash Wednesday Mass this year, the archbishop also indicated he would be praying in a special way this Lent for peace in the Middle East.

In writing to Bishop Karas, the archbishop also expressed the Archdiocese of Detroit’s “pledge to work and pray for the religious liberty of all Christians in the Middle East, and to assure you that we are one with you in praising God for giving these twenty-one sons of his the power to triumph over their murderers by the invincible strength that comes from the Cross of Christ.”

In addition to Bishop Karas, the archbishop also sent a copy of the letter to Fr. Mina Essak, pastor of St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Troy.

“I have enclosed here a copy of my letter to His Grace, so that you, as the pastor of the Coptic Orthodox Parish here in southeast Michigan, will know that we, your Catholic neighbors, are not indifferent to the sufferings of those you love,” he wrote.