Paris: The Catholic Church on Saturday solemnly beatified nearly 200 men and women who laid down their lives for their faith during some of Europe’s darkest chapters, with major ceremonies held in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Cathedral of Jaén in southern Spain. Among them were 50 Catholics killed under the Nazi regime, whose witness of faith was formally recognized by the Church.

In Spain, 124 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War were declared Blessed during a Mass in Jaén presided over by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. These men and women, drawn from the clergy and the laity, were killed between 1936 and 1937 amid intense anti-Catholic violence. Church officials said they were executed solely because of their Christian faith, a conc

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