Italian Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, who was murdered in 2000 by three teenage girls during a Satanic ritual, was beatified by the Catholic Church Sunday after being recognized as a martyr.
The cause for beatification of Father Jacques Hamel, the French priest whose throat was slit by jihadists in 2016, took an important step forward Wednesday as the Vatican received a massive dossier on his case from the archdiocese of Rouen, France.
The Vatican has announced in a statement this week that Pope Paul VI will be canonized in Rome next October with Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was killed in 1980 while celebrating Mass.
Pope Francis has established a new path to canonization as a saint, adding the “free and voluntary offering of one’s life” to the three previously recognized ways to sainthood.
Pope Francis declared Mother Teresa of Calcutta a Saint on Sunday morning, stressing her commitment to the poorest of the poor, especially unborn children threatened by abortion.
On Wednesday, a Vatican panel approved the scheduled canonization of Father Junipero Serra when Pope Francis visits Washington D.C. in September. Widely disparate reactions followed the announcement, with some Californians thrilled and others bitter about conferring sainthood on the 18th century churchman largely responsible for the mission system in California.
The question of whether to canonize or not to canonize Father Junipero Serra has raged now that Pope Francis has decided to nominate Serra for sainthood. The dichotomy among Californians triggered by Serra’s nomination springs from significantly different viewpoints.