Nun shot for sheltering Jews to be beatified

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Budapest (dpa) - A nun who was shot by Hungarian Nazis for sheltering Jews will officially be beatified later this year, Bishop Andras Veres, the secretary of the Catholic Bishop's Conference, announced on Thursday.

Pope Benedict XVI signed a decree recognizing Sara Salkahazi's martyrdom in April and she is expected to be beatified on September 17 at Saint Stephen's Basilica in Budapest.

The nun, who was a member of the Sisters of Social Service and a writer and cultural activist, helped to hide hundreds of Jews in a convent during the final days of World War II.

However, the Arrow Cross Party discovered the hiding Jews, and shot them and the nun on the banks of the Danube River in December 1944.

Beatification is the first step towards sainthood.