Preparations are underway in Norway to open a canonization cause for the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sigrid Undset, Bishop Fredrik Hansen of Oslo announced July 8.
Canonization
Pope Leo XIV issued decrees advancing the sainthood causes of five candidates, including a Dutch nun who served in St. Louis in the early 20th century.
As supporters of Maryknoll Father Vincent Capodanno’s canonization cause marked the 60th anniversary of the late Navy chaplain’s arrival in Vietnam in 1966, there was renewed hope that the effort was gaining momentum.
Antonia Brenner was twice divorced and had raised seven children when she gave up her comfortable life in Southern California to live in a small prison cell in the border city of Tijuana.
When Pope Leo XIV raises three women and four men to the altar Oct. 19, he will canonize a diverse group of religious and lay men and women, all bound by the virtue of holding on to their faith amid personal, spiritual, and external challenges.
At a packed canonization Mass in Rome, with 80,000 attending, it was the face of the mother that said it all during the canonization Mass — Antonia Salzano was moved beyond words when her son, Carlo Acutis, was officially declared saint of the Catholic Church.
The greatest risk in life is to waste it by not seeking to follow God’s plan, Pope Leo XIV said, proclaiming two new saints — two young laymen of the 20th and 21st centuries.
A new statue depicting Blessed Carlo Acutis is a message that conveys to the world that the Catholic Church is not an old institution but a young and vibrant Church with a relevant message for today’s culture, the statue’s sculptor said.
With the death of Pope Francis, the April 27 canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis was postponed and the Mass scheduled for that day will be a memorial Mass, the Vatican said.
Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of one woman and five men, including Antoni Gaudí, the Spanish architect who designed the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, Spain.