Newly elected Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski of Poland embrace at the Vatican in this 1978 photo. Pope Francis advanced the sainthood cause of Cardinal Wyszynski, St. John Paul II’s mentor. (CNS photo/Arturo Mari)
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis recognized the miracle needed for the beatification of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, a mentor and friend of St. John Paul II. The pope also signed decrees recognizing the miracles needed for the future beatifications of Father Francesco Mottola, an Italian priest who founded the Secular Institute of the Oblates of the Sacred Heart, and Alessandra Sabattini, an Italian laywoman who volunteered helping people with drug addictions and those with disabilities through the Pope John XXIII community, run by the late Father Oreste Benzi. She died in 1984 at the age of 22 after being struck by a car. The other decrees included recognition of the martyrdom of Juan Roig Diggle, a 19-year-old layman who was killed in 1936 during Spain’s civil war, and Benigna Cardoso da Silva, a 13-year-old laywoman who was murdered in 1941 in Brazil by a would-be rapist. The pope signed the decrees after a meeting Oct. 2 with Cardinal Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. The Vatican published the news the next day. The late Cardinal Wyszynski had been the primate of Poland and one of the late pope’s most ardent supporters, starting when then-Karol Wojtyla was a young bishop.
Holy Name Cathedral installs statue and relic of St. Frances Cabrini Holy Name Cathedral welcomed on Oct. 15 a first-class relic and a bronze statue of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, identified on the front of the worship guide as “Chicago’s saint.”
Uncle’s canonization changed this Grayslake man’s faith, life Rafael Sánchez was at his home in Grayslake in January 2016, watching the news on television, when his life changed.
During Advent, rediscover a place of rest with Edith Stein The second reading for the Third Sunday of Advent is a place of personal resonance: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).