Pope Francis Beatilizes the Ukrainian Victim of the Soviet Regime

Pope Francisco approved a decree recognizing the “martyr’s death” of the Ukrainian religious Pietro Paolo Oroskilled in 1953 in the then Soviet Union, who will be beatified, said this Friday Vatican this is a statement.

By decree signed by the pontiff, the priest is considered a “martyr” of the Catholic Church, killed for his faith.

According to the rules, when declaring a “martyr”, the next step is beatification, since it is not necessary to prove that he stood up for a miracle.

Pietro Paolo Orosa priest of the Mukachevo diocese (spiritual district) in Ukraine, was born on July 14, 1917 in the city of Biri (Hungary) into a deeply Christian family, in which his father was a Greek Catholic priest.

From 1948 pressure increased on him to become part of the Russian Orthodox Church, but he opposed this. In 1949, he was banned from pastoral activity and all Greek Catholic churches were closed.

In 1953, he was arrested and killed by a policeman at the railway station in the city of Silz, in Soviet Union.

Declared a “martyr”

Immediately considered a martyr, his body remained hidden until the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to a biography posted on the website. digital religion.

francisco also endorsed the “heroic virtues”, a first step towards continuing the beatification process for a Colombian priest. Jesus Antonio Gomez Gomez and from spanish Juan Sanchez Hernandez.

Colombian, born March 26, 1895 in the town of El Santuario, died March 23, 1971 in Medellin (Colombia).

The Pope also recognized “heroic virtues” John Sanchez Hernandez, (1902-1975) Priest of the Congregation of Priests of the Diocesan Workers of the Heart of Jesus, who was between 1938 and 1943 the spiritual director of the Pontifical Spanish College of San José in Rome, whose life “is characterized by the pursuit of holiness, which he sought for himself and for the souls entrusted to him “. (AFP)