Killed for fighting corruption: How a Congolese man made a martyr is inspiring a new generation
JUSTIN KABUMBA, of Associated Press, reports on how the life of Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kosit – recently designated a martyr in a step towards Catholic sainthood – is inspiring others in the central African nation…
Vatican advances beatification process for Belgium’s King who abdicated rather than approve abortion
Rome, Italy AP The Vatican has taken the first main step to implement Pope Francis’ wish that Belgium’s late King be beatified for having abdicated for a day rather than approve legislation to legalise abortion. The Holy See’s saint-making office on 17th December established a historical commission, made up of experts in Belgian history and […]
John Paul I, briefly serving, ‘smiling” Pope, is beatified
Vatican City AP Pope Francis on Sunday beatified one of his predecessors, John Paul I, a briefly serving pontiff who distinguished himself with his humility and cheerfulness, and whose abrupt death in his bedroom in 1978 shocked the world and fueled suspicions for years about his demise. The ceremony in St Peter’s Square constituted the […]
Catholic sainthood: “Crushed” by two papacies, John Paul I’s death eclipsed life
FRANCES D’EMILIO, of Associated Press, reports on moves to make Pope John Paul I a saint…
El Salvador: Beatifications inspire hopes among US Salvadorans
ALEJANDRA MOLINA, of Religion News Service, reports on hopes in the US that as El Savadoran martyrs move one step closer to sainthood, Salvadorans living in the United States hope the designation could inspire the Catholic Church to center the poor and marginalised…
Two priests, two lay people beatified in El Salvador
San Salvador, El Salvador AP The Roman Catholic Church beatified two priests and two lay people Saturday, all victims of right-wing death squads during El Salvador’s civil war. Rev Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit priest killed alongside friends Manuel Solorzano and teenager Nelson Lemus on 12th March, 1977, was known for his ministry to the poor […]
Cold War cardinal and blind nun beatified in Poland
Warsaw, Poland Reuters A Polish cardinal persecuted by communist authorities during the Cold War and a nun dedicated to helping the blind took a step towards sainthood on Sunday when they were beatified. Though shaken by child abuse scandals, the Catholic Church remains enormously important in Poland and was seen by many as a voice […]
Judge slain in Sicily by mafiosi put on path to Catholic sainthood
Rome, Italy AP A magistrate slain by mobsters in Sicily and praised by two popes has been beatified by the Roman Catholic church on Sunday in the last formal step before possible sainthood. Rosario Livatino was gunned down on a Sicilian highway outside Agrigento as he drove to work in 1990. Three years later, during […]
Venezuela’s beloved ‘Doctor of the Poor’ to be beatified
Caracas, VenezuelaAP With the austerity of a monk, a vocation to seek the good of others and a bright scientific mind, Jose Gregorio Hernández won the affection of those who called him “the doctor of the poor”. He became a religious icon after his death in 1919, and since then millions of Venezuelans have fervently […]
Carlo Acutis, Millennial candidate for Catholic sainthood, draws 41,000 to Assisi church
Vatican City RNS The Catholic Church’s most recent candidate for sainthood is also its most modern. Lying in a glass-sided casket in jeans and a track jacket, the body of Carlo Acutis, an internet enthusiast who died in 2006 of leukemia at the age of 15, was venerated by some 41,000 visitors during a 19-day-long […]