Pope Francis has announced his recognition of the martyrdom of Fr. Juan Elias Medina and 126 priests, religious and lay men and women from the Archdiocese of Cordoba, who were all executed because of their faith between 1936 and 1939, during the Spanish civil war.
Declared martyrs, they will now be beatified.
Details of the decrees were published on Tuesday following a meeting with Cardinal-designate Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, according to The Vatican.
The pope also recognised the heroic virtues of Spanish Fr. Andres Manjon, who founded the schools of Ave Maria in Granada. He was born in 1846 and died in 1923.
