Poles executed for hiding Jews are declared martyrs by pope

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has formally declared that a Polish couple who were executed by German police during World War II for hiding Jews in their farmhouse are martyrs. The pope’s approval of a decree recognizing the martyrdom came Saturday. A Polish farmer named Jozef Ulma and his wife, Wiktoria, in the town of Markowa hid eight members of the Jewish community who were being hunted down during the German occupation of Poland. An informant apparently betrayed the Jews on Ulma’s farm in 1944. They were murdered along with the Ulmas and their six young children. Recognition of martyrdom would permit the couple to be beatified, the last formal step before possible sainthood.