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BEIRUT: Miraculous, perhaps. Tens of thousands of Lebanese gathered in Martyrs Square in Downtown Beirut on Sunday to witness the beatification of Yaaqoub Haddad, the late Capuchin priest who gained fame for his prolific work in founding an order of nuns, expanding the Capuchin school network and conceiving or establishing a number of religious and social institutions, some of which have gained iconic status in Lebanon. Haddad, who died more than 50 years ago, took a step toward sainthood in the first beatification ever to take place outside the Vatican - and people flocked to the capital to observe the...

Krakow, May. 21, 2008 (CWNews.com) - A Polish newspaper has predicted that the beatification of Pope John Paul II will take place next year. Zycie Warszawy speculates that the late Pontiff could be beatified on April 2, the anniversary of his death, or on October 16, 2009, the anniversary of his election to the papacy. Earlier this month another Polish newspaer, Dziennik, had said that the beatification could take place on October 16 of this year, the 30th anniversary of John Paul's election. That prediction appeared unrealistic, since the cause for beatification of the late Pontiff still has several hurdles...

Cardinal John Henry Newman Vatican City, Apr 23, 2008 / 03:12 am (CNA).- The Vatican has approved the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the English convert and theologian who has had immense influence upon English-speaking Catholicism, the Birmingham Mail reports.John Henry Newman was born in 1801.  As an Anglican priest, he led the Oxford Movement that sought to return the Church of England to its Catholic roots.  His conversion to Catholicism in 1845 rocked Victorian England.  After becoming an Oratorian priest, he was involved in the establishment of the Birmingham Oratory.  He died in 1890 and is buried...

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI announced he will dispense with the five-year waiting period established by Canon Law to open the cause of beatification of Sister Lucia, one of the three Fatima visionaries. The news was announced today in the cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal, by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, on the third anniversary of the Carmelite's death.The Holy Father dispensed with the established waiting period once before for the cause of Pope John Paul II. Benedict XVI made the announcement on May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima,...

On April 28, 2006, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI approved the promulgation of the miracle attributed to the intercession of Father Basil Anthony Moreau (1799-1873), founder of the men and women’s congregations of Holy Cross. This promulgation prepares the way for the beatification that will take place in the diocese of Le Mans, France, on September 15, 2007. Father Basil Moreau’s cause for beatification was first introduced on the diocesan level in Le Mans, France, in 1946. However, it was not until 1955 that the cause was presented for consideration by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome....

Italian Priest Was Killed in Congo PALERMO, Sicily, APRIL 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Blessed Francesco Spoto knew the value of life, and how to give it up for others, according to the current superior general of his congregation. Palermo native Father Spoto, the superior general of the Congregation of Missionary Servants of the Poor, was 40 years old when he was murdered by a group of Simba rebels in Congo in 1964. He was beatified last Saturday in his hometown. Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, retired archbishop of Palermo, was delegated by Benedict XVI to preside at the Mass. Archbishop Paolo Romeo...

The Rome diocese has wrapped up its examination of Pope John Paul II's virtues and life, an important step in the Catholic Church's process that could lead to sainthood for the late pontiff.Rome Cardinal Camillo Ruini said Saturday he had been informed that completion of work by the diocese on the cause for beatification and sainthood will be marked with a ceremony in St. John's Lateran Basilica on April 2 in the capital. The date is the second anniversary of John Paul's death.All pontiffs serve as bishop of Rome, and so the diocese examined "the life, virtues and reputation for...

ROME (CNS) -- The Rome diocesan office charged with promoting the sainthood cause of Pope John Paul II has exceeded its postage budget because of increased requests for prayer cards and relics of the late pope. "We were getting about 50 requests a day, but overnight it grew to between 500 and 1,000 requests," a spokeswoman for the office said March 2. "We could not have foreseen this demand," she said. "It's an avalanche." Franciscan Brother Chris Gaffrey, who assists the office with English translations, told Catholic News Service that the vast majority of requests in late February and early...

Nun killed for sheltering Jews is beatified in Hungary By Jonathan Luxmoore 9/18/2006 Catholic News Service OXFORD, England (CNS) – A nun executed for sheltering Jews during World War II was remembered for her feminine example of holiness during her beatification in Hungary. Advertisement Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, said the martyrdom of Sister Sara Salkahazi of the Sisters of Social Service is "close to us, and her example is within our reach. She is someone of modest circumstances, who lived through the storms of 20th-century history and gave us an example of the feminine way to holiness." Sister...

Plan to beatify martyrs of Spanish civil war attackedThe Pope has provoked controversy with plans to beatify 168 Catholic martyrs of the Spanish civil war. Historians believe that about 10,000 priests, brothers, nuns and laity were killed during the civil war from 1936-39, as Leftists fighting to defend Spain's secular republic tried to wipe out what they saw as Catholic resistance. Beatification, a step towards sainthood, will help preserve the memory of those victims. But as Spain wrestles with conflicting versions of its history in the run up to the 70th anniversary of the start of the civil war next...

Vatican, Apr. 27 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has called for tighter limits on the number of candidates for beatification, in a message to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. In a long letter to Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Benedict said that a cause should not be opened unless there is "a proven reputation for holiness." The Pope's letter was sent on April 24, as the Congregation opened its plenary meeting; the text was released by the Vatican on April 27. The Holy Father said...

Vatican City, March 28 - Non-believers and people of other religions are volunteering their testimony to Catholic officials working for the beatification of the late John Paul II .Procedures leading to the Polish pontiff's beatification began last summer and since then messages from people attesting to his saintliness have arrived from around the globe, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said ."They come from people who say they are agnostics, non-believers, even Muslims, Buddhists or Hindus. They say that they would like their testimony to be officially recognised by the Church," he said .Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Polish priest overseeing John...

POPE Benedict XVI has authorised the proclamation of 19 new saints and blesseds, the first such decree of his papacy which began in late April. The list named two future saints, a Polish priest from the 15th century and an Italian nun from the 16th century. The number of blesseds included nine Italians, three Germans, three Spaniards, a Dutchman and an Indian. The Indian priest, Agostino Thevarparampil, who died in 1973, was the most recent person to be named a blessed. Thirteen others were also from the 20th century. The process of recognising the saints and blesseds, either for their...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Once again returning to a streamlined practice in place before the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI chose a private audience for the signing of a variety of decrees related to sainthood causes. Pope Benedict met Dec. 19 with Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, and authorized the publication of decrees related to 19 causes. Pope John Paul also authorized publication of decrees during meetings with the prefect, but the meetings were anything but private. The postulators of the individual causes were invited, as were local bishops or...

John Paul's sainthood opposed John Hooper in Rome Thursday December 8, 2005 The Guardian A group of prominent Roman Catholic theologians and writers has revealed it is trying to stop the late pope John Paul II being declared a saint. In a document being circulated in Rome, they say the Vatican should take account of decisions reached by the Polish pontiff "that ought to be an obstacle to [his] beatification". Following emotional scenes at the late pope's funeral, his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, set him on a fast track to beatification - the first step towards sainthood - last June....

Thousands of pilgrims packed St Peter's basilica at the Vatican for the beatification of French monk Charles de Foucauld who lived among Muslims in colonial Algeria, and two Italian nuns. In line with the trend set for his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI delegated the beatification ceremony to Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The other two people beatified were Maria Pia Mastena, who died in 1916 -- the same year de Foucauld was killed by bandits in Algeria -- and Maria Crocifissa Curcio, who died in 1957. Both nuns founded religious orders. De...

ROME Nov 6, 2005 — An Italian mother who raised 11 children was moving ahead on the road to possible sainthood Sunday amid a Vatican campaign in favor of large families. Eurosia Fabris, known as "Mamma Rosa," raised two children whose mother died while they were little, then married their father and with him had nine children. The virtues of Fabris, who died in 1932, were being honored Sunday in a beatification ceremony in Vicenza, near her native farming village in northern Italy. Beatification is the last formal step before possible sainthood. On Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI praised large families and called...

Folks, according to Catholic World News: (CWNews.com) - Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will preside at beatification ceremonies for Charles de Foucauld and two Italian nuns-- Maria Pia Mastena, and Maria Crocifissa Curcio-- on November 13.Charles de Foucauld (1858- 1916) was a French soldier who converted to Catholicism, became a monk, and lived as a hermit in southern Algeria, where he was a pioneer of dialogue with Muslims. His beatification had originally been set for May 15, but was postponed-- along with several other similar ceremonies-- when Pope John Paul II...

Rome, Oct. 20 (CWNews.com) - Reports of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Cardinal John Henry Newman have given a new impetus to the cause for beatification of the 19th-century British convert. "At last we have a miracle cure," said Father Paul Chavasse, the provost of the Birmingham Oratory, an institution founded by Cardinal Newman in 1848. He was referring to reports that an American deacon was cured of severe chronic spinal problems through Cardinal Newman's intercession. Church officials would not reveal the identity of the man who benefited from the reported miracle, but said that the Boston archdiocese...

Sometime in the next few days, Andrea Ambrosi, a Vatican lawyer specializing in the arcane ways of canonization, will leave New Orleans for Rome with a precious cargo: 2,918 pages of memories, testimonies and historical and theological arguments in support of sainthood for his new client, Henriette Delille, the 19th century woman of color who spent a lifetime ministering to slaves in antebellum New Orleans. The thick files are the product of 16 years of prayers, promotion and scholarly research by modern admirers of Delille in and out of the Sisters of the Holy Family, the religious order she founded....