Beatification and pending canonization of Jerzy Popiełuszko

On 6 June 2010, 25 years after the death of a 37-year old Polish Catholic priest Jerzy Popiełuszko, Father Jerzy was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI requested by archbishop Angelo Amato. However, few years later in 2014, his canonization was delayed, causing it to be pending.

On 19 October 1984, Father Jerzy was kidnapped, then beaten to death by Security Service agents, including Grzegorz Piotrowski, Leszek Pękala and Waldemar Chmielewski. Following the incident, some 800,000 people attended his funeral and his grave at St. Stanisław Kostka Church.^[5]

Pope John Paul II set the process of Father Jerzy's beatification in 1997, then it was also declared by Pope Benedict XVI that Father Jerzy was a martyr.^[5][6]

The beatification ceremony process of Father Jerzy began in Warsaw's Piłsudski Square as it had amassed over 100,000 and was celebrated by 120 bishops and 1,600 priests, including cardinals William Levada, Stanislaw Dziwisz and Adam Maida.^[6]

In addition to cardinals present in the ceremony, 90-year-old Marianna Popiełuszko, mother of Father Jerzy, was also present for his beatification, prompting to tell the reporters that she felt "tears of joy".^[6][7]

58-year-old Anna Zwierzynski also told Agence France-Presse that Father Jerzy is a hero that he knew the risk to his life, but he did not fear death and refused to be silent.^[8]

The Roman Catholic Church started the process of his beatification with the declaration of nihil obstat (nothing against) on 15 March 1996 and held a diocesan process from 8 February 1997 to 8 February 2001. This conferred upon him the title of Servant of God. In 2008 the positio was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and on 19 December 2009 it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI had approved the decree for the beatification of Father Jerzy.^[9]

Poland Post issued a set of stamps on that same day to mark the beatification.^[10]

Before canonization, Frenchmen Francis (François) Audelan became ill back in 2001. Feeling ill, Audelan was diagnosed with a cancer called chronic myeloid leukemia, resulting that Audelan would not likely to recover, although he was treated by the "best hematologists and world-renowned professors." Responding to the fact that Audelan had leukemia, his wife chose a coffin for her husband and planned funeral arrangements^[11] Audelan, who had three daughters, was then 56 years old when he suffered from leukemia for 11 years, which therefore neither chemotherapy nor a bone marrow transplant helped to cure it. Therefore, Audelan's health started to rapidly deteriorate and had a severe difficulty in walking in November 2011, causing him to be admitted to the Albert Chenevier Hospital in Créteil, France.^[12]

In October 2013, Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz – the Archbishop of Warsaw, the diocese where Father Jerzy was killed – announced that a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Polish priest has been identified and confirmed in France. Cardinal Nycz predicted that Father Jerzy will likely be canonized soon, based on the credibility of the case presented.^[13]

After beatification, a miracle was investigated in a diocesan process in Thiais, France from 20 September 2014 until 14 September 2015 and the results of that investigation turned over to the Vatican for assessment. On 14 September 2014 (Father Jerzy's posthumous 67th birthday), 66-year-old Father Bernard Brien stood by the beside Audelan, who was suffering from leukemia, a 58-year-old Frenchman, in Créteil hospital near Paris, France, which doctors did not give the latter a chance to live.^[14][15] However, a miracle happened as it was attributed to the intercession of Father Jerzy as the leukaemia went into remission. Therefore, the canonization of Father Jerzy would begin on Saturday, 20 September, in where the hospital took place. Beginning the canonization, the Tribunal members, including the priests from Poland–Father Józef Grzywaczewski and Father Józef Naumowicz–were formally admitted to the process. Gathered during the process, the original and two copies of 500-page documentation gathered was also presented. Regarding the document, it was sent to the Vatican's Congregation for the Cause of Saints by the Ordinary of the Diocese of Créteil.^[16][17]

Although the canonization took place Saturday that year, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported that the Vatican City had decided that the curing of leukemia was not a miracle event, so the efforts and proof of miracle "must begin again."^[18] After attempted canonization, Audelan died in November 2017 at 62. ^[16]