With the pope's endorsement, the famous 16th-century Italian Jesuit missionary to China is now on the path to sainthood.

Last December the Vatican announced that Francis had the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints, to promulgate a decree recognising Ricci's "heroic virtues".

For the pope to declare him blessed (the next step on the path to sainthood), the person presenting his cause for canonisation (ie the postulator) will need to provide evidence of a miracle through Ricci's intervention.

By Vatican convention, a second miracle will be needed for him to be declared a saint.

A brief bio

Matteo Ricci, a professed priest of the Society of Jesus - and a known inspiration to Pope Francis - was born in Italy in 1552. He died in Peking [now Beijing], China, in 1610.

Last May, Francis described Ricci as a "champion" of the "culture of dialogue".

The Vatican's announcement of Ricci's advancement towards sainthood is important for the Catholic Church in China and its 12 million members.

There, the Jesuit missionary is famed not only for his actions and his writings, but for being "a man of encounters, who went beyond being a foreigner and became a citizen of the world".

Ricci began his missionary work in 1582 in Macau, then a Portuguese colony. He then moved to mainland China, adopting the Chinese lifestyle and language. He died in China 27 years later.

He made history in 1601 as the first European to enter China's Forbidden City in Peking. When he died, he became the first Westerner to be buried in Imperial Ground in the capital city by a special decree of the Emperor.

Known as "​​Li Madou" to the Chinese, Ricci provided the Emperor with scholarly works in optics, astronomy, music, geography, geometry and numerous other fields.

He subsequently converted several prominent Chinese officials to Christianity, including one whose cause for sainthood is also under consideration. Ricci also cooperated Chinese scholars in translating classics like Euclid's Elements into Chinese and translating important Confucian texts into Latin.

Still important to China

The Chinese recognise Ricci as a bridge builder between the East and the West. They commemorated him in the Millenium Monument in Beijing. The only other Westerner so honoured is Marco Polo.

Source

• America Magazine

This could be simply a déjà vu, repeating what happened almost 18 years ago.

But looking at the larger historical context helps us understand the importance of this issue, in its similarities with the precedents and its unique characteristics for the Catholic Church and the papacy of today.

First of all, we should remember that proclaiming the sainthood of the men who are elected Bishops of Rome by a conclave of cardinals is at the same time old and recent.

Of the first 48 popes who died before the year 500, 47 are saints; half of them were martyrs.

The canonisation of popes who reigned in the following fifteen centuries was rare, but that has accelerated with vertiginous speed in the last few decades.

The real change began in the 19th century with what historians and theologians call the "Romanization" or "papalisation" of Catholicism, especially with (the First) Vatican Council (1869-1870) and its proclamation of papal primacy and infallibility.

This produced a more pope-centered way of governing the Church, but also new forms of devotion to the person of the Roman Pontiff.

The increased inclination to canonise popes accelerated under John Paul II, who canonised an enormous number of saints (including — to his credit — many laypersons, including women and people who were married).

He also shortened the necessary waiting period before opening the "cause" (or process) for beatification/canonisation from 50 years after the candidate's death to just five years. He completely waived that shortened period for Mother Teresa of Calcutta. And when John Paul died in April 2005, Benedict XVI waived the waiting period for him as well.

In the years spanning 2000 to 2022, three of the six popes from the post-Vatican II era — John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II — have all been canonised. And in September 2022 Pope Francis beatified the fourth — John Paul I, who was pope for 33 days only.

Since the election of Pius X in 1909 there have been 10 popes.

Four of them are already saints.

Excluding Francis and the recently deceased Benedict, that means half of the remaining eight are canonised and another (John Paul I) is on the way.

The last cause of the last four popes immediately preceding Benedict have been made saints almost by matter of course.

Now it has become almost automatic for the popes to be declared saints shortly after their death.

This was done at great speed for John Paul II especially, and the same could be done or attempted for Benedict XVI.

But it is my opinion that this trend, which was inaugurated in the 20th century, should be halted.

I offer three reasons why.

Canonising the papacy, playing politics and reckoning with abuse

First, canonising popes means canonising the papacy — by popes in the Vatican.

The Vatican used to have less control over the canonisation process (technically, a trial). But in the 17th century Church of the Counter-Reformation, the Roman Curia became much more in charge.

It was a time when canonising popes was an exception.

Now the papacy is canonising itself without any Churchwide and extended-in-time period of discernment on the wisdom of canonising a particular pope.

It can be seen as a way to shield the papacy from moral and historical judgment, something like boosting the claims made by Vatican I about the papacy.

At the same time, it seems to respond to a logic that is more media-driven than ecclesial: i.e. the need to confirm the media-friendliness of the contemporary papacy through the elevation to sainthood the person who is elected pope.

The second reason for a moratorium on canonising pope concerns Church politics.

The history of the post-Vatican II period is instructive.

John XXIII died in June 1963 between the first and second sessions of Vatican Council II, and there was a push by many Council Fathers to follow an ancient conciliar tradition of making him a saint by proclamation.

This triggered a series of countermeasures by conservative Catholics, which led to the adoption of counterbalances.

Alongside the beatification of the "progressive" John XXIII in 2000, the "conservative" Pius IX was beatified. And at the 2014 ceremony when John was canonised, John Paul II was also made a saint.

In the 19th century, the elevation of popes with primacy and infallibility was also a political act - in part against secular modernity, in part an appropriation of mechanisms typical of political modernity and of the modern State.

The difference with the 19th century is that now the very act of popes canonising previous popes has become part of internal ecclesial politics and it is not helping the unity of the Church.

The third reason for a moratorium on canonising popes is related to the clergy sex abuse crisis.

The papacy's handling of abuse is a controversial issue in the Church today, and it will remain controversial in the foreseeable future.

If the Catholic Church wants to grow in the discernment Pope Francis has called for in response to the abuse crisis, the institution must stop canonising popes.

This is important for the "purification of memory" that is now in order.

In the latest phase of this ongoing crisis, there has been a greater focus on how the Roman Curia — and thus the pope — has handled particular cases of abuse and the issue as a whole.

When a pope canonises his predecessors, the institutional Church appears to once again be defendant, judge, and jury all at the same time.

But those days are long gone.

The very reputation of John Paul II has become tarnished for his handling of cases of abuse both as a bishop in Poland and as pope.

Recently there have been calls to de-canonise him because of is mishandling clergy abuse cases and his theology on women and human sexuality.

Although I thought it was unwise wisdom to canonise John Paul II, I am against the idea of de-canonising him (even if that were possible at all with one single decision or act).

It would appear to be just as political as his immediate canonisation did.

We are now in new territory

With the recent death of Benedict XVI, there are also two distinctly new elements to consider.

First, the calls for John Paul II to immediately be made a saint upon his death in 2005 came from the Focolare Movement.

Its members made numerous "Santo Subito!" posters that they raised to accompanying chants during his funeral in Saint Peter's Square.

This eruption of devotion for the deceased pope was intended to be seen as an expression of the vox populi - albeit a movement very well integrated into the ranks of the institution.

This call for a quick canonisation was later well received and embraced by other movements and institutional voices, especially the cardinals, but most of all John Paul II's successor, Benedict XVI.

The current movement to declare Benedict "santo subito" is more muted compared to 2005.

Even before the January 5 funeral of the late German pope, his personal secretary — Archbishop Georg Gänswein — was part of a media blitz that created a peculiar and unusual mood in the very first hours after his death.

Even though in the tell-all book published together with Italian journalist Saverio Gaeta, and made available on January 12, Gänswein writes that he "will not take any steps to expedite a canonical process", would be instructive and a source of wisdom to compare Gänswein's behaviour — for example - to that of John XXIII's personal secretary, Mgr Loris Capovilla, who exercised discretion and prudence from the time Pope John died, right up to his beatification.

This is important because calls to canonise Benedict XVI have been made at the same time when a particular agenda of doctrinal policy (especially on the liturgical reform of Vatican II and the theology of the council as a whole) has been advanced by the same voice, thus enhancing the ecclesiastical-political salience of a rapid canonisation.

It must be mentioned here that laments about the liturgical reform of Vatican II have made Pope Francis and his motu proprio Traditionis custodes a target in particularly bitter and divisive polemics (especially in the United States where I live, work, and go to Mass).

This intra-ecclesial feud was not yet manifest when the calls of "Santo subito" erupted at John Paul II's funeral in 2005.

The second new element that makes today different from back then is the new wave in the history of the Church's abuse crisis. During the Great Jubilee of 2000, the pope asked for forgiveness for the faults of the Church.

He did not ask forgiveness for clerical sex abuse and no one even noticed or complained.

That's because the global scandal erupted in 2002 with the Boston Globe "Spotlight" investigations.

At the time of John Paul II's death, there had been no requests from Church or secular jurisdictions for information about how he had acted in specific cases. Things were already different when he was beatified in 2011 when voices contested his saintliness, especially in light of the abuse crisis.

Since then the shadow of the that crisis has extended over the institution of the papacy.

The Vatican's efforts to be more transparent started only very recently.

We should remember that the report on the case of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was published by the Holy See only in November 2020.

Until the pontificate of Benedict XVI, no pope (living or dead) had ended up in the spotlight.

This has changed dramatically in the last few years.

Instead, the handling of the crisis is now part of the history of Benedict's pontificate (especially since 2010) and his life following his resignation (the report on the handling of abuse cases in Germany's Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, of which he was archbishop between 1977 and 1981, published in January 2022).

Restore the 50-year waiting period

Benedict XVI brought the fight against abuse in the Church to a new level by introducing tighter procedures and new laws.

He was the first pope to meet with survivors of abuse and to take some action against abusers. But before being elected pope, he had been an archbishop and was also cardinal-prefect of the Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) for more than 20 years.

That was also a very difficult time for Catholic theologians and religious women, many whom the CDF investigated and even silenced.

All this suggests extreme caution in approaching the issue of the canonisation of popes, also for those who do not want to damage the legacy and memory of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI and do not want to give the impression of a whitewash.

I say this also as someone who in 2008 edited the Italian version of a volume of Benedict's essays.

I also teach theology courses where some of Ratzinger's texts are required reading.

This is not a judgement on Ratzinger-Benedict XVI's saintliness; it's a question of opportunity and the need to better understand the issue of canonising popes (not just Benedict XVI) in the current situation of the Church.

In the final analysis, we should cherish and appreciate the Church's traditional caution about the canonisation processes.

Almost four centuries ago, between 1628 and 1634, Pope Urban VIII decided that a 50-year period had to elapse after the death of the candidate before his or her canonisation.

It was Urban's reaction against a time when many novel devotions to new saints were being continually born.

It is necessary to rediscover the wisdom of that old norm, especially when it is about the beatification and canonisation of popes.

This is necessary to scale back the mystique of the papacy in contemporary Catholicism.

But it has to do also with the fact that the Church needs a long process of discovering facts surrounding the role of the papacy and of the Roman Curia in the sexual abuse crisis, which is the biggest scandal in modern Church history and the deepest crisis since the time of the Protestant Reformation.

• Massimo Faggioli is a Church historian, professor of theology in religious studies at Villanova University, and a celebrated La Croix International columnist who brings who his learning to contemporary issues facing the Church.
• First published in la-Coix International. Republished with permission.

In so doing, Francis sent a message to Catholic leaders on the importance of caring for refugees. His pontificate has been marked by his concern for migrants.

Bishop Giovanni Battista Scalabrini lived at a time of mass migrations in Europe. The migrations reflected the economic, industrial and scientific changes that led millions to seek a new life in the Americas. His advocacy for immigrants founded the Catholic Church's pastoral approach to migration today.

Scalabrini was capable of not just fully and capably managing his diocese, but was able to look beyond, said Rev. Graziano Battistella, who shepherded Scalabrini's cause for sainthood.

"With this canonisation, I think the Holy Father wants to offer the church a model to imitate," Battistella said. "A model for bishops, a model for the church."

Francis waived the necessity for a second miracle attributed to the father of migrants, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1997.

Born in Como, Italy, in 1839, Scalabrini he founded the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (called Scalabrinian Fathers) in 1887. He later established the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles.

Migration was viewed negatively at the time.

Scalabrini, however, saw the upheaval as a chance to ease socio-economic tensions at home while promoting cultural encounter and jump-starting progress. Without laws and protections in place, migration could strip people of their roots and make them prey to human traffickers, he warned.

Unusually for the time, Scalabrini believed migration is not only "a sacred human right" but a basic fact of human existence.

The answers Scalabrini offered to migration anticipated modern times, said Sister Neusa de Fatima Mariano, Superior of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles.

The new saint was especially sensitive to the role women religious play in helping migrants. The sisters now run over 100 missions in the world catering especially to women and children. In addition, the Scalabrinian Secular Missionary Women, founded in Switzerland in 1961, and other lay groups live out Scalabrini's teachings in local communities.

The Scalabrinian Fathers operate parishes, hospitals and welcoming centers in 33 countries. The Rev. Leonir Chiarello, superior general of the order, said that the missionaries champion the rights of migrants at borders and other critical places around the world.

"Pope Francis is sending a clear and solemn message to the church and humanity as a whole: The migrants, who first moved him and urged him to action, remain a central theme for the church and society," said Chiarello.

Scalabrini's vision continues today in the dozens of welcoming centers for migrants in South America and Italy.

Source

• Religion News Service

According to the Vatican report released last week, Pope John Paul II received warnings about McCarrick from Vatican officials and New York Cardinal John O'Connor in 1999.

Two years later, McCarrick was installed as archbishop of Washington, D.C.

John Paul was beatified in 2011, six years after his death, and was made a saint three years later.

It's not just popes: The church needs more time to examine any person's life.

The people of Argentina, for example, wanted to canonise Eva Peron immediately after her death in 1952.

At the time, thankfully, the mandatory waiting period before the canonization process could begin was 50 years. Though she is still revered by many Argentines, Peron's reputation has been clouded in recent years by accusations that she and her husband harboured Nazis after World War II.

John Paul reduced the waiting period from 50 to five years because he wanted to canonise individuals who were still relevant to today's generation. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, waived even that for John Paul's canonization in response to popular demand.

As a result, when John Paul was canonised a mere nine years after his death, independent historians did not have access to the secret files of the Vatican, so it was impossible for outsiders to judge his cause.

As more information is disclosed, questions are raised about his actions.

Canonising popes is a special problem because their canonizations are more about ecclesial politics than sanctity.

Those pushing for sainthood are their fans who want their pope's legacy to be reinforced. It is a vote for continuity against change, as elevating a pope to sainthood makes it more difficult to question and reverse his policies.

Politically, it is difficult to oppose the canonization of a pope because opposition is portrayed as disloyalty. Those who openly or secretly oppose canonization are usually proponents of change.

As a compromise, two popes are sometimes made saints at once: Pope John XXIII was made a saint the same day John Paul was in April of 2104. Progressives liked John while conservatives liked John Paul.

The practice, meant to soothe friction between factions in the church, goes back to Pope Calixtus and Hippolytus (the first anti-pope) in the third century.

Legend has it that these opponents, whose supporters fought openly in the streets of Rome, reconciled after being sent to the Sardinian tin mines by the pagan Roman authorities.

Both were honoured as saints by the church of Rome in an effort to unify the church.

The joint canonization of John XXIII and John Paul II similarly brought together liberal and conservative factions who had been at odds since Vatican II, which was initiated by John.

I would not be surprised to see Popes Francis and Benedict canonised on the same day within 10 years of their deaths.

The politics of canonizing popes aside, saints are supposed to be models for Catholics and others to imitate.

How can anyone who is not pope really model him or herself after a pope — unless you are a cardinal who wants to be a pope?

My preferred candidates for canonization are laypeople, especially married couples and young people.

I would canonise the Rwandan students at Nyange Catholic Girls' School who were beaten and killed by Hutu militants in 1997 when they refused to separate into Hutu and Tutsi groups.

Their witness against genocide and for solidarity would mean more to young people than any pope.

Were these young women perfect?

Not likely, but they don't need to be: Saints are not perfect; they are also sinners.

We need to remember that St Peter denied he knew Jesus.

But when scandals like McCarrick's become known, it makes people question the whole system. Which isn't always a bad thing.

When Josemaría Escrivá, the controversial founder of Opus Dei, was canonised in 2002, a Jesuit wag responded, "Well, that just proves everyone goes to heaven."

• Thomas Reese SJ is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, and a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America. First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

In May, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints said a miracle had been attributed to the intercession of Blessed Charles, enabling his canonization to go forward.

But not all historians are pleased with the news about the man known as the "universal brother."

"The canonization of Charles de Foucauld would be a denial of history," wrote Professor Ladji Ouattara in the July 2 edition of Le Monde.

His work would be "inseparable from the colonial conquest of the Sahara".

Ouattara cited the works of a number historians, such as Jean-Marie Muller, who in 2002 denounced "the deep nationalist and colonialist convictions of this Saharan hermit who defended a total war against Germany during the Great War".

Quattara noted others, including Hélène Claudot-Hawad had condemned de Foucauld's "direct involvement in colonial military operations against the rebel tribes" in Algeria and André Bourgeot had criticizedhis "ideas in favor of a disorganization of the Tuareg socio-political structures".

Ouattara, also claimed de Foucauld "personally took part in several military tours ... to establish the submission of the Tuaregs of Hoggar and to get a tax accepted that would be a tangible mark of this submission".

Bishop-emeritus Claude Rault of Laghouat (Algeria) rejected that claim.

"Charles de Foucauld's aim was not to directly take part in a military operation, but to use it to extend his knowledge of the Tuareg world," Rault says.

"He had no other way to do this than to rely on these expeditions."

John Paul II moved de Foucault's sainthood cause forward in 2001 by declaring him "venerable".

Four years later Benedict XVI decreed de Foucauld had died as a martyr and approved his beatification.

After verifying the miracle, Pope Francis is to declare him a saint.

Quattara says de Foucauld's canonisation would likely appear "dissonant" in the current context of dismantling colonialist figures.

But Rault says de Foucauld never stopped "denouncing the exactions of a colonisation that consisted in appropriating the great Algerian south to the detriment of the Tuareg people and culture".

Moreover, de Foucauld's French-Touareg dictionary remains an essential reference to this day, and his "vision of colonisation was always humanized and humanistic," the bishop says.

He claims de Foucauld often asked "that Tuareg leaders be taken into consideration and that certain political powers be entrusted to them.

"His love for the Tuareg people has always prevailed," Rault insists.

He admits "it would be healthy for the Church to reveal to the general public all the grey areas: it is time to tell the limits of this man who has been so hallowed".

"But even though Charles de Foucauld did not succeed in everything in his life, holiness is not the same as perfection," Rault says.

Source

• La Croix
• Image: The Catholic Weekly

He should rank alongside early Christianity's great thinkers, Cardinal Marc Ouellet says.

Ouellet, who is the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and a respected theologian, told the 20,000-strong crowd at the canonistaion that Newman is eligible for the title "Doctor".

This is because of his contribution to developing Christian teaching.

Doctors of the Church are saints who have helped deepen understanding of the faith.

Only 36 people (32 men and four women) have been granted this title in Christian history.

"It seems to me that the English master [Newman] ranks among such Doctors of the Faith as Athanasius and Augustine, whose lives were confessions of faith at the cost of great sacrifice, and who provided decisive insights on either its content or its act," Oullet said.

"The depth of this man of God and the place he now occupies in Catholicity, make us aware of the void his absence would have left if he had not been."

Oullet told the crowd Newman's legacy encourages the unity of Christians, in an "ecumenical impetus towards reconciliation".

A conversion is required "from all confessions, starting from the Roman Church, which must be open to eventual transformations that can clear the path towards unity, so desired by the Lord," he said.

Newman spent years as an Anglican priest and theologian where he became the leader of the Oxford movement, which sought to return the Church of England to its patristic sources.

"It is not a question of using Newman's figure to depict the return to the fold," Oullet said.

"Rather, his life and his theology challenge us to carefully examine the internal difficulties of reconciliation."

Newman saw faith as being an emotional "personal encounter," as well as "a rational adherence which involves a unique certainty as well as a non-delegable responsibility," Oullet said.

As a theeologian, scholar and poet, he was regarded as one of the most influential figures of the Victorian age.

He is still highly regarded in Rome for his prophetic theology which paved the way for the Second Vatican Council, in 1962-65.

His work on how the Church's understanding of divine revelation deepens over time and call for greater involvement of the laity saw him run into opposition in Rome during his lifetime. Today, his ideas are part of the Church's mainstream.

Prince Charles also spoke at the canonisation ceremony. He described Newman as a "fearless defender of the truth".

Source

• The Tablet
• The Guardian
• Image: The Irish Times

"As one who has been a lifelong champion of the spiritual in everyday life, to promote understanding between faiths, and who has sought to alleviate poverty and disadvantage through his charitable work, the Prince of Wales is particularly qualified to mark the canonisation which will be such a significant and joyful moment for this country," a statement from Clarence House says.

Newman, who lived from 1801 to 1890, was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement in the Anglican church.

This movement advocated reintroducing older practices into worship.

Initially an Anglican priest, Newman converted to Catholicism in 1845.

He became a Catholic priest soon after and was created a cardinal by Leo XIII in 1879.

His hymns, poetry and theology have made a global contribution to the canon of Church.

He was also known for his work with poor communities.

When he died at the age of 89, more than 15,000 people lined the streets of Birmingham for his funeral.

Newman was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in Birmingham during the pope's 2010 visit to the United Kingdom.

He will be the first English saint since the Forty Martyrs were canonized in 1970, and the first British saint since Scottish St. John Ogilvie in 1976.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who is the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, says he is "delighted" Prince Charles will be at the canonisation ceremony.

"Cardinal Newman's exploration of faith, depth of personal courage, intellectual clarity and cultural sensitivity make him a deeply admired follower of Christ.

"His ministry, especially among the poor, is a permanent sign of the Church's pastoral compassion and a challenge to us all today."

While the Prince of Wales has confirmed his attendance, the British Government has yet to announce who will be representing them at the canonisation.

Source

• The Tablet
• Crux Now
• Image: Catholic World Report

Ahlquist noted one reason given for halting Chesterton's cause was that the author, considered one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, lacked a discernible personal spirituality.

Speaking to Crux, he said that "now more than ever we need more lay saints, with clergy being under a cloud."

He said it often seems to be "easier" for priests or religious who found orders to be canonized, since the order typically promotes the person's cause for sainthood.

However, while these individuals might have been unquestionably holy, "they're not great inspirations for laypeople," Ahlquist said, adding, "I hate to say it, but they are not models of spirituality for what a layperson has to go through to live the Catholic life."

Chesterton is a "prime example of what lay spirituality is supposed to look like. I think all the evidence of his spiritual life is there," he said, saying doubt over Chesterton's spiritual life is a "weak reason" to halt the cause.

One of the best-known writers in the 20th century, Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born May 9, 1874, and died June 14, 1936.

A convert to Catholicism, he was widely considered one of the most influential writers of his time.

While in the United States he is best known for his book Orthodoxy, a groundbreaking defense of Christianity, Chesterton is most famous in his homeland for his Father Brown series, a collection of short stories about a priest detective more dedicated to converting the criminals he catches than incarcerating them.

In 2013, Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton, Chesterton's home diocese, ordered that an initial investigation into the possibility of Chesterton's sainthood be opened, however, he has decided not to pursue the cause, meaning the pipe-loving, cigar-smoking and general booze-enthusiast will not become a saint - at least, not yet.

Reasons given by Doyle for pulling the plug were due to what he said was a lack of "local cult," or worship, of Chesterton on his home turf, that he could not identify a pattern of personal spirituality for Chesterton, and concerns that some of Chesterton's writings contained anti-Semitic elements.

Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society and the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, made the announcement at the Aug. 2 opening session of the American G.K. Chesterton Society conference happening in Kansas City this week, reading aloud a letter from Doyle.

In his comments to Crux, Ahlquist said he received the letter from Doyle in April informing him of the decision not to pursue Chesterton's cause.

• While Doyle said he would not get in the way of efforts to pursue Chesterton's cause elsewhere, Ahlquist said he took issue with Doyle's reasons for halting the cause. Continue reading
• Image: Crux

Canonisation will take place at the Vatican on October 13, it said in a statement, after Pope Francis decreed recognition of a healing miracle attributed to Newman's intercession.

"Cardinal Newman had a major impact on Catholic theology and on education worldwide, making him a truly global Briton," said Sally Axworthy, the British Ambassador to the Vatican. Read more

He has also declared several people to have lived lives of heroic virtue.

Newman was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. He was a 19th century theologian, poet, Catholic priest and cardinal. Originally an Anglican priest, he converted to Catholicism in 1845. He founded the Oratory of St Philip Neri in England.

After a meeting on Tuesday with Cardinal Angelo Becciu who is the head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the pope signed off on a second miracle attributed to Newman's intercession.

Blessed Maria Teresa , who was the founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family, died in 1926 in Kuzhikkattussery, India.

Jesuit Fr Salvatore was killed in hatred of the faith in Ecuador in 1897.

Those declared to have lived lives of heroic virtue and to be on the path to beatification are:

• Cardinal József Mindszenty, archbishop of Esztergom and primate of Hungary (1892-1975);
• Fr Giovanni Battista Zuaboni, founder of the Secular Institute of the Company of the Holy Family (1880-1939);
• Jesuit Fr Manuel Garcia Nieto (1894-1974);
• Sr Serafina Formai, foundress of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Glad Message (1876-1954).

Source

• Crux Now
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: The Telegraph

The new saints are: Pope Paul VI, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Francesco Spinelli, Vincenzo Romano, Maria Caterina Kasper, Nazaria Ignazia of Saint Teresa of Jesus and Nunzio Sulprizio.

St Paul VI was like St Paul, who "spent his life for Christ's Gospel," Francis said.

He crossed new boundaries and became a "witness in proclamation and in dialogue, a prophet of a Church turned outwards, looking to those far away and taking care of the poor.

"Even in the midst of tiredness and misunderstanding, Paul bore witness in a passionate way to the beauty and the joy of following Christ totally.

"Today he still urges us, together with the Council whose wise helmsman he was, to live our common vocation: the universal call to holiness. Not to half measures, but to holiness," Francis said.

Paul was pope from 1963-1978. He presided over the church reforms of the 1960s and was the pope of Francis' formative years as a young priest in Argentina.

Among the crowd at the canonisation mass in Rome were 5,000 Salvadoran pilgrims who traveled to witness Oscar Romero's canonisation.

St Oscar Romero is San Salvador's first saint.

Besides those present at the mass, "tens of thousands" of others watched it on giant TV screens outside the San Salvador cathedral where St Oscar Romero's remains are entombed.

St Oscar Romero was murdered while celebrating Mass in 1980. Francis declared him a martyr on 3 February 2015 and he was beatified on 23 May that same year.

Francis said he spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture and fearlessly denounced denounced the military oppression at the start of El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war.

He also helped establish the Latin American church's "preferential option for the poor" that Francis has adopted.

Francis showed his personal connection with Paul and Romero at the canonisation Mass by wearing the blood-stained rope belt Romero was wearing when he was killed and using Paul's staff, chalice and pallium vestment.

Francis said like Paul and Romero, Francesco Spinelli, Vincenzo Romano, Maria Caterina Kasper, Nazaria Ignazia of Saint Teresa of Jesus and "our young boy" from Naples, Nunzio Sulprizio, all gave their lives according to the Gospel ... with heart[s] drawn to Jesus, and his brothers and sisters.

"All these saints, in different contexts, put today's word into practice in their lives, without lukewarmness, without calculation, with the passion to risk everything and to leave it all."

Source

• NZ Herald
• Zenit
• Irish Times
• Image: Catholic Herald

Mollie Wilson O'Reilly, an editor at large and columnist for the US-based Commonweal magazine, was sepcifically referring to the recent beatification of Anna Kolesárová.

Kolesárová was a sixteen-year old Slovak girl who was murdered in front of her family by a Soviet soldier in 1944.

"When I read the news about the sixteen-year-old murder victim who was beatified as a ‘martyr to purity,' I had to check the date on the paper," O'Reilly says. Read more

The canonisation will coincide with the world synod of bishops on young people, which will be meeting in Rome.

Blessed Nunzio Sulprizio will be recognised as a saint along with Blessed Oscar Romero, Blessed Paul VI and four others. Read more

He was shot dead on March 24th 1980 as he was saying Mass in the cancer hospital in El Salvador.

In his three years as archbishop, he had become an outspoken voice for the poorest people of his country.

They were caught up in a conflict between the military government and guerilla groups that claimed tens of thousands of civilian lives. Read more

In his homily, Francis referred to the Christian life as a "love story with God" and said "The Saints who were canonised today and especially the many martyrs, point the way." Read more

They say doctors, some of them non-believers, said Lucas's recovery could not be explained.

Pope Francis canonised the siblings on Saturday at Fátima.

Lucas was five when he fell 6.5 metres out of a window. By the time he arrivced at hospital he had suffered two heart attacks and was in a deep coma.

Doctors diagnosed a severe traumatic brain injury and a "loss of brain material" from Lucas's frontal lobe.

They said Lucas had little chance of survival. If he did live, they said he would be severely mentally disabled or even in a vegetative state.

Lucas's father Joao Baptista and his mother Lucila Yurie, appeared before reporters at the Catholic shrine in Fatima, Portugal, on Friday.

They have never discussed their son's miraculous cure with the press before.

After being told their son would be unlikely to recover they began to pray to Jesus and Our Lady of Fatima, to whom they said they have "a great devotion".

They also asked the nuns at the Carmelite convent of Campo Mouro to pray for their boy.

When the nuns got the message, Lucas's father said one of them "ran to the relics of Blessed Francisco and Jacinta, which were next to the tabernacle.

She also felt the impulse to pray the following prayer: ‘Shepherds, save this child, who is a child like you'…she also persuaded the other sisters to pray to the little shepherds to intercede for him.

"In the same way, all of us, the family, began to pray to the little shepherds, and two days later, on March 9, Lucas woke up and began to speak, even asking for his little sister."

On the 11th, he left the ICU and was discharged from the hospital a few days later.

"Since that time, Lucas "has been completely well and has no symptoms or after effects.

"He has the same intelligence (as he did before the accident), the same character, everything is the same."

Source

• Thestar.com
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: ToronotStar

The announcement has just been made from Rome by Pope Francis.

Being declared ‘venerable' is a major step towards sainthood in the Catholic Church, says Dr Maurice Carmody, the promoter of her canonisation cause.

"There are a number of stages in the canonisation process. Last year the official case for her proposed canonisation was submitted to the Congregation for the Cause of Saints in Rome.

Her case has been examined by Church historians and theologians and now, with the Pope's approval, she has been declared ‘venerable' - the second stage on the way to being declared a saint.

"The next stage involves the recognition of a miracle attributed to Suzanne, such as recovery from a terminal illness as a result of prayer.

She can then be declared ‘Blessed' by the Pope. A second miracle and proof that she is a model for the universal Church will enable her to be canonised as a saint," said Carmody.

The Sisters of Compassion are the only religious congregation founded in New Zealand. They run the well-known Soup Kitchen in Tory Street, Wellington, which was begun by Suzanne and her pioneering Sisters.

They also run a dementia care unit in Upper Hutt and a housing support programme in Lower Hutt

If Suzanne's Cause for Sainthood is successful, she will be New Zealand's first saint, said Cardinal John Dew

"She was a remarkable woman who devoted her life to helping others. She was a pioneer of New Zealand's health and welfare system and a friend to Maori throughout her life. Her tireless compassion and practical brand of Christianity made a huge impact on New Zealand society."

Suzanne Aubert (1835-1926) came to New Zealand from France in 1860 and spent most of her life here, fully identifying with her adopted country.

"Suzanne Aubert was ahead of her time, promoting the rights of women and Maori in the nineteenth century," said Cardinal Dew. "Her care for infants, young children, their mothers and families, and her practical concern for the incurably sick and unemployed was legendary."

The leader of the Sisters of Compassion, Sister Margaret Mills said the news from Rome was very exciting for the Sisters and for all of New Zealand.

"Suzanne Aubert was an inspirational figure in New Zealand history. She reached out to people of all walks of life."

"Her huge energy and respect for all those she encountered, especially the needy, impressed a wide cross-section of New Zealanders. Her funeral was the largest ever held for a New Zealand woman."

When she died in 1926, at the age of 91, The Evening Post said of her: Aubert "may rightly be described as one of the greatest women in public effort and loving self-sacrifice New Zealand has known."

Source

• Supplied

The Tyburn Nuns have monasteries in Bombay and in Waikato.

The order, properly called the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre, has spread rapidly around the world in the last few decades.

As well as the two communities in New Zealand, they have also opened convents in South America, Africa, and France.

Mother Garnier, who died in Tyburn Convent, near Marble Arch, London, in 1924, has been given the title "Servant of God" after the Congregation for the Cause of Saints concluded that there were "no obstacles" to her candidacy.

Mother Xavier McMonagle, the assistant Mother General of the Tyburn Nuns, said the nuns had sought the opening of the cause for 20 years.

"It has been a long time, but that's not such a bad thing," she said. "It has given us time to research her writings."

Mother Garnier was a governess who turned down a marriage proposal to establish a religious order in Montmartre, Paris at the end of the 19th century.

The anti-clerical Law of Associations led to the nuns fleeing London in 1901.

They settled in Notting Hill two years later.

The community was dedicated to the perpetual adoration of the Holy Eucharist, but they were often attacked with obsession, possessions and objects being overturned or thrown around rooms.

Garnier witnessed the Eucharist turn to bloody flesh in a priest's hands during Mass.

She wrote a letter to Abbé Charles Sauvé, a priest friend, describing the experience:

"At the moment in which the priest took a particle of the Holy Host and put it into the chalice I raised my eyes to adore and to contemplate the holy particle," she wrote.

"Oh, if you could know what I saw and how I am still moved and impressed by this vision."

"The fingers of the priest held not a white particle but a particle of striking red, the colour of blood and luminous at the same time..."

"The fingers of the priest were red on the right of the particle, as from a blood stain that seemed still wet."

Source

• catholicherald.co.uk
• catholic.org
• Image: static2.stuff.co.nz

To get full sainthood, miracles will have to be attributed to her. This can happen if a person who needs medical help asks Mother Aubert to intercede with Christ for them.

If those prayers are successful, the cure can be deemed a miracle. Read more