Pope waives wait for Sister Lucia's beatification cause

 

Fatima, Feb. 14, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has waived the usual 5-year waiting period to allow the immediate opening of a cause for the beatification of Sister Lucia dos Santos, the last survivor of the three Fatima seers.

Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, revealed the papal decision on February 13, at a Mass he celebrated at the cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal, on the 3rd anniversary of Sister Lucia's death. The cardinal disclosed that Bishop Albino Mamede Cleto of Coimbra had asked the Pope to waive the waiting period, and the Holy Father granted that request.

Ordinarily a cause for beatification cannot begin until 5 years after the candidate's death. Since that waiting period was established, it has been waived in only two other cases. In 1997 Pope John Paul II (bio - news) allowed the immediate opening of a cause for the beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta; Pope Benedict XVI took the same step to allow the opening of a cause for John Paul II in 2005.

Sister Lucia, who spent most of her life as a Carmelite nun, died at the age of 97 at her convent in Coimbra, near Fatima. In 1917, she and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, had seen the Virgin Mary at Fatima, in the most renowned apparition of the 20th century; the "message of Fatima" spread quickly throughout the Catholic world. Francisco and Jacinta Marto both died as youths, and were beatified in April 2000.