Pope Leo has paid tribute to a martyred cardinal who saved the lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.
The life of Blessed Iuliu Hossu, a Greek-Catholic cardinal who oversaw the diocese of Cluj-Gherla and who was eventually martyred during the Romanian communist persecution, was commemorated at an event in the Sistine Chapel.
Besides saving Jewish lives, Blessed Iuliu opposed the forced passage of Greek Catholics to the Romanian Orthodox Church. He was eventually arrested in 1948 for his opposition to the communist government.
