Pope Moves British Cardinal Henry Newman Closer to Sainthood

Cardinal John Henry Newman, one of Britain’s most famous converts to Catholicism, was moved a step closer to sainthood by Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican said.

The pope authorized a decree attributing a miracle to Newman, opening the way for the Englishman who died in 1890 to be “beatified” or blessed, an intermediate step toward sainthood, the Vatican said in a statement today.

The beatification ceremony for Newman, a prolific author and theologian who left the Church of England in 1845, probably will take place at the Vatican or in London some time this year, the Italian news agency Ansa said, without saying where it got the information.

The late Pope John Paul II put Newman on the road to sainthood in 1991 by declaring him “venerable.” The process will be completed when the London-born cardinal is canonized, or formally included among the Roman Catholic Church’s officially recognized saints. It is unclear when that might be.

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