Beatification

Pope Francis has advanced the sainthood cause of U.S. Sister Rose Hawthorne, the daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and he recognized the martyrdom of a German priest and nun.

Pope Francis has recognized the miraculous healing of a toddler in Argentina as the miracle needed for the beatification of Argentine Cardinal Eduardo Pironio.

Syriac Catholic bishops from around the world met for their annual ordinary synod in Iraq, the first to be held outside Lebanon — where the patriarchal seat is located — in more than 125 years.

When Józef and Wiktoria Ulma are beatified with their children Sept. 10, eight decades after they were shot by Nazis for sheltering Jews in their farmhouse near the village of Markowa in southeastern Poland, it will be a graphic reminder of the heroism shown by many Catholic Poles during the Holocaust.

When the Ulma family is beatified Sept. 10 as martyrs who gave their lives to protect Jews during the Holocaust, it may be the first time the Catholic Church has beatified an entire, specific family together, as well as the first beatification of an unborn child.

Uruguay’s Catholic Church celebrated the beatification of Bishop Jacinto Vera May 6. Blessed Bishop Vera was not only the first bishop of Montevideo, the country’s capital, but is considered the father of the local church.

Kelly Lindquist had prayed her husband, Ian, would be healed through the intercession of Servants of God Józef and Wiktoria Ulma and their family.

Each pilgrimage stop offered an opportunity for veneration of the relic, followed by Mass.