Dicastery for the Causes of Saints

Dicastery for the Causes of Saints

Coat of arms of the Holy See
Palazzo delle Congregazioni in Piazza Pio XII (in front of St. Peter's Square) is the workplace for most congregations of the Roman Curia
Dicastery overview
Formed	22 January 1588; 436 years ago (1588-01-22)
Preceding agencies	Sacred Congregation of Rites Congregation for the Causes of Saints
Type	Dicastery
Headquarters	Palazzo delle Congregazioni, Piazza Pio XII, Rome, Italy
Dicastery executives	Marcello Semeraro, Prefect Fabio Fabene, Secretary P. Bogusław Stanisław Turek, Under-Secretary Alberto Royo Mejía, Promoter of the Faith Angelo Romano, Relator General
Website	http://www.causesanti.va

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In the

With the changes in the canonization process introduced by Pope John Paul II in 1983, a College of Relators was added to prepare the cases of those declared as Servants of God.^[1] In January 2014, the Prefect of the Congregation announced that at the direction of Pope Francis those working on canonizations must adhere to financial guidelines to eliminate unfairness in the treatment of cases based on the financial resources provided.^[3] According to L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis hoped to promote the causes of those less well-known, those from poorer regions, and those who were victims of 20th-century totalitarian persecutions.^[4]

The former Prefect, Cardinal Giovanni Becciu, resigned on 24 September 2020, and was promptly succeeded on 15 October by Bishop Marcello Semeraro.^[5] Since 18 January 2021, Archbishop Fabio Fabene has been Secretary and Bogusław Turek has been Under-Secretary.^[6] The current Promoter of the Faith (Prelate Theologian) is Carmelo Pellegrino [cs], formerly a Relator in the Congregation.^[7]

Current process

The steps for the recognition of a miracle follow rules laid down in 1983 by the Apostolic constitution, Divinus Perfectionis Magister. That legislation establishes two procedural stages: the diocesan one and that of what is known as the Roman Congregation. The first takes place within the diocese where the prodigious event happened. The bishop opens the enquiry on the presumed miracle in which the depositions of the eyewitnesses questioned by a duly constituted court are gathered, as well as the complete clinical and instrumental documentation inherent to the case. In the second, the Congregation examines the documents sent and eventual supplementary documentation, pronouncing its judgment on the matter.^[8]

Assessing miracles

The miracle may go beyond the possibilities of nature either in the substance of the fact or in the subject, or only in the way it occurs. So three degrees of miracle are to be distinguished. The first degree is represented by resurrection from the dead (quoad substantiam). The second concerns the subject (quoad subiectum): the sickness of a person is judged incurable, in its course it can even have destroyed bones or vital organs; in this case not only is complete recovery noticed, but even wholesale reconstitution of the organs (restitutio in integrum). The third degree (quoad modum) involves instantaneous recovery from an illness that treatment could only have achieved after a long period.^{[citation needed]}

In 2016 Cardinal Parolin, under the mandate of Pope Francis, approved new Regulations for the Medical Board of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The Regulations were published and signed by Cardinal Amato and Archbishop Marcello Bartolucci. The current text, explains Archbishop Bartolucci, "is inspired by the previous Regulation approved by Paul VI on 23 April 1976 and, aside from the linguistic and procedural updating, introduces some new elements, such as: the qualified majority, to proceed ad ulteriora to the examination of a presumed miracle, is at least 5/7 or 4/6; the case cannot be re-examined more than three times; for the re-examination of the presumed miracle a Board of nine members is required; the term of office of the president of the Board can be renewed only once (five years, plus another five year term); all those who are occupied with a presumed miracle (promoters of the cause, tribunal, postulators, experts, officials of the Dicastery) are held to secrecy[.]"^[9] These "new rules approved by Pope Francis and released by the Vatican on Friday are designed to make the process for approving a miracle in a sainthood cause more stringent, and also to ensure there's a clear paper trail behind who's picking up the tab and how much is being spent."^[10]

Pre-Congregation

Martyrs

The decision as to whether

The veneration of confessors, who died peacefully after a life of heroic virtue, is not as ancient as that of martyrs. It was in the fourth century, as is commonly held, that confessors were first given public ecclesiastical honour, though occasionally praised in ardent terms by earlier Fathers.^{[citation needed]}

Individual confessors themselves were sometimes called martyrs.

Leadership

Prefect of Congregation for the Causes of Saints
His Eminence
Member of	Roman Curia
Reports to	The Pope
Appointer	The Pope
Term length	Five years, renewable

Prefects of the Congregation for Rites

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• Luigi Tripepi (7 January 1903 – 29 December 1906)
• Sebastiano Martinelli (8 February 1909 – 4 July 1918)
• Scipione Tecchi (8 November 1914 – 7 February 1915)
• Antonio Vico
  (11 February 1915 – 25 February 1929)
• Camillo Laurenti (12 March 1929 – 6 September 1938)
• Carlo Salotti (14 September 1938 – 24 October 1947)
• Clemente Micara (11 November 1950 – 17 January 1953)
• Gaetano Cicognani (7 December 1953 – 18 November 1954)
• Arcadio Larraona Saralegui (12 February 1962 – 9 January 1968)
• Benno Gut (29 June 1967 – 7 May 1969)

Prefects

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• Paolo Bertoli (1969–1973)
• Luigi Raimondi (1973–1975)
• Corrado Bafile (1976–1980)
• Pietro Palazzini (1980–1988)
• Angelo Felici (1988–1995)
• Alberto Bovone (pro-prefect 1995–1998, prefect 1998)
• José Saraiva Martins (1998–2008)
• Angelo Amato (pro-prefect 2008–2010, prefect 2010–2018)
• Giovanni Angelo Becciu (2018–2020)^[25]
• Marcello Semeraro (2020–present)^[26]

Secretaries

• Ferdinando Giuseppe Antonelli (7 May 1969 – 5 March 1973)
• Giuseppe Casoria (2 February 1973 – 24 August 1981)
• Traian Crişan
  (7 December 1981 – 24 February 1990)
• Edward Nowak (24 February 1990 – 5 May 2007)
• Michele Di Ruberto (5 May 2007 – 29 December 2010)
• Marcello Bartolucci (29 December 2010 – 18 January 2021)
• Fabio Fabene (18 January 2021 – present)

Relator Generals

• Ambrosius Eber (1990 – 10 October 2008)
• Vincenso Criscuolo (10 October 2008 – 13 January 2024)
• Angelo Romano (13 January 2024 – present)^[27]

See also