While blessing a portrait of Mother Angelica during a general audience yesterday, Pope Francis said he believes Mother Angelica is already in heaven.According to CNA/EWTN, Pope Francis made the statement on March 30 after being asked to bless a portrait of Mother Angelica by Martha Calderon, EWTN’s Executive TV Producer in Rome.
“She’s in heaven,” the pope said while smiling and pointing at the sky.
Mother Angelica, founder of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), died on March 27 at the age of 92 at the Monastery of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama.
The faithful are already beginning to question how soon her cause for canonization might begin, a process that could take years.
“Once a cause for her canonization officially opens, the facts and details of her life, as well as the testimonies from those around her, must be obtained and gathered into a lengthy report called a ‘positio’ or ‘position’ and presented to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints,” CNA reports.
“The congregation must then study the records to determine Mother’s heroic virtue, and eventually look into miracles attributed to her intercession. Only when one miracle has been officially approved can she be declared a Blessed. A second is then required for her canonization as a saint.”
The Pope could elect to take different route, known as an “equipollent” or “equivalent” canonization, in which he waives the requirement for one or both miracles.
This was the case with St. Pope John XXIII in 2014 when Francis waived the second miracle required for canonization and declared him a saint with just one miracle.
Meanwhile, the faithful continue to pray for – and to – this courageous and feisty lady who built the world’s largest Catholic media enterprise with just $200 and a heart full of faith in the providence of God. She taught us all we really can do mighty things through Him who strengthens us!
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