DISCOVER THE CATHOLIC DIFFERENCE

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Wiktoria Ulma poses for a picture with one of their children. Józef and Wiktoria

Ulma secretly gave shelter to eight Jews for almost two years in German-occupied Poland. The Ulmas are on the path to beatification with the Vatican declaring them martyrs Dec. 17, 2022.

He added that “after a short discussion among themselves,” the Nazi officers decided to shoot the children too. The Vatican confirmed the martyrdom of the Ulma family, including their unborn child, on Dec. 17, 2022, clearing the way for all nine members of the Ulma family to be beatified. For the first time in history, an unborn child is on the path to sainthood. Their family life was documented in a number of photographs taken by Józef.

At the time of their death in 1944, the oldest, Stasia (Stanislawa) was 8; Barbara, 7; Wladyslaw, 6; Franciszek, 4; Antoni, 3; and Maria, under 2.

In 2016, the Museum of the Ulma Family, dedicated to the Poles who hid and protected Jews during the Nazi occupation, was opened in Markowa. Józef’s pictures are one of the most valuable parts of the exhibition.

“The remarkable family memorabilia is the Bible, opened to the parable of the good Samaritan,” Szpytma told OSV News. The museum also keeps Stasia’s blood-stained school notebook. Szpytma was a founder of the museum and is himself a descendent of the Ulma family. He also was the one that discovered their story for the world.

“It was an obligation I had as a historian and as a family member – my grandmother was Wiktoria’s sister,” he said. In 1995, Israel gave the Ulmas the title of Righteous Among Nations, an honorific used by Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews. Their sainthood cause was begun in 2003. In the case of martyrs, the typical requirement of a miracle prior to beatification is waived, though one is required for canonization. Regarding their recognition as martyrs, “There was a question about the child not being baptized but the notion throughout the process was that the little one was baptized not by water, but by blood,” Szpytma told OSV News.

Sources in the village confirmed to historians that Wiktoria started to give birth to the seventh child upon her death. Poland was the only country in occupied Europe during the Second World War where the death penalty was imposed on anyone that decided to give shelter or in any way help Jews survive.

“It’s important next generations remember about the Ulma family sacrifice, about Jews killed with them, so that we never forget that they all died because of lack of love in the hearts of the murderers, ” Urszula Niemczak said.

Yet, according to the U.S. State Department country report, for Africa “regional stability and security is dependent on durable peace” in Congo, “the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa,” one bordering nine other nations and home to diamonds and vast mineral reserves. It also has the largest Catholic population in Africa and has the sixth most Catholics of any nation after Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, the United States and Italy.

Tens of thousands of people lined the streets from the airport to the city center, cheering as the pope passed by in the popemobile.

Speaking to several hundred leaders in the garden of the Palais de la Nation, his official residence, President Tshisekedi told the pope that the welcome and harmony that had characterized Congo for centuries has, in the past 30 years, “been undermined by the enemies of peace as well as terrorist groups, mainly from neighboring countries.”

“Indeed,” he told the pope, with “the inaction and silence of the international community, more than 10 million people have had been their lives taken from them atrociously. Innocent women, even pregnant ones, are raped and disemboweled, young people and children have their throats slit, families, the elderly and children are condemned to brave fatigue and exhaustion, wandering far from their homes in search of peace because of the atrocities committed by these terrorists in the service of foreign interests,” who want to exploit the countries natural resources.

Pope Francis, responding to the president, added that Congo is suffering from a “forgotten genocide,” one the world must recognize. Returning to his prepared text, the pope chose diamonds as the key image in his first speech in Congo, insisting that “you, all of you, are infinitely more precious than any treasure found in this fruitful soil!” with blood.”

In a speech frequently interrupted by applause and shouts of “Amen,” the pope urged the Congolese people to demand the respect they deserve; he pleaded with the country’s political leaders to put the common good ahead of greed and a lust for power; and he begged the international community to help Congo, not plunder it.

The developed world, he said, “often closes its eyes, ears and mouth” to the tragedy occurring in Congo while greedily buying up coltan, a mineral used in mobile phones, and other natural resources from the country.

“Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Hands off Africa,” Pope Francis insisted to applause and the stopping of feet. “Stop choking Africa: it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered.”

At the same, the pope did not let the Congolese off the hook, especially those who promote members of their own ethnic group or political party to the detriment of their neighbors, “thus nurturing spirals of hatred and violence.”

“From a chemical standpoint, it is interesting that diamonds are made up of simple atoms of carbon which, if differently bonded, form graphite: in effect, the difference between the brilliance of the diamond and the darkness of graphite comes from the way the individual atoms are arranged,” he said.

Different ethnic groups or cultural traditions do not create tension automatically, but it depends on people and the way they choose to live together, the pope said.

“Their willingness or not to encounter one another, to be reconciled and to start anew makes the difference between the grimness of conflict and a radiant future of peace and prosperity.”

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has chosen Chicago-born Archbishop Robert F. Prevost of Chiclayo, Peru, to succeed Canadian Cardinal Ouellet as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The Vatican announced Jan. 30 the retirement of Cardinal Ouellet and the appointment of Archbishop Prevost. The archbishop, who is 67, holds degrees from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. An Augustinian friar, he joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985 and largely worked in the country until in 1999 when he was elected head of the Augustinians Chicago-based province. From 2001 to 2013, he served as prior general of the worldwide order. In 2014, Pope Francis named him bishop of Chiclayo, in northern Peru. As prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Archbishop Prevost will lead the Vatican body responsible for recommending to the pope candidates to fill the office of bishop in many of the Latin-rite dioceses of the world. Recommendations made by the dicastery are typically approved by the pope. Archbishop Prevost has been a member of the dicastery since November 2020.

Pope Francis condemns ‘spiral of death’ in the Holy Land

VATICAN CITY — The “spiral of death” that has materialized in the Holy Land in recent days threatens the little remaining trust that exists between Israelis and Palestinians, Pope

Pope clarifies remarks about homosexuality and sin

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis reaffirmed that homosexuality is not a crime, and that any sexual act outside of marriage is a sin, in a written response to a request for clarification about his remarks during a recent interview with the Associated Press.

In an interview with the agency televised and published in Spanish Jan. 25, the pope had said “being homosexual is not a crime. It is not a crime.” He defined as “unjust” laws that criminalize homosexuality or homosexual activity and urged Church members, including bishops, to show “tenderness” as God does with each of His children.

In the interview the pope said, “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity. Being homosexual is not a crime. It is not a crime.”

Then, he voiced an objection to that statement, followed by how he would respond to that objection, saying, “’Yes, but it is a sin.’ Fine, but first let us distinguish between a sin and a crime.”

Asked by U.S. Jesuit Father James Martin, editor of Outreach.faith, for a clarification, Pope Francis said: “When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin. Of course, one must also consider the circumstances, which may decrease or eliminate fault.”

— OSV News

Planned Giving Officer

The Diocesan Office of Development has an opening for a full-time Planned Giving Officer. This position is responsible for securing planned gifts to support ministries of the Diocese of Charlotte, cultivate relationships with current and new Catholic Heritage Society members, and increase endowment gifts to the Foundation Diocese of Charlotte that support the Diocese of Charlotte. Must be willing to travel within the Diocese of Charlotte.

Knowledge and Experience:

• BA/BS degree required

• 3 to 5 years of demonstrated experience in professional fund development; 3 years planned giving experience preferred

• Excellent relationship building skills: ability to work effectively with parishioners, prospects, and parish leaders

• Proficient in MS Office

• Excellent organizational and attention to detail skills

• Self-starter with the ability to work independently

• Experience in Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge/NXT and WealthEngine preferred

Please submit letter of interest and resume to:

Gina Rhodes, Office of Development gmrhodes@rcdoc.org or mail to:

1123 South Church Street, Charlotte, Nc 28203 e Diocese of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer