Pope Declares Sister Lucia Venerable

This Thursday, Pope Francis signed a decree declaring the seer Fatima, sister Lucia of Jesus, venerable. The decision was made after a meeting with the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and is the culmination of the bureaucratic part of the process of canonization of Sister Lucia, which began in 2008.

Sister Lucía de Jesús died on 13 February 2005 in Carmelo de Coimbra, and at the request of Cardinal Saraiva Martins, then head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the then Pope Benedict XVI allowed the beginning of the phase to be foreseen by way of a two-year diocesan part of the canonization process.

After 15 years and after a detailed analysis of the process, numbering more than 15 thousand pages, the seer Fatima is declared venerable, now without confirmation of a miracle, so that she can be beatified, and the second miracle – canonized (declared a saint). .

Read the statement in full:
“It is with great joy that we announce that Pope Francis received in audience His Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Servant of God Sister Lucia of Jesus!

From that moment on, Lucia was recognized as a reverend.

The stage of the process that led to the approval of this Decree began on 13 October 2022 with the presentation of the Positio Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican.

Since then, the contents of this document, numbering about 2000 pages, divided into 2 volumes, have been read and studied by 9 theologians, who, meeting in Congress, unanimously approved it, and whose votes were recorded in the document Relatio et volta. Subsequently, the Positio and Relatio et Vota were presented to a group of bishops and cardinals, members of the Dicastery, and were also unanimously approved. Finally, the prefect of dicastery Kard. Marcello Semeraro was received by the Holy Father.

With this new step on the path to holiness, St. Lucia de Jesus is recognized by the Church in the heroic manifestation of virtues, as well as in the authenticity of her spiritual path.

His presence was experienced by many more and more as a friendly and intimate presence, as a powerful intercessor with God.

The Cause is thus given a new impetus, and a miracle is now awaited which, once approved, will lead to his beatification and another to his canonization. We ask all those who have been touched by the Light of Jesus reflected in their lives to come to it with faith and trust, so that God will grant us such a desired miracle.