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Does the world really need yet another Roman Catholic saint, particularly if that means canonizing one of the most controversial popes in history? By one count, there are already more than 10,000 saints and “beati,” or blessed, accumulated since Roman times, with at least three saints already assigned for every day of the year. That’s just one of several reasons why Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to proceed toward the canonization of Pius XII, the church’s World War II-era pope, was so surprising. Another two miracles to his name, and Pius will have cleared all the hurdles to sainthood, where he...

The controversial wartime pope accused of failing to openly condemn the Holocaust has moved a step closer to sainthood, the Vatican has confirmed. Pope Pius XII will be declared venerable after the current pontiff Pope Benedict XVI approved a "heroic virtues decree", the first of three stages before canonisation. To be declared venerable, a church investigation has to conclude that the person in question lived a life of exemplary holiness and heroic virtue. There must be nothing in the dead person’s writings that enables these characteristics to be challenged. Pope Benedict has also agreed to declare his predecessor Pope John...

THE Vatican is gearing up to give Australia a joyous Christmas celebration, with Blessed Mary MacKillop almost certain to be our first saint within days. The decision will end decades of lobbying for the canonisation of the woman revered for her tireless work helping children and the needy. Australia's five million Catholics will rejoice at the news, with the sainthood predicted to spark a surge in interest in the Church and faith, particularly in South Australia where Mary co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph. The Sunday Mail understands Mary MacKillop's second miracle has been cleared by a team of cardinals...

div class="noticia_imagen_contenedor" style="width: 250px;"> John Paul II Rome, Italy, Nov 17, 2009 / 11:22 am (CNA).- Vatican analyst Andrea Tornielli reported this week that the first step toward the beatification of John Paul II has already been completed.  He explained that officials at the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints have given the green light for the proclamation of the late Pope's heroic virtue.Tornielli added that only the signature of Pope Benedict XVI is needed for the proclamation to become official, noting that it “could come during Christmas, when the prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of the...

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for one thing - getting elected president in a country that has never had a woman or a person of color as its leader. I expect an Oscar, a Tony and a Pulitzer will all follow, and all will be equally deserved. The Nobel is great news for Obama and for America, but is bad news for the Rev. Al, Jesse and me, as the prize committees have now met their quota.

There are men who say, "My wife is a saint for putting up with me." But an Ohio man, Jerome Coniker, may prove it. The Vatican has given approval to pursue sainthood for his late wife, Gwen, who was 62 when she died in June 2002. "When the church looks for sanctity, they don't seek phenomenal signs or revelations or apparitions. They just look for the virtuous life. She sure qualifies for that," said Mr. Coniker, co-founder with her of the Apostolate for Family Consecration in Bloomingdale, Ohio. Together they raised 12 children, and have 65 grandchildren. Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07252/815934-85.stm#ixzz0HIqjCOIT&B

(CNS/Reuters) According to the Italian daily La Stampa, John Paul II will be beatified on April 2, 2010 — the fifth anniversary of his death. Reporter Giacomo Galeazzi reports that thanks to an acceleration in the beatification process, documents pertaining to John Paul’s cause, called the “positio,� have already been forwarded by a commission of theologians to be examined by cardinals . “This is very good news,� says Msgr. Tadeusz Pieronek, the Polish priest who has been responsible for the diocesan phase of the beatification process in Krakow, La Stampa reported. La Stampa adds that in early March, John Paul...

WAILUKU -- Just after midnight in Rome on Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI made the final announcement many Hawaii residents have wanted to hear for more than a century. The pope will canonize Blessed Damien of Molokai as a saint Oct. 11 at the Vatican, according to an e-mail from the Very Rev. Marc R. Alexander of the Honolulu Roman Catholic Church Diocese. Damien ministered to leprosy patients on Kalaupapa in the 19th century, ultimately contracting the then-fatal disease. The pope had previously declared in July that Damien would become a saint, after the church officially attributed to Damien the two...

A 19th-century Belgian priest who ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii will be declared a saint Oct. 11 at a Vatican ceremony presided over by Pope Benedict XVI. The Rev. Damien de Veuster's canonization date was set Saturday during a meeting between Benedict and cardinals at the Apostolic Palace. De Veuster will be canonized along with four other people, the Vatican said.

Thousands of Cubans, including President Raul Castro and Communist Party leaders, flocked to a Catholic ceremony on Saturday putting a 19th century monk on the path to sainthood. Saturday's Mass honored Friar Jose Olallo Valdes, known as the father of the poor. It was the first beatification ceremony on the island. "From here on, let him be called blessed," said the pope's representative, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican.

French Jewish Group Opposes Pius XII Sainthood Friday, October 17, 2008 4:30 PM PARIS -- France's main Jewish organization warned Friday that efforts to make wartime Pope Pius XII a saint would deal "a severe blow" to relations between Catholics and Jews. The warning from an umbrella organization of French Jewish groups comes as the Vatican mounts a campaign to refute accusations Pius did not do enough to try to stop the extermination of 6 million Jews during World War II. "Pope Pius XII, worried about burning his bridges with Germany, never made a clear statement denouncing the singular monstrosity...

LONDON (CNS) -- Catholic officials have applied for permission to exhume the body of a 19th-century cardinal whose cause for sainthood is expected to soon progress to beatification. They want to transfer the remains of Cardinal John Henry Newman from a grave in a small cemetery in the suburbs of Birmingham, England, to a marble sarcophagus in a church in the city where they can be venerated by pilgrims. A July 14 statement said that the Archdiocese of Birmingham was now in direct contact with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, to obtain the necessary...

The requisite miracle for his canonization approved in May, the Pope yesterday green-lighted the elevation to sainthood of Bl Damien deVeuster -- the Belgian priest (1840-89) who spent his life ministering to the leper community on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, eventually contracting and dying of the disease. Beatified in 1995, the news gives Stateside Catholicism its seventh product raised to the honors of the altar, and is notable on a global level given the widespread devotion to Bl Damien as unofficial patron of HIV/AIDS patients. Benedict XVI accepted 13 decrees of miracles, martyrdom and heroic virtue presented to...

From the Canadian Press, Vatican City press office: Pope Benedict on Saturday set the founder of the Knights of Columbus, one of the world's largest lay Catholic groups, on the path to possible beatification and sainthood, the Vatican said.The Pope recognized the "heroic virtues" of reverend Michael McGivney, who in 1882 created a fraternal society for Catholic men who suffered discrimination because of their religion and immigrant origins....The effort to canonize him was opened in 1997. That process received important support last year, when the Vatican's No. 2 official, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, celebrated mass at the Knights of Columbus...

Orlando, Feb 5, 2008 / 07:12 am (CNA).- Karl von Habsburg, the last emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire moved a step closer to sainthood last week, the Orlando Sentinel reports.  A Florida woman has claimed that by praying for the intercession of the emperor, she was cured from breast cancer.The Baptist woman from Kissimmee, Florida received the ruler’s holy card from a friend, Paula Melancon, who became interested in Emperor von Habsburg on a trip to Europe.  The cancer sufferer prayed that Karl intercede on her behalf.Doctors as well as a judicial tribunal of the Diocese of Orlando agreed that...

Cardinal Newman, the Anglican cleric whose conversion to Roman Catholicism scandalised Victorian Britain, appeared closer to sainthood today after his case was backed by a senior Vatican official.   Cardinal Newman The head of the Vatican department that examines the causes of saints said that he would like the Cardinal's beatification - the step before canonisation - to take place very soon. His comments suggest that the Vatican is close to attributing a miracle to Cardinal Newman, which means that the 19th century cleric could be beatified before the end of the year. The controversial theologian and writer of the...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican is preparing to issue a set of instructions to promote "greater caution and more accuracy" in the opening of new sainthood causes by local dioceses, a top Vatican official said. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, said the instructions were needed to reflect the "new spirit introduced by Pope Benedict XVI in beatification procedures." The cardinal spoke in an interview published Jan. 8 by the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, under the headline: "More precision will be asked in diocesan canonization processes." Cardinal Saraiva Martins said the new document will...

A second reported miracle brings sainthood one step closer to Australia's Blessed Mary MacKillop. Sister Maria Casey, vice-postulator of MacKillop's cause for sainthood, announced the recovery of a woman who was on her deathbed may elevate MacKillop to full sainthood, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday in a story carried by Catholic News. Rosa, who does not want her last name revealed, lay in a coma, suffering multiple organ failure from breast cancer. On the night she recovered, coincidentally MacKillop's feast day, her family prayed to Australia's saint-in-waiting for her intercession. Father Raphael Beltrame left to await the call from...

There are men who say, "My wife is a saint for putting up with me." But an Ohio man, Jerome Coniker, may prove it. The Vatican has given approval to pursue sainthood for his late wife, Gwen, who was 62 when she died in June 2002. "When the church looks for sanctity, they don't seek phenomenal signs or revelations or apparitions. They just look for the virtuous life. She sure qualifies for that," said Mr. Coniker, co-founder with her of the Apostolate for Family Consecration in Bloomingdale, Ohio. Together they raised 12 children, and have 65 grandchildren. A 10 a.m....

Roman Catholic Church officials passed a key milestone in the drive to make Pope John Paul II a saint Monday, closing an investigation into his life during a ceremony on the second anniversary of the beloved pontiff's death.Also Monday, church officials from France delivered to the Vatican a dossier detailing the purported miraculous cure of a nun who prayed to John Paul — a key requirement for beatification, the last step before possible sainthood.The remarkably fast pace underscores the Church's keen interest in beatifying John Paul and responding to the calls of "Santo Subito" or "Sainthood Immediately!" that erupted after...

Tomorrow in Loretto's Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel, Frank and Betty Seymour will present Bishop Joseph Adamec with the petition for sainthood for Father Demetrius Gallitzin, an 18th century Russian prince who converted to Catholicism and became a pioneering missionary in Western Pennsylvania. "He literally gave up everything to pursue a life of extraordinary hardship, in order to plant the Catholic church here on this frontier," said Betty Seymour, a retired teacher from Loretto, Cambria County. Her research, with that of her husband, has made them "co-postulators," or head researchers, of Father Gallitzin's cause for canonization. The ceremony at...

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 continues to distribute the official prayer cards for the cause and the only authorized relics, an office spokeswoman said. "We receive dozens of requests each day and the distribution continues," she told Catholic News Service Feb. 26. The relic is a small piece of one of the white cassocks worn by Pope John Paul. The free cards and relics can be requested by letter, fax or e-mail, she said. The e-mail address is: Postulazione.GiovanniPaoloII@VicariatusUrbis.org; the fax number is: (39-06) 6888-6240. The mailing...

Via Cosmos-Liturgy-SexArchbishop Fulton Sheen’s Cause for Canonization has been moving forward quite well lately. I hear that it appears that the miracle needed for his beatification will be found among those which have been pouring in recently (one of them, which I believe may already have been verified, was from a woman from my parish). A concern is that since he was such a prolific writer, the review of his voluminous writings may not be completed for some time and could, therefore, delay the process.For the review process, each document must be reviewed by two qualified persons. Qualified means: a...

The late Pope John Paul II praying in front of the remains of Blessed Gorg Preca at the MUSEUM chapel in Blata l-Bajda in May 2001 The Congregation for Sainthood Causes in Rome has approved a second miracle that should lead to the canonisation of the Blessed Gorg Preca, the Archbishop's Curia said yesterday. The decision was taken following a discussion held at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican headed by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins on Tuesday. The decision was originally expected in the middle of last year but was delayed. Pope John Paul II beatified Dun Gorg in...

EWTN will broadcast live Canonization of Rafael Guizar; Fillippo Smaldone; Rosa Venerini; and Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin from Rome (2 ½ HOURS) LIVE

PEORIA - Copies of a report on an alleged miracle that took place in 1999 through the intercession of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen were signed and sealed Sunday by Roman Catholic Church officials. The 500-page report and supporting documents will now be delivered to Rome by canon lawyer Andrea Ambrosi, postulator of the cause to have Sheen recognized as a saint. There, Ambrosi will argue to a Vatican panel that this case and another being prepared in the Diocese of Pittsburgh are evidence of Sheen's sainthood. Sheen, who was born in the Woodford County town of El Paso...

The Vatican has announced that the next Consistory, a meeting between the pope and cardinals in Rome during which significant papal matters are considered, is scheduled for Saturday, July 1. The date for the canonization ceremony for Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., will be set at that time. Mother Theodore was beatified in October, 1998, and in April of this year, Pope Benedict XVI signed a decree acknowledging a second miracle healing attributed to her intercession through prayer. She founded the Sisters of Providence in 1840. She died in 1856. Sister...

WASHINGTON (National Catholic Register) — This Memorial Day, you can pray to the Maryknoll priest they called “The Grunt Padre.” On May 21 at the Memorial Day Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Father Vincent Capodanno received the title Servant of God. The Vietnam War Navy chaplain was a Medal of Honor winner. At the Mass, Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, officially opened the cause for canonization for Father Capodanno, who died heroically in Vietnam on Sept. 4, 1967, during a fierce battle in Operation...

ROME (Reuters) - Last year, Monsignor Slawomir Oder opened one of the many letters he receives from people who think Pope John Paul should be declared a saint. He felt a strange sensation. This letter was different. In it, a French nun said she had been suffering from a precocious form of Parkinson's disease but that the symptoms disappeared after she prayed to John Paul for nine days. "The letter was very simple and delicate, not triumphal," Oder recalled in his cluttered office in the Basilica of St. John Lateran as the Vatican prepares to commemorate the first anniversary of...

Path to sainthood cleared for foundress of the Sisters of Providence The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., today announced that the path to sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church has been cleared for their foundress, Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin. The Ordinary Congregation of the Cardinals in Rome on Tuesday (Feb. 21) made a positive declaration concerning a second miracle attributed to Mother Theodore's intercession. The way is now open for her canonization. Information about the Cause will now be shared with all Cardinals, archbishops, bishops and other church leaders before it is sent to Pope Benedict XVI for...

WASHINGTON -- Could Episcopalians soon be celebrating the Feast of St. Thurgood?The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is to consider a resolution this Friday recommending that the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall be considered a saint. A press release from the diocese said: "If the resolution passes, and is approved by consecutive meetings of the Church's national convention, Episcopal churches will have the opportunity to celebrate May 17 as Marshall's feast day." On that date in 1954, Marshall, who was later to become the first black Supreme Court justice, won the Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation case. He...

NEW YORK (AP) - Episcopalians from a church where the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall worshipped are asking their denomination to name him a saint. Marshall, who died in 1993, was a towering figure in the civil rights movement and the first black justice to sit on the nation's highest court. Members of St. Augustine's Church in Washington, D.C., will seek initial approval for the honor Friday from delegates to the convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Two consecutive meetings of the denomination's national legislature - which gathers every three years - will then consider the proposal. "His...

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...

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...

Pope John Paul II's closest aide said in an interview on Saturday that he hoped the late pontiff would be made a saint during World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany next month. "Everything is possible, but I don't know if it would be opportune," Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz said. But he said the Cologne setting would be perfect because "no one loved young people like the pope and they loved him." "It would be wonderful for a German pope to canonize a Polish pope in Cologne," he said. Dziwisz also said Pope Benedict XVI will visit Poland next spring. "He has...

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....

The Catholic Church has launched the official process which may culminate in a sainthood for the late Pope John Paul II with a service in Rome. The mass to nominate John Paul for beatification marks the penultimate step on the path to becoming a saint. Members of a special commission - including a latter-day "Devil's Advocate" whose job is to challenge any claim - swore secrecy and probity. The commission will sift possible evidence of a miracle by the late Pope. Fast-track During the mass at the cathedral of St John Lateran, the words of Cardinal Camillo Ruini were interrupted...

THE Roman Catholic Church will start examining the life and virtues of the late Pope John Paul II - already hailed as a saint by many in his flock - in a speeded-up process that could lead the pontiff to sainthood. The diocese of Rome, of which the pope is the bishop, will open the beatification process in a solemn ceremony at Saint John in Lateran presided by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the vicar of Rome. The inquiry will examine "the life, virtues, and reputation of sainthood of the servant of God John Paul II." Although the Church traditionally waits five...

Pope Benedict XVI has temporarily blocked the beatification of a French priest and appointed a commission to investigate the priest's anti-Semitic writings, drawing praise from Jewish leaders who called it a sign of the new pope's sensitivity to other religions.Last December, Pope John Paul II announced plans to beatify Leon Dehon on April 24. The ceremony would have been a major step toward sainthood for Dehon, who lived from 1843 to 1925 and founded the Priests of the Sacred Heart, a religious order that today has nearly 2,400 members around the world.In February, however, a French historian drew attention to...

Loretto, PA., Jun. 10, 2005 (CNA) - A Russian prince who left his wealth behind to come to America and be the first priest ordained in the United States has received his first nod from the Vatican on his road to sainthood.The Congregation for the Causes of the Saints has named Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin a Servant of God, announced Bishop Joseph Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown on Monday.  Fr. Gallitzin left Europe at age 29 and entered a Baltimore monastery in 1795. He became the first priest to be ordained in the U.S. After his ordination, he used his inherited wealth to...

Pope Benedict XVI said today he had opened the process for the sainthood of Pope John Paul II. The move overrides the usual five-year waiting period following the death of a possible candidate. The pope made the announcement in Latin during a meeting at the Basilica of St John Lateran with the Roman clergy. The announcement came on the anniversary of an 1981 assassination attempt against John Paul in St Peter’s Square at the hands of a Turkish gunman. Benedict’s announcement drew a standing ovation from the Roman priests.

Pope Benedict XVI put his predecessor on the fast track for sainthood Friday and appointed San Francisco Archbishop William Levada as his successor as guardian of church doctrine, the highest Vatican office ever held by an American.

The Pope starts Wojtyla beatification The Pope has arranged the immediate beginning of the cause of beatification of Pope Wojtyla, dispensing from the wait of the five years from the dead women previewed from the code. Benedict XVI has announced personally the roman clergy, reading, in Latin, a communication in such sense of cardinal Josè Saraiva Martins, prefetto of the Congregation for the causes of knows to you. The communication has been received a longest applause of present clergymen, raised in feet, therefore like the Pope and Ruini cardinal.

Blessed Carlos Manuel Cecilio Rodríguez Santiago (1918-1963)Folks, the passing of Pope John Paul the Great has created a veritable memorabilia boom in stores. Commemorative issues of magazines, books, pictures, and DVDs abound. Riding that wave, last night I purchased a National Geographic documentary entitled Inside the Vatican. They featured a beatification ceremony which happened to be the one in which Puerto Rico's first blessed, Carlos "Charlie" (or "Chali" as he was called in Puerto Rico) Rodríguez was beatified by Pope John Paul the Great. It was a blessed coincidence. You've probably noticed Bl. Charlie's picture the margin space to the...

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Cardinals meeting daily in Rome to discuss the main issues facing the Roman Catholic Church ahead of a conclave next week to elect a pope have signed a petition asking a future pope to "accelerate" the beatification of John Paul II, a report said. The petition was signed by "many" but not all of the 134 cardinals present at Monday's meeting, according to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. The prelates have clearly caught the popular mood following the funeral mass for the late pope on Friday, when some in the massive crowd began chanting "santo,...

VATICAN CITY -- An American Jew cured of a brain tumor after attending Mass with Pope John Paul II. A Mexican boy stricken with leukemia who recovered after a papal kiss. Even a cardinal who regained his ability to speak after John Paul touched his throat. AP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: Pope John Paul II Italian newspapers have been rife with reports of alleged miracles attributed to Pope John Paul II, fueling speculation he may soon be put on the path to sainthood. Vatican rules, though, are clear: For a miracle to be considered in the saint-making process, it has...

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 10, 2005 (Zenit.org).- A cardinal who worked closely with John Paul II says that he was once cured of a serious throat condition after the Pope prayed for him and touched the affected area. Cardinal Francesco Marchisano, archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, revealed details of the incident on Saturday, the second day of the nine days of Masses celebrated for the Holy Father's eternal rest. The Italian cardinal, a friend of Karol Wojtyla's since 1962, spoke of his previously unpublicized healing during the Mass he celebrated in the basilica with Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Pope's personal secretary....

wish I'd met him in person, but despite the lack of direct human connection, I feel I knew him. I also know there was something unique about this man, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church John Paul II. Was it his words? There's no doubt he was an educated man and a talented writer. He could reach the audiences to which he spoke, whether in person or in print. He had a way of choosing the direct path to our heart, our mind, our conscience and our soul. This was a man who was comfortable speaking to millions of people...

VATICAN CITY - The private secretary of the late Pope John Paul II saw the pontiff perform what could be claimed as a miracle, one of the key stages to becoming a saint, Italy’s La Stampa newspaper reported Sunday.It quoted Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz as relating how an American who was seriously ill received communion from the pope, and was cured.The incident happened in 1998, but Dziwisz, who was John Paul II’s closest confidant for 40 years, spoke of the incident three years ago to reporters, who revealed it Sunday.According to the report, Dziwisz told how an acquaintance had asked him...