Auschwitz survivor, midwives meet with Pontiff (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))

In brief

Pope Leo XIV met with an Auschwitz survivor, 70 midwives, and Bishop Krzysztof Nykiel following his general audience on September 16. The group traveled to Rome to honor the 130th anniversary of the birth of Stanisława Leszczyńska, a Polish midwife and Servant of God.

Ewa Machaj-Antosiewicz, who was born in the Auschwitz concentration camp on December 20, 1944, attended the meeting to recognize Leszczyńska. During her imprisonment at the camp, Leszczyńska assisted approximately 3,000 women with childbirth. Bishop Nykiel, who serves as the regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary and the postulator for Leszczyńska’s canonization cause, stated the pilgrimage serves to thank God for her life and her work in saving infants. He noted that Leszczyńska refused orders from Nazi doctor Josef Mengele to kill newborns in the camp, responding that a baby cannot be killed.