WARSAW, Poland - A cardinal incarcerated for 18 years after refusing to abandon his church and a bishop thrown in an unmarked grave after starving to death in an "extermination prison" are among seven communist-era martyrs who will be beatified by Pope Francis during his upcoming visit to Romania.

There were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than in all of the previous 19 centuries combined. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and many of their lesser-known totalitarian colleagues put millions of Christians to death for their faith in that terrible hundred-year period.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis applauded the beatification of four Argentine martyrs -- a bishop, two priests and a layman -- who were murdered early in the country's seven-year long "Dirty War."

“The Huron Carol” you may have so enjoyed singing and listening to all these Christmases — well, it’s not the true words of St. Jean de Brébeuf’s you have been led to believe.

VATICAN – The twin canonizations — along with five others — of Pope St. Paul VI and St. Oscar Romero prompted many to look for similarities between the two. But the more suggestive similarity is between “San Romero” — as they call him in El Salvador — and the pope whose 40th anniversary is marked this week.

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

OKARCHE, Okla. – Past the grain elevator and the bar famous for its fried chicken, Oklahoma Highway 3 leads to a century-old church where Father Stanley Francis Rother served as an altar boy.

DENVER, Col. – Star-gazing might not be the first thing that comes to mind when Catholics think of St. Lawrence, the early Christian martyr who was cooked to death by the Romans on an outdoor grill.

ROME, Italy – One year after the brutal killing of Fr. Jacques Hamel, French bishops recalled the beautiful example of the man who lived out every day in simple faithfulness, rooted in the love of Christ.

VATICAN CITY – A commission of Croatian and Serbian experts studying Blessed Alojzije Stepinac's life said they were unable to reach a conclusion on questions regarding the controversial martyr's history.

VATICAN CITY – On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbour.

VILNIUS, Lithuania – A Catholic archbishop who was murdered by Soviet police to prevent him attending the Second Vatican Council became the first communist-era martyr beatified in Lithuania.

ROUEN, France – The Archdiocese of Rouen has opened a formal inquiry into the cause for beatification of Father Jacques Hamel, who was killed while celebrating Mass in July 2016.

WASHINGTON – The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City announced that one its native sons, Father Stanley Rother, a North American priest who worked in Guatemala and was brutally murdered there in 1981, will be beatified Sept. 23 in Oklahoma.

TOKYO, Japan – A 17th century Catholic Samurai and martyr was beatified during a Mass in ‎Osaka, Japan on Tuesday.