Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, celebrated Mass near Auschwitz on August 9, the 80th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein).

The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said that he and the saint shared “Jewish origins, the Catholic faith, a vocation to religious life.”

“My maternal grandmother Anna, my grandfather Hans and my uncles Georg and Carl Robert, were all interned in Terezín [Theresienstadt], where Hans died,” said Cardinal Czerny. “My grandmother and uncles were transported to Auschwitz. From here my uncles were sent to labor camps and eventually murdered there.”