Pope Leo XIV has approved the beatification of eleven priests killed in Europe by the Nazi and communist regimens, recognising them as martyrs of the faith.
The announcement, made on the 24 October by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, brings the group a step closer to sainthood and highlights some of the most harrowing episodes of clerical suffering in the 20th century.
Nine of the new Blesseds are Polish Salesian priests – Jan Świerc, Ignacy Antonowicz, Ignacy Dobiasz, Karol Golda, Franciszek Harazim, Ludwik Mroczek, Włodzimierz Szembek, Kazimierz Wojciechowski and Franciszek Miśka – who were persecuted “out of hatred for the faith” in Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Dachau between 1941 and 1942.
