Pope Leo XIV on Friday approved the beatification of 11 Catholic priests murdered in Europe during the 1940s and 1950s under Nazi and Communist persecution, moving them a step closer to sainthood.
The group includes Jan Swierc and eight other Polish Salesian priests who were killed between 1941 and 1942 in Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Dachau, the Vatican announced.
According to Vatican News, the priests — Ignacy Antonowicz, Ignacy Dobiasz, Karol Golda, Franciszek Harazim, Ludwik Mroczek, Wlodzimierz Szembek, Kazimierz Wojciechowski, and Franciszek Miska — were executed “out of hatred for the faith.”
“Uninvolved in the political tensions of the time, they were arrested simply because they were Catholic priests,” the Vatican said, adding that “the special fury reserved for the Polish clergy” was evident in their treatment by the Nazis.
In the camps, the priests were mocked, tortured, and either executed or died from brutal conditions.
The pope also recognised Jan Bula and Vaclav Drbola, two diocesan priests from the former Czechoslovakia, as martyrs. They were killed in 1951 and 1952 in Jihlava, after being falsely accused by the Communist regime of involvement in a violent attack on party officials.
Both men were tortured into signing confessions before being executed, Vatican News reported.
Beatification is the second of three steps to sainthood in the Catholic Church, following recognition of a person’s “heroic virtue.” Martyrs may be beatified without a confirmed miracle, though one miracle is required for canonisation — the final step to becoming a saint.
“Their witness remains a sign of faith triumphing over oppression,” the Vatican said.
