Student killed in WWII beatified

A SLOVENIAN student who was captured, tortured and killed by communists during World War II was beatified yesterday by Pope Benedict XVI’s state secretary at a Mass attended by thousands.

Lojze Grozde, who died at the age of 20, a high school student, was captured in 1943, when Slovenia was occupied by Italy and Germany. Communist-run antifascist rebels – known as partisans – reportedly found a Latin prayer book in his possession and suspected him of collaborating with Italian fascists. His mutilated body was found a month later in a forest.

Tarcisio Bertone, the secretary of state of the Holy See, declared Grozde a martyr of faith before thousands of faithful at the Celje square.

The church in Slovenia, a target of “violent persecution” in the past, has been the source of “support, power and comfort” for the Slovenians, the state-run news agency STA quoted Bertone as saying.

Slovenia started the beatification process in 1992 and Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints established there is enough evidence for martyrdom due to hostility toward Catholic religion at the time.

The beatification, declared earlier this year by the pope, is based on evidence that Grozde lost his life for faith.

Beatification is a step toward possible sainthood, and should be backed up by proven cases of miracles attributed to the candidate.