Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania

On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.

These martyrs “have given all to defend the Church. And at the cost of their lives they did not accept the situation, they did not deny their very faith,” a Romanian Greek-Catholic priest told CNA.

The postulator of the bishops’ causes for beatification and vice-rector of the Romanian seminary in Rome, Fr. Vasile Man, said, “these bishops were already considered martyrs by the faithful for their witness of faith, for their courage, and for their fidelity to the Holy Father and the Church of Rome” and they were “above all pastors.”