(ANS – Vatican City) – At the end of his first Angelus following his Apostolic Journey to Spain, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to some of the newly beatified, including Fr Jan Świerc and his eight Salesian martyr companions. “I would like to remember some newly beatified saints,” said the Pontiff after the Angelus, “diocesan priests Wenceslaus Drbola and John Bula, from Moravia; and John Świerc and eight companions, Polish Salesian priests. All were beatified as martyrs, as victims of persecution by totalitarian regimes because of their fidelity to Christ.” The nine Polish Salesian martyrs were beatified on 6 June 2026 at the Shrine of St John Paul II in Krakow. Presiding over the celebration, on behalf of the Pope, was Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, who described them as “a true seed of peace and fraternity in such a dark and violent age”.