Page "Maximilian Kolbe" Paragraph 21

Kolbe's recognition as a Christian martyr also created some controversy within the Catholic Church, in that, while his ultimate self-sacrifice of his life was most certainly saintly and heroic, he was not killed strictly speaking out of odium Fidei ( i. e., out of hatred for the Faith ), but as a result of an act of Christian charity, which the Servant of God Pope Paul VI himself had recognized at his beatification by naming him a confessor and giving him the unofficial title " martyr of charity ".

However, Blessed Pope John Paul II, when deciding to canonize him, overruled the commission he had established ( which agreed with the earlier assessment of heroic charity ), wishing to make the point that the systematic hatred of ( whole categories of ) humanity propagated by the Nazi regime was in itself inherently an act of hatred of religious ( Christian ) faith, meaning Father Kolbe's death equated to martyrdom.