The path to sainthood of Jerzy Popiełuszko – a priest murdered by communist secret police officers – has reportedly been delayed after a miracle attributed to him could not be proven.
Popiełuszko, who was prominently associated with the Solidarity movement that helped bring down Poland’s communist regime, was murdered in 1984 by agents of the security services. He was later recognised as a martyr by the Roman Catholic church and in 2010 beatified – a step on the path to sainthood.
Today is the 35th anniversary of the brutal murder of Solidarity priest Jerzy Popiełuszko by communist security agents. His services had regularly gathered both religious and non-religious members of the democratic opposition. He was severely beaten, then drowned by three agents. pic.twitter.com/7oSFA08F2q
— Stanley Bill (@StanleySBill) October 19, 2019
However, to be recognised as a saint, a candidate must have a posthumous miracle attituded to them and confirmed by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
In Popiełuszko’s case, it was claimed that a 56-year-old Frenchman, François Audelan, was miraculously healed of leukaemia in 2012 after a priest proposed that his wife entrust Audelan’s life and health to Popiełuszko.
The next day, the priest received news that Audelan had recovered, and in 2014 it was confirmed that his cancer had gone into complete remission. The following year, the case was submitted to the Vatican as evidence of a miracle attributed to Popiełuszko.
Bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko was the unofficial chaplain of the Solidarność (Solidarity) movement of workers.
He was brutally beaten to death by the Communist police in Poland.
There’s a miracle currently attributed to him under investigation & if approved may lead to canonization! https://t.co/1VC2HcGGoQ— Emily In Christmastide (@EmilyKath319) October 19, 2021
However, Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reports today that the Vatican has decided not to recognise the event as a miracle. The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints sought the opinion of two teams of doctors, both of which concluded that Audelan’s recovery was medically possible.
That means that efforts to prove a miracle attituded to Popiełuszko must begin again, notes the newspaper. A centre in Warsaw that researches the late priest’s life has been gathering possible examples.
“All I can say is that many miracles are taken into account,” said Józef Naumowicz, a priest who was a member of the tribunal that investigated Audelan’s recovery, reports Rzeczpospolita.
🔴 TYLKO U NAS: Proces kanonizacji księdza Popiełuszki wyhamował. Brakuje cudu.https://t.co/E4GPWmFizH pic.twitter.com/hCHzRqXeXO
— Rzeczpospolita (@rzeczpospolita) January 23, 2023
In 2021, Stefan Wyszyński – a Polish Catholic cardinal who was imprisoned by the communist authorities from 1953 to 1956 – was beatified at a ceremony in Warsaw attended by Poland’s current president and prime minister.
Popiełuszko was ordained as a priest by Wyszyński and always saw him as an example to follow, notes Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN). He became a prominent supporter of Solidarity during the period of martial law from 1981 to 1983.
As a result of his activities, Popiełuszko was surveilled and increasingly intimidated by the security services, including being interrogated repeatedly and defamed in communist propaganda.
On 19 October 1984, while returning to Warsaw from a mass in Bydgoszcz, he was abducted, beaten and then killed by three secret police officers. They stood trial in December the same year, and in 1985 were found guilty of murder and given prison sentences.
Popiełuszko’s funeral in Warsaw was attended by hundreds of thousands of mourners – including Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa – and became a huge show of opposition to the communist regime.
Mourners at Jerzy Popiełuszko’s funeral in Warsaw, 1984 (Jarek Tuszyński/Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY-SA 3.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
