LINZ, Austria, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- An Austrian farmer who was killed by Nazis after refusing to join their ranks was beatified by a Vatican cardinal in his native land this week.
By allowing Franz Jagerstatter to be beatified, the Catholic Church has placed the late farmer on the path towards sainthood based on his brave decision to oppose the Nazi Party in 1943, The Independent said Saturday.
Jagerstatter had been conscripted into the German army in 1940, but refused to serve when he was called into active duty in 1943.
The farmer's opposition came as most Austrian Catholics were supporting Germany's military efforts, rationalizing them as a means to defeat godless communism.
But Jagerstatter opposed such a view, saying that the Nazis were equally godless and were unjustly attacking neighboring countries in a quest for dominance.
"What Catholic can dare to say these raids which Germany has carried out in several countries constitute a just and holy war?" Jagerstatter said at the time.
The British newspaper said that Jagerstatter, whose beatification took place Friday in the Austrian city of Linz, was executed in 1943 for those outspoken beliefs.
