During the general audience on September 10, Leo XIV received from Krzysztof Tadej, a Polish journalist and director, an album and a film about the Polish Franciscans murdered in Peru, Zbigniew Strzałkowski and Michał Tomaszek. The friars were kidnapped on August 9, 1991, and then shot by Maoist terrorists of the Shining Path in Pariacoto. Recognized by the Church as martyrs, they were beatified in 2015 in Chimbote, just as Father Robert Prevost, then Bishop of Chiclayo, was in Peru.

Tadej was immediately fascinated by the figures of these two martyrs, who were carrying out their mission 11,000 kilometers from their native Poland. They left for Latin America in 1988. The Franciscan order decided to open a new mission in Pariacoto, in the Diocese of Chimbote, in a mountainous and isolated area of ​​Peru at an altitude of 1,200 meters. The three Poles soon arrived in the small Andean village and found themselves faced with a difficult reality: the population lived in extreme poverty, there was no electricity or water, and the church was in a state of disrepair. The parish covered an area as large as a European diocese, with 73 villages, some at an altitude of 4,000 meters. Unfortunately, the Maoist organization Shining Path was very active in the area. The work of evangelization and assisting the population annoyed the communists who sought to make a revolution, as they needed the discontented masses angry with the rulers. In the 1980s and 1990s, Shining Path terrorists caused the deaths or disappearances of some 70,000 people: they were waging a veritable civil war.

The work of evangelization and assisting the population bothered the communists seeking revolution, as they needed the discontented masses angry with the rulers. On the night of August 9, 1991, the Shining Path members arrived at the Pariacoto mission in search of the priests. At that time, only the two friars who are now blessed were there, as the superior had traveled to Poland. Brothers Zbigniew and Michał presented themselves to the terrorists and were immediately put in a van that took them out of the town. Also in the vehicle was a courageous Peruvian nun, Sister Berta, who became a witness to the accusations the executioners leveled at the friars during a grotesque revolutionary trial. It may seem absurd, but they were accused of doing good, and therefore of curbing the people’s anger and slowing down the revolution, of being sent by John Paul II and the CIA, and of proclaiming God. Shortly afterward, near the small village cemetery, they were executed, along with the mayor of Pariacoto, with a shot to the back of the head. The terrorists left a message on Father Strzałkowski’s bloody body: “This is how the servants of imperialism die.”

When the dramatic news of the murder of the Franciscans arrived from Peru, John Paul II was in Krakow for World Youth Day. Commenting on this painful event, the Pope said: “They are the new holy martyrs of Peru.” Twenty-three and a half years after their death, on February 3, 2015, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognized the martyrdom of the Servants of God Zbigniew and Michał, and Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the corresponding decree. Their beatification took place on December 5, 2015, in the Peruvian city of Chimbote, the diocese where the martyrs carried out their mission.

Before the beatification, Tadej decided to prepare a documentary film for Polish TVP about the lives of these two martyrs, entitled  “Life Is Not Wasted.” The documentary took six months to film, both in Peru and Poland. The director visited places associated with these Polish Franciscans, gathering significant photographic and video documentation. The film, presented on the eve of the beatification, was a huge success, even internationally, considering that it was produced in seven languages. Tadej’s film was recognized as best film in the documentary category at the 2016 Mirabile Dictu Festival.

And this very film was presented by the director to Leo XIV during the audience on September 10. For this occasion, Tadej prepared an album with photographs taken in Peru of places and people connected with the history of the Franciscan martyrs, also known as Father Prevost. During the audience, Leo XIV signed the photographs with the relics of Fathers Michał and Zbigniew: one for the martyrs’ shrine being built in Poland, and the other for the director himself.

It is worth mentioning that Krzysztof Tadej is the author of a unique interview with Saint Carlo Acutis’s nanny, Beata Sperczyńska, published exclusively by the Polish Catholic magazine Niedziela and, in Italy, by Famiglia Cristiana. Tadej gave copies of these two magazines to the Pope, who expressed interest in the story of this young Polish woman who for four years cared for little Carlo, now a saint.