Pope martyrs Austrian beheaded by Nazis (What???)

[MaineDem]

Is this the weirdest headline you've ever read? Sounds to me like the Pope killed the guy.

VATICAN CITY --Pope Benedict XVI approved recognition of martyrdom for an Austrian who was beheaded by the Nazis for refusing to serve in Hitler's army, a step toward possible sainthood.

Ten years ago, a Berlin court posthumously exonerated Franz Jaegerstaetter, who was drafted after Germany annexed his native Austria, for refusing to serve in the Nazi army. His request to be excused from regular army service had been denied, and he was ordered executed for treason.

Jaegerstaetter had been the only person in his village to vote against the creation of a so-called "Greater Germany" shortly after Austria was annexed in 1938. He was beheaded in 1943.

Benedict also approved martyrdom Friday for 188 Japanese who were decapitated, burned at the stake or scalded to death in volcanic hot springs in the early 1700s. Among them was a Jesuit priest, Peter Kibe, a convert to Christianity whose work as a missionary was opposed by authorities.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/06/02/pope_martyrs_austrian_beheaded_by_nazis/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

[Canuckistanian]

1. So what makes Jaegerstaetter so special?

The Nazis killed tens of thousands for resistance.

Why single out this one? How does he qualify as a saint?

[Bucky]

2. He was probably a Catholic and said some Christian antiwar stuff in refusing to fight

To be a martyr, you can't just be a murder victim. You have to actually die for the faith. If you're preaching in the street and you get hit by a bus, you're not a martyr. There has to be intentional oppression by anti-Christians. There's a lot of applicants with groups behind them gunning for sainthood or martyrdom. A lot of it has to do with who the candidate's sponsors are and how much access they have to influential Vatican leaders. For the record, the Church doesn't make someone a saint or martyr; they only officially recognize their status.

[Canuckistanian]

7. Thanks for the explanation

The article lacked any kind of detail.

[MrPrax]

3. So this Pope will be the same

as the last one...handing out 'Sainthood' like little 'points of light'.

"...Is Pope John Paul II becoming the Mark McGwire of the Vatican's saint-making machine?
News reports of today's pontifical beatification in Rome of "Pardre Pio, a Capuchin friar and mystic who died in 1968, refer to a "saint factory," and show John Paul at the top of the "Saint-O-Meter" for his sheer number of candidates for holiness. Indeed, the current pope has canonized 283 saints since his election in 1978, almost surpassing the record of all previous popes in the past 407 years when official Vatican records were started. Assuming that the aging pontiff survives and continues his frantic pace of declaring persons to the sainthood, "John Paul II will enter 2000 as the most prolific saint-maker in history," notes Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper. Atheists.org

[devilgrrl]

4. Did the young pope help hold him down while he was being beheaded?

It wouldn't suprise me.

[MaineDem]

5. My comment concerned the headline, not the actual article

Doesn't anyone else think the headline is poorly written?

I'm sorry, I didn't intend this to be a condemnation of the Pope.

[fudge stripe cookays]

6. Sounds like Jaegerstetter...

could have taught Kurt Waldheim a thing or two about being a decent human being.