In an unprecedented move, the Vatican on Sunday is beatifying a Polish family of nine — a married couple and their small children — who were executed by the Nazis during World War II for sheltering Jews. Last year, Pope Francis pronounced the deeply Catholic Ulma family, including the child that Wiktoria Ulma was pregnant with, martyrs for the faith, paving the way for the beatification Mass that is taking place in their home village of Markowa, in southeastern Poland. Jozef Ulma, 44, was a farmer, Catholic activist and amateur photographer who documented family and village life.
WARSAW (Reuters) -The Catholic Church beatified on Sunday a Polish family of nine, including a new-born baby, who died at the hands of Nazi Germans during World War Two for sheltering a Jewish family from the Holocaust. The beatification service for Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven children was held in the southeastern Polish town of Markowa where they died in March 1944 at the hands of German military police. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro read a letter from Pope Francis during a mass attended by Poland's president and prime minister, among others.
In an unprecedented move by Pope Francis, the Vatican beatified the Polish Ulma family, who the Nazis executed after they were discovered hiding Jews in their household.
Following his reflection, the Holy Father expressed his ‘closeness to the dear people of Morocco’ and referenced the beatification of the Ulma family, ‘a mode.