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Pope Francis on Saturday put Robert Schuman, who paved the way for the founding of the European Union, on the path to sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church. The pope approved a decree recognizing the “heroic virtues” of the 20th-century French statesman who died in 1963, the Vatican said in a statement. “Behind the action of the public man, there was the interiority of the man who lived the sacraments, who, when he could, would take to an abbey, who would reflect on the sacred Word before finding the shape of his political words,” the Vatican said about Schuman. The...

Last month, 41,000 Catholics flocked to the ancient Italian city of Assisi to view the body of a curly-haired teenager dressed in a tracksuit and Nike sneakers. Carlo Acutis was just 15 when he died of leukemia in 2006. His fervent faith inspired him to create websites cataloging Catholic miracles and to minister to the homeless and hungry in his native Milan. After his beatification this year, Acutis, dubbed “the Millennial Saint” and “the patron of the Internet,” is a single step away from canonization — one of the youngest Catholics ever, and the first member of his generation, to...

Have you ever witnessed a miracle? Have you met a person who experienced one? Sure, I’ve experienced things that seem like they might have a supernatural component. Many to most of us probably have, at least at some point in a long lifetime. But I’m talking about the real deal. That is, something so extraordinary that you can’t quite explain it by normal physical means, nor can medical personnel. Something that is so stunning, that so defies rational-scientific explanation, that it actually gets taken up by, oh, the Vatican — which, in turn, takes the time to scrutinize it. I...

God's will be done The Catholic religion inducts and celebrates its saints, and I would like to know what the holdup is regarding the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979). Why is he not yet a saint? For those who do not know, Fulton Sheen hosted an extremely popular television show in the 1950s. A number of its episodes can be watched on the internet, so those who were born long after Fulton Sheen’s passing can catch a glimpse of what the man was like.

In canonizing Mother Teresa as a saint ("Pope declares Mother Teresa a saint," Sept. 5), the pope publicly confirmed the essential tenets of Catholicism: That God could have stopped Catholic priests from raping altar boys. But, overall, He didn't want to. And millions throughout the world rejoiced in this good news. Such is religion.

Mother Teresa, or Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, will be declared a saint in the Roman Catholic Church on September 4, Pope Francis announced on Tuesday. While it was announced in December that she had been cleared for sainthood, her date of canonization was announced today. Affectionately known as the "saint of the gutter" for her unconditional ?love ?for the poor, abandoned and marginalized, Mother Teresa earned several international honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She was beatified in 2003 by Pope John Paul II after being attributed to a first miracle, answering an Indian woman's prayers to cure...

The Vatican committee that approves elevations to sainthood will meet Tuesday to consider a recommendation that Mother Teresa of Calcutta becomes Saint Teresa, the Holy See announced on Monday. With the long-awaited decision seen as a formality, Pope Francis is expected to sign a decree approving the canonisation of the 1979 Nobel peace prize winner and set a date and venue for it to happen.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis will preside over a consistory to approve the canonization of five men and women, including Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, the Vatican announced. The March 15 consistory will also determine the approval of canonization of Argentine "gaucho priest," Blessed Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero and Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio, a 14-year-old Mexican boy martyred for refusing to renounce his faith during the Cristero War of the 1920s, the Vatican said March 7. The meeting of cardinals and promoters of the sainthood causes, also known as an "ordinary public consistory," formally ends the process of...

ROME — Mother Teresa, who dedicated her life to helping India's poor, will be made a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican said Friday. She will likely be canonized in September to coincide with the 19th anniversary of her death and Pope Francis' Holy Year of Mercy, according to an Italian Catholic newspaper report. The pontiff marked his 79th birthday on Thursday by approving a decree that the nun had performed a second miracle 11 years after her death, the Vatican confirmed in a statement. She was beatified in 2003 as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta for healing an...

President Obama embraced the beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador Saturday ahead of celebrations in El Salvador over the controversial religious figure's progression toward sainthood. "I join people in El Salvador and around the world today in welcoming the beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero," Obama said. "He fearlessly confronted the evils he saw, guided by the needs of his beloved pueblo, the poor and oppressed people of El Salvador." Romero was shot while performing Mass in 1980 just one day after imploring the country's military to abandon their orders to violently repress a leftist uprising. Pope Francis called...

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....

Mass confusion is still extant pertaining to three key Christian words -- each related to "ministry" and those who serve God: "priesthood" "saints" "ordination" Each of these words have, unfortunately, been largely skewed by the historical Church: The first two by Roman Catholicism; the latter by Protestantism. 'Holy Priesthood...Royal Priesthood' No New Testament-based Church can neglect 1 Peter 2:4-9 and Revelation 1:5-6 plus Revelation 5:10 in its definition of "priesthood." In 1 Peter 2, the "holy priesthood" (verse 5) and the "royal priesthood" (verse 9) are described as a privilege presented to those who... ...come to Christ (verse 4); ...are...

But, wait, there’s more! According to La Stampa, Pope Paul VI has reportedly been penciled in for beatification this coming fall at the conclusion of the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Yes, that’s right—Paul VI! Remember him? That vague, sort of nondescript pontiff who made up for negligible personal magnetism with an almost fanatical penchant for novelty. There is no particular cult associated with his cause, of course, other than among a few aging ecclesiastical hippies inside the Vatican who are evidently bound and determined to nominate their pal Paul for a Halo Award, come hell or high water. Something...

With it so much in the news right now that the Catholic Church is making two former Popes "saints." shouldn't Bible-believing Christians, and those in leadership in particular, be pointing out the Bible truth on who is a saint is? The media won't do this themselves, and the Catholic use of "saint" has caused a lot of ignorance on this most important matter.

Featured Term (selected at random:BEATIFICATION A declaration by the Pope as head of the Church that one of the deceased faithful lived a holy life and/or died a martyr's death and is now dwelling in heaven. As a process, the beatification consists of a years-long examination of the life, virtues, writings, and reputation for holiness of the servant of God under consideration. This is ordinarily conducted by the bishop of the place where he or she resided or died. For a martyr miracles worked through the person's intercession need not be considered in this primary process. The second, or Apostolic,...

(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...

At a special ceremony on July 6, Pope Francis briefly met with clergy and officials who, over the past two years, have been involved in the diocesan phase of the beatification process of Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan.Cardinal Van Thuan spent 13 years in prison, nine of them in solitary confinement in Hanoi, following his appointment as coadjutor archbishop of Saigon just seven days before South Vietnam fell to the Communist North in 1975.He was released in 1988 and Pope John Paul II called him to Rome, where he eventually became president of the Pontifical Council for Justice...

Drudge Headline and picture .....                                                                   SAINTHOOD

Pope Francis on Friday cleared Pope John Paul II for sainthood, approving a miracle attributed to his intercession and setting up a remarkable dual canonization along with another beloved pope, John XXIII. In a major demonstration of his papal authority, Francis decided to make John XXIII a saint even though the Vatican hasn’t confirmed a second miracle attributed to his intercession. The Vatican said Francis had the power to “dispense” with the normal saint-making procedures to canonize him on his own merit, without a miracle.The ceremonies are expected before the end of the year. The date of Dec. 8 has...

We continue our series of considering Catholic identity today by looking at Dorothy Day. Monday, I set the tone for the week by recalling the response of Flannery O’Connor to a group of erudite Catholics who thought the Eucharist was a great symbol: “Well, if it’s just a symbol, then to hell with it.” Then, I examined the counterfeit of faith known as civil religion. Yesterday, I looked at the Vatican new motu proprio regarding the Catholic identity of our charities and a different counterfeit form of Christianity, a reduction of the faith to a social justice ethic. Today,...