Pope recognizes martyrdom of Polish Salesian, Czech priests

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV formally recognized the martyrdom of nine Polish Salesian priests killed by the Nazis at Auschwitz and Dachau and the martyrdom of two Czech priests executed by the communists in the 1950s.

The pope signed the decrees of martyrdom Oct. 24, clearing the way for the beatification of the 11 priests.

The Polish Salesian case is known as the cause of "Jan Swierc and eight companions." Father Swierc and seven others died in the Auschwitz camp in 1941-42 while Salesian Father Franciszek Miska was interned in the Dachau concentration camp and died through malnourishment and torture May 30, 1942.

Father Swierc, rector of the Salesian parish in Krakow, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1941, taken to prison and then transferred to Auschwitz. According to the Salesians, just a month after his arrest he "was cruelly tortured and killed by a German soldier because he was a priest, and because he would not cease calling on the name of Jesus."

Another member of the group, Salesian Father Karol Golda "was condemned to death for hearing the confessions of German soldiers" working at Auschwitz. He was executed May 14, 1942.

The Czech priests recognized as martyrs are Fathers Jan Bula and Václav Drbola, priests of the Diocese of Brno, who were among 11 people executed after a series of show trials in communist Czechoslovakia in 1951-1952 after the murder of three communist officials in the town of Babice.

Both priests had been arrested before the murder of the communist officials and were in jail at the time.

With the end of communism and the opening of archives, "the documents relating to the arrest of the two priests clearly highlight the falsity of the evidence deliberately fabricated by the State Police for the purpose of eliminating them," said the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

"Deceived and imprisoned as a result of a trap set by false witnesses, they were subjected to violence and torture that led to a distortion of events and to the forced signing of false confessions of guilt," the dicastery said. "Victims of sham trials, they were sentenced to death and executed."