Warsaw, Poland, Jun 7, 2010 / 21:06 pm
Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, a Polish priest and martyr who died in 1984, was beatified in Warsaw on June 6 in a ceremony attended by over 100,000 people.
The open air Mass and beatification ceremony was celebrated by 120 bishops and 1,600 priests in Warsaw's Pilsudski Square. Among them were Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow and Cardinal Adam Maida, Archbishop Emeritus of Detroit.
The Polish martyr’s 90-year old mother, Marianna Popieluszko, was also present for his beatification.
In December of 2009, Pope Benedict declared the late Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko a martyr. An advocate for freedom, the priest was known for his “Masses for the Homeland” during the early 1980s, when Poland was severely oppressed by the communist regime and under martial law. Fr. Jerzy was also the chaplain of Lech Walesa’s Solidarity Movement, the first trade union to be acknowledged by the Soviets.