Jerzy Popieluszko will be beatified on the 6 June in Warsaw, Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz announced at a special press conference on Monday.

Fr. Popieluszko taught us to fight evil with good, says metropolitan archbishop Kazimierz Nycz.

“We need him as a patron. The people of culture and science need him, so they defend the border between good and evil. The people of politics and public life, the people of work, of the Church and of Poland, young and old, our whole nation needs him. We believe that this patron is an important role model also outside of Poland,” Nycz said.

Father Popieluszko was tortured and brutally murdered 25 years ago by the communist police.

Already at the time of his death in 1984, Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko was considered a martyr for the Christian faith.

“He is the patron of our presence in Europe, for a price of the sacrifice of his life, like Jesus Christ,” said the late Pope John Paul II in 1991 at the site of discovery of Fr. Jerzy's body near the central city of Wloclawek.

Three functionaries were sentenced to prison for the murder of Fr. Popieluszko, but doubt has arisen as to whether they are the real killers. All three have now been freed from prison. Those who commissioned the crime have not yet faced justice.

In 1997, the beatification process of the priest was officially launched in the Catholic Church. On December 19, Pope Benedict XVI signed a decree for the martyrdom of Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko. (jn/mmj)