Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead a mass in Cairo, on April 29, 2017.

:: Pope Francis has prayed for the Coptic Christians in killed in Egypt by militants, saying that today there are more Christian martyrs for the faith than in ancient times.

During a visit Saturday to the Italian port city of Genoa, Francis prayed “for our brothers, Egyptian Christian Copts who were killed because they did not want to renounce their faith.”

He added: “Let’s remember that there are more Christian martyrs today than in ancient times.”

The attack on Friday against Christians traveling to a monastery south of Cairo killed 29 people. The attack, which took place on the eve of Ramadan, was the fourth to target Egypt’s Christian minority since December.

Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi blamed the attack on suspected ISIS group extremists in Libya.