Zenit: St. Thérèse's Parents Nearer to Beatification

St. Thérèse's Parents Nearer to Beatification


Causes for 6-Year-Old and Cardinal Newman Advancing




By Marta Lago

ROME, JAN. 10, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A married couple, a 6-year-old girl and a cardinal-convert from Anglicanism may be among those beatified soon by the Church.

Cardinal José Saraiva Martins spoke with L'Osservatore Romano about a few of the more than 2,200 cases being studied by the Congregation of Saints' Causes, of which he is prefect.

The beatification process of Luigi Martin and Celia Guérin is nearing completion, he said. They are the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Their heroic virtue was officially recognized in 1944.

Antonietta Meo, a 6-year-old who cheerfully endured bone cancer, might also soon be beatified, Cardinal Saraiva Martins said. Benedict XVI recognized her heroic virtue just last month. She would be the youngest non-martyr to be beatified.

Cardinal John Henry Newman, a 19th-century English convert from Anglicanism, may also soon be raised to the altar. Pope John Paul II recognized his heroic virtue in 1991.

"I personally hope that his beatification can happen in a truly short period of time, because it would be very important in this moment for the path of ecumenism," Cardinal Saraiva Martins said.

And, as far as Pope John Paul II, "all of the documents that have been collected have been turned in to our congregation," the cardinal said. "Currently, the 'positio' [report] is being prepared, which will have the most relevant and meaningful elements of the process, systematically and organically organized. This is necessary for the evaluation of Pope Wojtyla's practice of heroic virtue by the theologians, cardinals and the bishops who are members of the dicastery.

"For now, we're not talking about a timeline."