Consortium that decides the place and date of canonization of Francisco and Jacinta
Meeting of the Pope with the cardinals begins at 9:00 am, Lisbon time, on the 20th of April
The meeting of Pope Francis with the cardinals for the decision on the place and date of the canonization of Francisco and Jacinta Marto begins at 10:00 am, local time (9:00 am in Lisbon), on the 20th of April, in Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.
According to the Vatican Press Room, the meeting begins with the celebration of the Terce Hour, followed by the Ordinary Public Consistory for the canonization of 37 blessed Christians, among whom the two Little Shepherds of Fatima.
This is the last step before the ceremony of the canonization of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, in a process that was initiated by the then Bishop José Alves Correia da Silva, of the Diocese of Leiria, on the 30th of April 1952, a year after the transfer of the remains of Jacinta to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima.
Following initially parallel paths, the processes of the two seers finished the diocesan phase in 1979 and ten years later John Paul II decrees the heroism of the virtues of Francisco and Jacinta, who are then considered venerable, something that happens for the first time in the History of the Catholic Church with non-martyr children.
From this step on, the two processes become one. 10 years after, on the 28th of June 1999, Pope John Paul II promulgates the decree on the miraculous healing of Emília Santos, received through the intercession of the two little shepherds, thus opening the path for beatification, which was celebrated, in Fatima, in the following year, on the 13th of May 2000, making them the youngest non-martyr blessed of the Catholicism. Their liturgical feast is on the 20th of February.
The beatification was being prepared to take place in Rome, but on the polish Pope’s will, the celebration was transferred to Fatima, where John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta, presenting them to the Church and to the world as «two candles that God lit to illumine the humanity in its dark and anxious hours».
On the 23rd of March this year, Pope Francis recognized the miracle attributed to Francisco and Jacinta, following a proposal of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, leaving only to decide the place and date of the ceremony of canonization.
In the process of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, it was accepted a miraculous cure of a child in Brazil. The details for this case are still few.
The canonization is the confirmation by the Church that a catholic faithful is worthy of universal cult (in the case of a blessed, the cult is diocesan) and of being given to the faithful as intercessor and model of holiness.
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