Polish martyrs beatified in Peru

"Some 20,000 people are expected to attend today’s beatification ceremony in the town of Chimbote of three Peruvian Martyrs, two Polish Franciscan friars and an Italian priest killed by guerillas in 1991....

Michał Tomaszek, Zbigniew Strzałkowski and Alessandro Dordi were killed by the guerrillas of Shining Path, Peru’s Maoist insurgency. They were targeted because of their pastoral work among the inhabitants of the Andes and the assistance they granted to those in need. In August 1991, the guerrillas escalated their violence against the Roman Catholic Church and announced that they would kill a priest every week in the Diocese of Chimbote. The first priest they picked out luckily escaped execution. On 9 August, they abducted two Polish friars from the church at the end of the evening's Eucharistic celebration. After a brief show trial, they were led out of the village and killed near the cemetery, along with the local mayor. On 25 August, they ambushed the car in which Father Alessandro Dordi was travelling to a church and executed him after he got out of the vehicle."

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