Abstract

Helmut Moll:
Eucharist and Martyrdom according to Pope Benedict XVI in the Mirror of Blood Witnesses of the Nazi Era
(FKTh 2023-1, p. 12–22)

Joseph Ratzinger, as a cardinal and as Pope Benedict XVI, points out the importance of martyrdom as a lived witness to the Eucharist as a sacrificial offering of life. Martyrdom is the real fulfillment of the Eucharist. This theological connection is confirmed in the view of the blood witnesses at the time of National Socialism who are presented in the German Martyrology of the 20th century (St. Edith Stein, Fr. Alfons Maria Wachsmann, Fr. Friedrich Lorenz OMI, Matthias Kaiser, Fr. Alfred Delp SJ, Fr. Karl Leisner).