The Pope has authorized on this December 18, 2025 the promulgation of several decrees from the Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints, among which stands out, due to its special relevance for Spain, the recognition of the martyrdom of eleven Catholics killed in the province of Madrid between 1936 and 1937, during the religious persecution of the Civil War.
According to information from the Holy See, the decree recognizes the martyrdom of the Servant of God Ignacio Aláez Vaquero, a seminarian, and of ten companions, including a priest, several seminarians, and lay faithful, who were killed “out of hatred for the faith” in various points of Madrid’s territory.
Martyrs of the religious persecution in Spain
The official recognition of the martyrdom confirms that these eleven victims were killed exclusively because of their condition as Catholics, an essential criterion in the beatification processes for martyrdom. The cause is framed within the large number of processes opened by the Church to honor those who gave their lives for Christ during the religious persecution of the 20th century in Spain.
The province of Madrid was one of the harshest scenarios of that persecution, in which thousands of priests, religious, and laity were executed without trial for their faith, in a context of systematic ideological violence against the Church.
A decisive step towards beatification
With this decree, the Church officially recognizes that Ignacio Aláez Vaquero and his companions died as authentic martyrs, which allows progress towards their beatification without the need to verify a miracle attributed to their intercession.
The recognition of the martyrdom also constitutes an act of memory and historical justice, by reaffirming that these crimes were not mere episodes of political violence, but a true religious persecution.
Other promulgated decrees
In the same audience granted to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints, the Pope also authorized the promulgation of other decrees, including the recognition of a miracle attributed to the Venerable Enrico Ernesto Shaw, as well as the heroic virtues of several Servants of God from Italy and India.