Pope Francis will beatify seven 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 Catholic News Agency (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”.

Bishops Valeriu Traian Frentiu, Vasile Aftenie, Ioan Suciu, Tito Livio Chinezu, Ioan Balan, Alexandru Rusu, and Iuliu Hossu were declared in March to have been killed “in hatred of the faith” between 1950 and 1970, during the Soviet occupation of Romania and the rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu.

Their beatification will take place June 2 during a celebration of Divine Liturgy, presided over by Pope Francis in Blaj in the Transylvania region of Romania.

Man said it is very significant for Romanian Catholics that the beatification will be proclaimed by Pope Francis instead of a papal delegate, as is ordinary practice for beatifications.

It is an honor, he said, and, moreover, a sign of the Holy See’s recognition of the more than 40 years the laity, priests, and bishops of the Greek-Catholic Church in Romania spent underground while imprisoned, persecuted, and outlawed by the communist regime.

Each of these bishops was arrested and held in prisons and camps until they died, often from isolation, cold, hunger, disease, or hard manual labor. Most were never tried or convicted and were buried in unmarked graves, without religious services.

A year before his death, Bishop Iuliu Hossu was named a cardinal “in pectore”. After spending years in isolation, he died in a hospital in Bucharest in 1970. His last words were: “My struggle is over, yours continues”.

In addition to imprisonment and isolation, Bishop Vasile Aftenie was tortured at the Interior Ministry, later dying from his wounds May 10, 1950.

“This is not of small importance” for the Catholic Church in Romania, Man said. “We hope that with the visit of the Holy Father and with their beatification, [their example] can reinvigorate the faith of the people”.

Source: Catholic News Agency