By Courtney Mares Vatican City, May 22, 2023 / 11:15 am The Catholic Church is one step closer to canonizing a surfing saint. Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtue of Brazil’s “Surfer Angel” Guido Schäffer in a decree issued by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on Saturday. Schäffer was …

By Courtney Mares Vatican City, Dec 17, 2022 / 07:10 am Pope Francis has recognized the martyrdom of a married couple with seven children who were killed by the Nazis for hiding a Jewish family in their home in Poland. The pope signed on Dec. 17 a decree on the martyrdom …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Oct 18, 2022 / 11:00 am The cause for beatification of Sister Lucia dos Santos, the eldest child to witness the Fatima apparitions, has taken a step forward. In a meeting at the Vatican, the postulators for Lucia’s cause submitted the “positio” document containing testimonies …

by Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Apr 12, 2022 / 08:55 am Pope Francis has advanced the beatification cause of an Italian laywoman who was neglected by her parents, abused by her husband, and suffered prolonged health problems. Maria Aristea Ceccarelli was born in northeastern Italy in 1883 to an illiterate and …

by Katie Yoder Lahore, Pakistan, Feb 1, 2022 / 16:40 pm When a suicide bomber attempted to enter a Catholic church in Pakistan in 2015, a 20-year-old  volunteer security guard blocked him. “I will die but I will not let you go in,” he reportedly told the terrorist armed with …

by Jonah McKeown New York City, N.Y., Dec 10, 2021 / 18:00 pm More than a dozen boxes containing evidence of Servant of God Dorothy Day’s reputation for holiness are on their way to the Vatican, after a Mass this week in New York City marked the end of two …

by Katie Yoder Baltimore, Md., Nov 17, 2021 / 15:45 pm Three servants of God are advancing toward sainthood: a 12-year old diagnosed with cancer who offered up her suffering, a man with a special devotion to the Sacred Heart, and a Civil War veteran who joined St. Damian of …

by CNA Staff Wichita, Kan., Sep 29, 2021 / 14:54 pm During Wednesday’s funeral Mass for Father Emil Kapaun, the Bishop of Wichita called the U.S. Army chaplain who died in a North Korean prisoner of war camp a “humble, and saintly priest.” “We come to pray for Father’s repose, …

by Kate Scanlon Peoria, Ill., Aug 25, 2021 / 10:58 am Proponents of the beatification of Venerable Fulton Sheen are still searching for answers about the cause, nearly two years after that process was paused. “I don’t know much,” Bishop Louis Tylka, Coadjutor Bishop of Peoria, told CNA in an …

by Joe Bukuras Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 17, 2021 / 10:44 am The US bishops voted Thursday that they consider it opportune to advance two causes of canonization, for Father Joseph Verbis Lafleur, a World War II military chaplain, and for Marinus (Leonard) LaRue, a merchant mariner who became a …