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On a pastoral visit to Sicily in 1993, Pope John Paul II called Livatino a “martyr of justice and indirectly of faith.” VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has recognized the martyrdom of Rosario Livatino, a judge who was brutally killed by the mafia on his commute to work at a courthouse in Sicily thirty years ago. The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints announced Dec. 22 that the pope had approved a decree of Livatino’s martyrdom “in hatred of the faith,” paving the way for the judge’s beatification. Before his murder at the age of 37 on Sept. 21,...

Opposition Against "Beatification" Of “Fidel Castro In Cassock”, the Prophet of Madness The Brazilian born Catholic writer Raymond de Souza sent a report about the sinister side of Archbishop Helder Camara (+1999) to the US Nuncio and to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Becciu.In 2015, the Vatican authorised the opening of a beatification process of the Anti-Catholic Brazilian prelate.De Souza writes that Camara started his public life as a party official and private secretary of the political activist Plinio Salgado (+1975) who led the Brazil fascist movement in the 1930s.Then, Camara morphed into...

Two Poles and one Italian were killed by Shining Path guerrillas in 1991Three European missionary priests killed by Shining Path terrorists in Peru in 1991 have been beatified. According to Associated Press, 30,000 people attended the beatification ceremony for Franciscans Fathers Michal Tomaszek and Zbigniew Strzalkowski of Poland and Fr Alessandro Dordi of Italy in a stadium in Chimbote, in northern Peru, on Saturday. Italian Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the ceremony and there were representatives from all of the dioceses of Peru and groups from Poland and Italy. Father Zbigniew, 32, and Fr Michal, 30, were killed on August...

Guido Schaffer, a Brazilian seminarian who drowned while surfing in 2009 and whose cause for beatification has been opened. Photo courtesty of guidoschaffer.com.br Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov 12, 2014 / 01:24 pm (CNA).- The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved the cause of beatification of Guido Schaffer, who was a Brazilian seminarian known as the “Anjo Surfista,” or “Surfer Angel.” The Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro will now establish a tribunal to handle the cause. The archdiocese requested approval of the cause in May by sending the Vatican numerous documents on the life of Schaffer “to...

NEWARK, N.J. – A New Jersey nun credited with curing a boy's eye disease moved a step closer to sainthood Saturday in what church officials said was the first beatification Mass held in the United States. A beatification Mass for Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, who died in 1927, was led by Cardinal Angelo Amato at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. Beatification is the third in a four-step process toward sainthood....

FERGUSON, Mo. — It was 1 a.m. and Michael Brown Jr. called his father, his voice trembling. He had seen something overpowering. In the thick gray clouds that lingered from a passing storm this past June, he made out an angel. And he saw Satan chasing the angel and the angel running into the face of God. Mr. Brown was a prankster, so his father and stepmother chuckled at first. “No, no, Dad! No!” the elder Mr. Brown remembered his son protesting. “I’m serious.” And the black teenager from this suburb of St. Louis, who had just graduated from high...

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has approved the attribution a miraculous healing to the intercession of a young American nun, opening the way to her beatification. Born and raised in New Jersey, Miriam Teresa Demjanovich (1901-1927) entered the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth in 1926 and died one year later, taking her religious vows one month before her death.The miracle that opens the way for the beatification of Miriam Teresa Demjanovich involves the restoration of perfect vision to a boy who had gone legally blind because of macular degeneration. Silvia Correale, the postulator for Sr Teresa’s cause in Rome, said...

BERLIN — Germans in Pope Benedict XVI’s home state of Bavaria celebrated Sunday the beatification ceremony of a priest who was honored for practicing his Roman Catholic faith in defiance of the Nazis. The pope, who grew up in Bavaria, sent Cardinal Angelo Amato from the Vatican to celebrate the beatification Mass for Georg Haefner in Wuerzburg Cathedral, the DAPD news agency reported.

VATICAN CITY - Some 1.5 million pilgrims flooded Rome Sunday to watch Pope John Paul II move a step closer to sainthood in one of the largest Vatican Masses in history, an outpouring of adoration for a beloved and historic figure after years marred by church scandal. The turnout for the beatification far exceeded even the most optimistic expectation of 1 million people, the number Rome city officials predicted. For Catholics filling St. Peter's Square and streets and watching around the world, the beatification was a welcome hearkening back to the days when the pope was almost universally beloved....

VATICAN CITY—The May 1 beatification of the late Pope John Paul II is an occasion for the Holy See to bask in the aura of a pontiff widely seen as a modern Catholic hero. But a high-profile event involving another European institution, the House of Windsor, is stealing the Vatican's thunder. The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in London on April 29, two days before the beatification ceremony, is dominating news coverage around the world, leaving less time for the late pope.

1. Has the beatification of John Paul II been a rush job, as some have charged? No one said that the beatification of Mother Teresa was rushed, despite the calumnies against her work and reputation promoted by Christopher Hitchens. This process hasn’t been “rushed” either. The only procedural exception Pope Benedict XVI made was the same exception John Paul II made for Mother Teresa: He allowed the investigation to begin without the normal five-year waiting period. The investigative process produced a massive, four-volume study that offers far more detail into the life and accomplishments of Karol Wojtyła, Pope John Paul...

Pope Benedict XVI, seated at right, watches the Polish-produced documentary, "John Paul II: I Kept Looking For You," at the Vatican April 9. After watching the film about his predecessor, Pope Benedict said "John Paul II was a great contemplative and a great apostle." (CNS/L'Osservatore Romano) By Cindy WoodenCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The slight differences between a beatification and a canonization are easy to miss, especially when one pope beatifies another pope. Just three weeks before Pope Benedict XVI was to beatify Pope John Paul II, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments issued a...

Pope John Paul II is seen in a promotional image for the Polish-produced documentary, "John Paul II: I Kept Looking For You." Pope Benedict XVI, who watched the film April 9 at the Vatican, called his predecessor "a great contemplative and a great apostle." (CNS/ARTRAMA) By Cindy WoodenCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The feast day of Blessed John Paul II will be marked Oct. 22 each year in Rome and the dioceses of Poland. When the Vatican made the announcement April 11, it also said Catholics throughout the world will have a year to celebrate a Mass...

VATICAN CITY, 5 APR 2011 (VIS) - This morning, a conference was held at the Holy See Press Office to present the preparations and the program for the beatification of John Paul II. The speakers were Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome; Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of Vatican Radio, the Vatican Television Centre (CTV) and the Holy See Press Office; Fr. Cesare Atuire, director general of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi; Msgr. Marco Frisina, director of the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Vicariate of Rome; and Fr. Walter Insero, director of the Office of Social Communications...

Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, speaks at a conference about Pope John Paul II in Rome April 1. (CNS/Paul Haring) By Cindy WoodenCatholic News Service ROME (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II is being beatified not because of his impact on history or on the Catholic Church, but because of the way he lived the Christian virtues of faith, hope and love, said Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes. "Clearly his cause was put on the fast track, but the process was done carefully and meticulously, following the rules Pope...

The Catholic Church has never been immune to political correctness, and there are many "sacred cows" in the Church today that one must never criticize: women, victims of sexual abuse, unionized Catholic school teachers, etc. One group we rarely think of, however, is recent popes. It seems that every pope we can remember in our life-times has to be the best pope ever! Even Pope Benedict—who comes closest my own idea of "the best pope ever"—is just a little too found of referring to his immediate predecessor as "The Great," an ancient title with a particular meaning, which usually takes...

When the Vatican announced that World Youth Day would be held in Denver in 1993, many news experts predicted that the event would be a failure. The United States, they said, was different than countries like Poland and Argentina, where previous World Youth Days had met great success. The United States, they claimed, lacked an entrenched tradition of Catholic pilgrimage, the traveling distances required to assemble a large gathering from across the country were too large, and most importantly American young people would simply be uninterested in the pope or his message. On August 10, 1993, stunned reporters crumpled their...

Modern life is noisy... All too easily, gizmos and gadgets make themselves the masters of our daily routine. I-phones, i-pods, i-pads, and I-don’t-know-what-else are multiplying like rabbits. The consequences are strikingly visible among young people. During my time working in youth ministry, I have seen a generation of kids who are allergic to silence. They pop ear buds into their heads and zone out into their own world of customized ruckus. Others are addicted to different types of psychological noise, and like a nervous tick, show withdrawal symptoms when forbidden to send text messages on school property. John Paul II...

An Opportunity for the JPII Generation to Say “Thank You” Knights of Columbus to deliver letters in gratitude for Pope John Paul II at May 1 beatification With the beatification of John Paul II scheduled for May 1, HeadlineBistro.com is inviting the young people who grew up with him as pope – the members of the “JPII Generation” – to say “thank you” to the late Holy Father. From now until April 27, Headline Bistro, a popular news website for Catholics – and an initiative of the Knights of Columbus – is collecting written submissions from Catholic young adults who...

Vatican City, Feb 18, 2011 / 04:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican has released new details about the upcoming beatification of Pope John Paul II. The celebrations will run from April 30-May 2, with the beatification itself taking place on May 1. For most events, the Vatican said, no tickets will be required and all will be welcomed. The festivities will begin with a prayer vigil in the massive open field of the Circus Maximus - where ancient Romans once held chariot races -- on the evening of April 30. The vigil will be led by the diocese's vicar general,...