Pope authorises beatification of 20 Spanish martyrs
Pope Leo XIV approved beatification of 20 priests martyred on Ibiza and Formentera during the Spanish Civil War. The decree also recognized heroic virtues of five Servants of God, now declared Venerable, including figures from Spain, Belgium, Italy, and the United States. The 20 martyrs, led by Juan Torres Torres, were killed between August and September 1936 amid anti‑religious persecution that sought to eradicate Catholic identity on the islands. The decision was made during an audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
3 months ago
Pope Leo XIV has authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to issue decrees that recognize the martyrdom of twenty diocesan priests from the Balearic islands of Ibiza and Formentera, killed in hatred of the faith during the Spanish Civil War, and to declare five Servants of God venerable for their heroic virtues 1 2.
The decree confirms that Juan Torres Torres and nineteen companions were murdered between August and September 1936, a period of intense anti‑religious persecution that threatened the Catholic identity of the islands 1.
Juan Torres Torres, aged 25, was the youngest and the first to be slain; the oldest, José Tur Bennassar (born 1859), died at Ibiza Castle on 13 September 1936, the date now celebrated as the feast of these martyrs 2.
The diocesan phase of their cause began in 2008, was validated in January 2017, and the “positio” was approved by historical consultants in 2025 before theological review in 2026 2.
In the same audience, Pope Leo XIV recognized the heroic virtues of five individuals, declaring them venerable:
The Spanish Civil War (1936‑1939) was marked by widespread violence against clergy and religious institutions, especially in the Balearic islands where public worship had already been restricted for safety 1.
The recognition of these martyrs and venerables underscores Pope Leo XIV’s commitment to honoring those who suffered for the faith and to promoting models of missionary zeal, charity, and prayer for the universal Church 2.*
Investigate the Church’s criteria for martyrdom during civil conflict
During civil conflict, the Church does not define “martyrdom” chiefly by the setting (war, revolt, insurgency), but by the interior motive of the victim and the motive (“hatred of the faith”) of the persecutor, together with the witness-like acceptance of death. The criteria used in the Church’s discernment are therefore the same everywhere, but the evidence can be harder to interpret when killings are mixed with political or social motives.
The Catechism presents martyrdom as the supreme witness of the faith: it is “bearing witness even unto death,” where the martyr witnesses to Christ who died and rose, “united by charity,” and “endures death through an act of fortitude.”
This definition is not just descriptive; it points to elements that must be present:
In 2024, Pope Francis explained that, in the causes of saints, the Church’s “common feeling has defined three fundamental elements of martyrdom” (and that they “always remain valid”):
These elements matter especially in civil conflict because perpetrators may claim political reasons; the Church still looks for the deeper religious motive tied to the faith or to virtue connected with the faith.
For martyrdom to be true martyrdom in the Church’s perennial theological and juridical doctrine, the Church insists on the presence of odium fidei—hatred of the faith—as a decisive element.
Pope Benedict XVI emphasized that it is necessary to obtain “irrefutable proof of readiness for martyrdom,” including proof of the “outpouring of blood and of its acceptance by the victim,” and then—“directly or indirectly… in a morally certain way”—to ascertain the “odium Fidei” of the persecutor. He also stated: if this element is lacking there would be no true martyrdom.
He also noted a key difficulty in the modern world: persecutors may “simulate different reasons, for example, of a political or social nature.” In that situation, discernment must determine whether the underlying cause was truly hatred of the faith or something connected to it.
Martyrdom requires more than being killed during a conflict. The Church looks for a conscious willingness to remain faithful rather than deny Christ.
Pope Francis describes the victim’s element as:
And Pope Benedict XVI stresses the need to show the victim’s readiness for martyrdom and acceptance of death.
So, in civil conflicts, the Church examines whether the death was the result of a “Christian witness” (or at least refusal to deny Christ) rather than merely collateral victimhood.
A further criterion is how the victim lived and died. Pope Francis states that the martyr assumes “an unexpected attitude of charity, patience, meekness,” in imitation of Jesus crucified.
That does not require a sentimental temperament; rather, it indicates that the victim’s death is interpreted as a discipleship act—a witness connected to Christ—rather than an act without faith-related meaning.
Civil conflicts sometimes involve catechumens or unbaptized Christians. The Church’s teaching on this point is clear:
The Catechism states that the Church has “always held the firm conviction” that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are “baptized by their death for and with Christ,” calling it “Baptism of blood.”
Thus, for martyrdom discernment, lack of sacramental baptism does not automatically exclude martyrdom if the other essential elements are present.
Civil conflicts often produce partial information, competing narratives, or propaganda. The Church’s criteria therefore include an approach to evidence.
Pope Francis, citing Pius XII, explained that in martyrdom studies “sometimes moral certainty results only from a quantity of clues and proofs which, taken individually, are not worth founding a true certainty,” but when taken together “leave no reasonable doubt in the mind of a man of sound judgement.”
In other words: the Church does not require that a single document “prove everything,” but it does require a morally certain synthesis when determining the presence of:
When conflict is “civil,” the same facts can be interpreted in multiple ways (identity politics, factional revenge, criminality, or ideological war). The Church’s criteria respond to this complexity in three ways:
Do not replace odium fidei with political explanations.
Benedict XVI explicitly warned that persecutors may “simulate” political/social reasons; the cause still requires establishing hatred of the faith in a morally certain way.
Interpret the death through the lens of faith-witness, not merely danger.
Pope Francis emphasized that what can differ by historical context is “not the concept of martyrdom, but the concrete ways… it occurs.”
Civil conflict changes the “concrete ways” (where, how, who holds power), not the theological concept.
Use a synthesis of evidence to reach moral certainty.
Pius XII (as cited by Francis) provides the methodological standard for evidence: many clues, taken together, can yield moral certainty even if each clue alone would be insufficient.
While the specific procedural steps of a cause are governed by canon law and the norms for saint causes (not fully included in the provided excerpts), the evidence requirements highlighted by the Church’s own magisterial teaching include:
In civil conflict, the Church’s criteria for martyrdom remain fundamentally theological: martyrdom is a death that functions as supreme witness to the faith, motivated in the persecutor by odium fidei, and accepted by the victim as refusal to deny Christ—lived in charity, patience, and fortitude.
The distinguishing work of discernment in wartime conditions is therefore not whether violence exists, but whether the Church can reach moral certainty, from a synthesis of clues, that the killing was truly “against the faith” and that the victim died as a faithful witness rather than as a mere casualty.