{"id":20975,"date":"2017-07-11T12:22:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T12:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life-80735\/"},"modified":"2017-07-11T12:22:00","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T12:22:00","slug":"pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under \u2018offering of life\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/Pope_Francis_addresses_paralympians_in_the_Paul_VI_Hall_at_the_Vatican_on_Oct_4_2014_Credit_Daniel_Ibanez_CNA.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Vatican City, Jul 11, 2017 \/ 06:22 am (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called \u201coffering of life\u201d \u2013 in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.<\/p>\n<p>Though similar to martyrdom, this definition fits those Servants of God who have in some way given up their life prematurely for charity, though the circumstances may fall outside the strict definition of martyrdom, which requires the presence of a persecutor.<\/p>\n<p>The changes were issued in a Motu proprio July 11, which formally added the particular case to the paths by which a person under investigation for beatification may be discerned to be worthy, in addition to the traditional three paths: martyrdom, a life of heroic virtue and the very rare \u201cexceptional cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The change in norms was made with the support of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which studied the matter during a plenary session Sept. 27, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>In the apostolic letter, Pope Francis wrote that \u201cThey are worthy of special consideration and honor, those Christians who, following in the footsteps and teachings of the Lord Jesus, have voluntarily and freely offered their lives for others and have persevered until death in this regard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is certain that the heroic offering of life, suggested and supported by charity, expresses a true, full and exemplary imitation of Christ, and therefore deserves the admiration that the community of the faithful usually reserves to those who have voluntarily accepted the martyrdom of blood or have exercised in a heroic degree the Christian virtues,\u201d the Pope continued.<\/p>\n<p>The document is titled \u201cmaiorem hac dilectionem,\u201d or \u201cgreater love than this,\u201d after the verse from the Gospel of John which says: \u201cNo one has greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are six new articles, including the first making \u201cthe offering of life\u201d a new particular case in the beatification and canonization process, as distinguished from the particular cases of martyrdom and heroic virtue.<\/p>\n<p>There are four criteria this case must meet in order to be \u201cvalid and efficacious\u201d for the beatification of a Servant of God.<\/p>\n<p>The first, that it is a \u201cfree and voluntary offer of life and heroic acceptance\u201d \u2013 for the sake of charity \u2013 of a certain and non-lengthy death, showing \u201ca connection between the offering of life and premature death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There also must have been the exercise, at least of an ordinary level, of the Christian virtues before the offering of life and up until the moment of death, as well as the existence of signs of and a reputation of holiness, at least after death.<\/p>\n<p>And finally, the usual requirement of a confirmed miracle springing from the intercession of the Servant of God for beatification, after his or her death, must be in place.<\/p>\n<p>The burden of responsibility for showing that an offering of life took place is on the diocese or eparchy submitting the positio \u2013 the collection of documents which give the evidence supporting the cause for sainthood \u2013 to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.<\/p>\n<p>The remaining changes are largely an amendment of the pertinent norms from the 1983 documents \"Divinus perfectionis Magister,\" Official Acts of the Holy See Vol. LXXV, and \u201cNew Laws for Causes of Saints,\u201d to include the term \u201coffering of life\u201d alongside that of \u201cmartyrdom\u201d and \u201cvirtues.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=i5OrYv5MLLg:jTPfC_qziA8:yIl2AUoC8zA\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/i5OrYv5MLLg\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/Pope_Francis_addresses_paralympians_in_the_Paul_VI_Hall_at_the_Vatican_on_Oct_4_2014_Credit_Daniel_Ibanez_CNA.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Vatican City, Jul 11, 2017 \/ 06:22 am (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" target=\"_self\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; &ndash; in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.<\/p>\n<p>Though similar to martyrdom, this definition fits those Servants of God who have in some way given up their life prematurely for charity, though the circumstances may fall outside the strict definition of martyrdom, which requires the presence of a persecutor.<\/p>\n<p>The changes were issued in a Motu proprio July 11, which formally added the particular case to the paths by which a person under investigation for beatification may be discerned to be worthy, in addition to the traditional three paths: martyrdom, a life of heroic virtue and the very rare &ldquo;exceptional cases.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The change in norms was made with the support of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which studied the matter during a plenary session Sept. 27, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>In the apostolic letter, Pope Francis wrote that &ldquo;They are worthy of special consideration and honor, those Christians who, following in the footsteps and teachings of the Lord Jesus, have voluntarily and freely offered their lives for others and have persevered until death in this regard.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is certain that the heroic offering of life, suggested and supported by charity, expresses a true, full and exemplary imitation of Christ, and therefore deserves the admiration that the community of the faithful usually reserves to those who have voluntarily accepted the martyrdom of blood or have exercised in a heroic degree the Christian virtues,&rdquo; the Pope continued.<\/p>\n<p>The document is titled &ldquo;maiorem hac dilectionem,&rdquo; or &ldquo;greater love than this,&rdquo; after the verse from the Gospel of John which says: &ldquo;No one has greater love than this: to lay down one&#8217;s life for one&#8217;s friends.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>There are six new articles, including the first making &ldquo;the offering of life&rdquo; a new particular case in the beatification and canonization process, as distinguished from the particular cases of martyrdom and heroic virtue.<\/p>\n<p>There are four criteria this case must meet in order to be &ldquo;valid and efficacious&rdquo; for the beatification of a Servant of God.<\/p>\n<p>The first, that it is a &ldquo;free and voluntary offer of life and heroic acceptance&rdquo; &ndash; for the sake of charity &ndash; of a certain and non-lengthy death, showing &ldquo;a connection between the offering of life and premature death.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>There also must have been the exercise, at least of an ordinary level, of the Christian virtues before the offering of life and up until the moment of death, as well as the existence of signs of and a reputation of holiness, at least after death.<\/p>\n<p>And finally, the usual requirement of a confirmed miracle springing from the intercession of the Servant of God for beatification, after his or her death, must be in place.<\/p>\n<p>The burden of responsibility for showing that an offering of life took place is on the diocese or eparchy submitting the positio &ndash; the collection of documents which give the evidence supporting the cause for sainthood &ndash; to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.<\/p>\n<p>The remaining changes are largely an amendment of the pertinent norms from the 1983 documents &#8220;Divinus perfectionis Magister,&#8221; Official Acts of the Holy See Vol. LXXV, and &ldquo;New Laws for Causes of Saints,&rdquo; to include the term &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; alongside that of &ldquo;martyrdom&rdquo; and &ldquo;virtues.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=i5OrYv5MLLg:jTPfC_qziA8:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/i5OrYv5MLLg\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under \u2018offering of life\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican City, Jul 11, 2017 \/ 06:22 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; &ndash; in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor. Though similar to martyrdom, this definition fits those Servants of God who have in some way given up their life prematurely for charity, though the circumstances may fall outside the strict definition of martyrdom, which requires the presence of a persecutor. The changes were issued in a Motu proprio July 11, which formally added the particular case to the paths by which a person under investigation for beatification may be discerned to be worthy, in addition to the traditional three paths: martyrdom, a life of heroic virtue and the very rare &ldquo;exceptional cases.&rdquo; The change in norms was made with the support of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which studied the matter during a plenary session Sept. 27, 2016. In the apostolic letter, Pope Francis wrote that &ldquo;They are worthy of special consideration and honor, those Christians who, following in the footsteps and teachings of the Lord Jesus, have voluntarily and freely offered their lives for others and have persevered until death in this regard.&rdquo; &ldquo;It is certain that the heroic offering of life, suggested and supported by charity, expresses a true, full and exemplary imitation of Christ, and therefore deserves the admiration that the community of the faithful usually reserves to those who have voluntarily accepted the martyrdom of blood or have exercised in a heroic degree the Christian virtues,&rdquo; the Pope continued. The document is titled &ldquo;maiorem hac dilectionem,&rdquo; or &ldquo;greater love than this,&rdquo; after the verse from the Gospel of John which says: &ldquo;No one has greater love than this: to lay down one&#039;s life for one&#039;s friends.&rdquo; There are six new articles, including the first making &ldquo;the offering of life&rdquo; a new particular case in the beatification and canonization process, as distinguished from the particular cases of martyrdom and heroic virtue. There are four criteria this case must meet in order to be &ldquo;valid and efficacious&rdquo; for the beatification of a Servant of God. The first, that it is a &ldquo;free and voluntary offer of life and heroic acceptance&rdquo; &ndash; for the sake of charity &ndash; of a certain and non-lengthy death, showing &ldquo;a connection between the offering of life and premature death.&rdquo; There also must have been the exercise, at least of an ordinary level, of the Christian virtues before the offering of life and up until the moment of death, as well as the existence of signs of and a reputation of holiness, at least after death. And finally, the usual requirement of a confirmed miracle springing from the intercession of the Servant of God for beatification, after his or her death, must be in place. The burden of responsibility for showing that an offering of life took place is on the diocese or eparchy submitting the positio &ndash; the collection of documents which give the evidence supporting the cause for sainthood &ndash; to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The remaining changes are largely an amendment of the pertinent norms from the 1983 documents &quot;Divinus perfectionis Magister,&quot; Official Acts of the Holy See Vol. LXXV, and &ldquo;New Laws for Causes of Saints,&rdquo; to include the term &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; alongside that of &ldquo;martyrdom&rdquo; and &ldquo;virtues.&rdquo;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under \u2018offering of life\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vatican City, Jul 11, 2017 \/ 06:22 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; &ndash; in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor. Though similar to martyrdom, this definition fits those Servants of God who have in some way given up their life prematurely for charity, though the circumstances may fall outside the strict definition of martyrdom, which requires the presence of a persecutor. The changes were issued in a Motu proprio July 11, which formally added the particular case to the paths by which a person under investigation for beatification may be discerned to be worthy, in addition to the traditional three paths: martyrdom, a life of heroic virtue and the very rare &ldquo;exceptional cases.&rdquo; The change in norms was made with the support of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which studied the matter during a plenary session Sept. 27, 2016. In the apostolic letter, Pope Francis wrote that &ldquo;They are worthy of special consideration and honor, those Christians who, following in the footsteps and teachings of the Lord Jesus, have voluntarily and freely offered their lives for others and have persevered until death in this regard.&rdquo; &ldquo;It is certain that the heroic offering of life, suggested and supported by charity, expresses a true, full and exemplary imitation of Christ, and therefore deserves the admiration that the community of the faithful usually reserves to those who have voluntarily accepted the martyrdom of blood or have exercised in a heroic degree the Christian virtues,&rdquo; the Pope continued. The document is titled &ldquo;maiorem hac dilectionem,&rdquo; or &ldquo;greater love than this,&rdquo; after the verse from the Gospel of John which says: &ldquo;No one has greater love than this: to lay down one&#039;s life for one&#039;s friends.&rdquo; There are six new articles, including the first making &ldquo;the offering of life&rdquo; a new particular case in the beatification and canonization process, as distinguished from the particular cases of martyrdom and heroic virtue. There are four criteria this case must meet in order to be &ldquo;valid and efficacious&rdquo; for the beatification of a Servant of God. The first, that it is a &ldquo;free and voluntary offer of life and heroic acceptance&rdquo; &ndash; for the sake of charity &ndash; of a certain and non-lengthy death, showing &ldquo;a connection between the offering of life and premature death.&rdquo; There also must have been the exercise, at least of an ordinary level, of the Christian virtues before the offering of life and up until the moment of death, as well as the existence of signs of and a reputation of holiness, at least after death. And finally, the usual requirement of a confirmed miracle springing from the intercession of the Servant of God for beatification, after his or her death, must be in place. The burden of responsibility for showing that an offering of life took place is on the diocese or eparchy submitting the positio &ndash; the collection of documents which give the evidence supporting the cause for sainthood &ndash; to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The remaining changes are largely an amendment of the pertinent norms from the 1983 documents &quot;Divinus perfectionis Magister,&quot; Official Acts of the Holy See Vol. LXXV, and &ldquo;New Laws for Causes of Saints,&rdquo; to include the term &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; alongside that of &ldquo;martyrdom&rdquo; and &ldquo;virtues.&rdquo;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-11T12:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/Pope_Francis_addresses_paralympians_in_the_Paul_VI_Hall_at_the_Vatican_on_Oct_4_2014_Credit_Daniel_Ibanez_CNA.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/\",\"name\":\"Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under \u2018offering of life\u2019\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-11T12:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-11T12:22:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Vatican City, Jul 11, 2017 \/ 06:22 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; &ndash; in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor. Though similar to martyrdom, this definition fits those Servants of God who have in some way given up their life prematurely for charity, though the circumstances may fall outside the strict definition of martyrdom, which requires the presence of a persecutor. The changes were issued in a Motu proprio July 11, which formally added the particular case to the paths by which a person under investigation for beatification may be discerned to be worthy, in addition to the traditional three paths: martyrdom, a life of heroic virtue and the very rare &ldquo;exceptional cases.&rdquo; The change in norms was made with the support of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which studied the matter during a plenary session Sept. 27, 2016. In the apostolic letter, Pope Francis wrote that &ldquo;They are worthy of special consideration and honor, those Christians who, following in the footsteps and teachings of the Lord Jesus, have voluntarily and freely offered their lives for others and have persevered until death in this regard.&rdquo; &ldquo;It is certain that the heroic offering of life, suggested and supported by charity, expresses a true, full and exemplary imitation of Christ, and therefore deserves the admiration that the community of the faithful usually reserves to those who have voluntarily accepted the martyrdom of blood or have exercised in a heroic degree the Christian virtues,&rdquo; the Pope continued. The document is titled &ldquo;maiorem hac dilectionem,&rdquo; or &ldquo;greater love than this,&rdquo; after the verse from the Gospel of John which says: &ldquo;No one has greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.&rdquo; There are six new articles, including the first making &ldquo;the offering of life&rdquo; a new particular case in the beatification and canonization process, as distinguished from the particular cases of martyrdom and heroic virtue. There are four criteria this case must meet in order to be &ldquo;valid and efficacious&rdquo; for the beatification of a Servant of God. The first, that it is a &ldquo;free and voluntary offer of life and heroic acceptance&rdquo; &ndash; for the sake of charity &ndash; of a certain and non-lengthy death, showing &ldquo;a connection between the offering of life and premature death.&rdquo; There also must have been the exercise, at least of an ordinary level, of the Christian virtues before the offering of life and up until the moment of death, as well as the existence of signs of and a reputation of holiness, at least after death. And finally, the usual requirement of a confirmed miracle springing from the intercession of the Servant of God for beatification, after his or her death, must be in place. The burden of responsibility for showing that an offering of life took place is on the diocese or eparchy submitting the positio &ndash; the collection of documents which give the evidence supporting the cause for sainthood &ndash; to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. 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Though similar to martyrdom, this definition fits those Servants of God who have in some way given up their life prematurely for charity, though the circumstances may fall outside the strict definition of martyrdom, which requires the presence of a persecutor. The changes were issued in a Motu proprio July 11, which formally added the particular case to the paths by which a person under investigation for beatification may be discerned to be worthy, in addition to the traditional three paths: martyrdom, a life of heroic virtue and the very rare &ldquo;exceptional cases.&rdquo; The change in norms was made with the support of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which studied the matter during a plenary session Sept. 27, 2016. In the apostolic letter, Pope Francis wrote that &ldquo;They are worthy of special consideration and honor, those Christians who, following in the footsteps and teachings of the Lord Jesus, have voluntarily and freely offered their lives for others and have persevered until death in this regard.&rdquo; &ldquo;It is certain that the heroic offering of life, suggested and supported by charity, expresses a true, full and exemplary imitation of Christ, and therefore deserves the admiration that the community of the faithful usually reserves to those who have voluntarily accepted the martyrdom of blood or have exercised in a heroic degree the Christian virtues,&rdquo; the Pope continued. The document is titled &ldquo;maiorem hac dilectionem,&rdquo; or &ldquo;greater love than this,&rdquo; after the verse from the Gospel of John which says: &ldquo;No one has greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.&rdquo; There are six new articles, including the first making &ldquo;the offering of life&rdquo; a new particular case in the beatification and canonization process, as distinguished from the particular cases of martyrdom and heroic virtue. There are four criteria this case must meet in order to be &ldquo;valid and efficacious&rdquo; for the beatification of a Servant of God. The first, that it is a &ldquo;free and voluntary offer of life and heroic acceptance&rdquo; &ndash; for the sake of charity &ndash; of a certain and non-lengthy death, showing &ldquo;a connection between the offering of life and premature death.&rdquo; There also must have been the exercise, at least of an ordinary level, of the Christian virtues before the offering of life and up until the moment of death, as well as the existence of signs of and a reputation of holiness, at least after death. And finally, the usual requirement of a confirmed miracle springing from the intercession of the Servant of God for beatification, after his or her death, must be in place. The burden of responsibility for showing that an offering of life took place is on the diocese or eparchy submitting the positio &ndash; the collection of documents which give the evidence supporting the cause for sainthood &ndash; to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The remaining changes are largely an amendment of the pertinent norms from the 1983 documents \"Divinus perfectionis Magister,\" Official Acts of the Holy See Vol. LXXV, and &ldquo;New Laws for Causes of Saints,&rdquo; to include the term &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; alongside that of &ldquo;martyrdom&rdquo; and &ldquo;virtues.&rdquo;","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under \u2018offering of life\u2019","og_description":"Vatican City, Jul 11, 2017 \/ 06:22 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; &ndash; in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor. Though similar to martyrdom, this definition fits those Servants of God who have in some way given up their life prematurely for charity, though the circumstances may fall outside the strict definition of martyrdom, which requires the presence of a persecutor. The changes were issued in a Motu proprio July 11, which formally added the particular case to the paths by which a person under investigation for beatification may be discerned to be worthy, in addition to the traditional three paths: martyrdom, a life of heroic virtue and the very rare &ldquo;exceptional cases.&rdquo; The change in norms was made with the support of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which studied the matter during a plenary session Sept. 27, 2016. In the apostolic letter, Pope Francis wrote that &ldquo;They are worthy of special consideration and honor, those Christians who, following in the footsteps and teachings of the Lord Jesus, have voluntarily and freely offered their lives for others and have persevered until death in this regard.&rdquo; &ldquo;It is certain that the heroic offering of life, suggested and supported by charity, expresses a true, full and exemplary imitation of Christ, and therefore deserves the admiration that the community of the faithful usually reserves to those who have voluntarily accepted the martyrdom of blood or have exercised in a heroic degree the Christian virtues,&rdquo; the Pope continued. The document is titled &ldquo;maiorem hac dilectionem,&rdquo; or &ldquo;greater love than this,&rdquo; after the verse from the Gospel of John which says: &ldquo;No one has greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.&rdquo; There are six new articles, including the first making &ldquo;the offering of life&rdquo; a new particular case in the beatification and canonization process, as distinguished from the particular cases of martyrdom and heroic virtue. There are four criteria this case must meet in order to be &ldquo;valid and efficacious&rdquo; for the beatification of a Servant of God. The first, that it is a &ldquo;free and voluntary offer of life and heroic acceptance&rdquo; &ndash; for the sake of charity &ndash; of a certain and non-lengthy death, showing &ldquo;a connection between the offering of life and premature death.&rdquo; There also must have been the exercise, at least of an ordinary level, of the Christian virtues before the offering of life and up until the moment of death, as well as the existence of signs of and a reputation of holiness, at least after death. And finally, the usual requirement of a confirmed miracle springing from the intercession of the Servant of God for beatification, after his or her death, must be in place. The burden of responsibility for showing that an offering of life took place is on the diocese or eparchy submitting the positio &ndash; the collection of documents which give the evidence supporting the cause for sainthood &ndash; to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The remaining changes are largely an amendment of the pertinent norms from the 1983 documents \"Divinus perfectionis Magister,\" Official Acts of the Holy See Vol. LXXV, and &ldquo;New Laws for Causes of Saints,&rdquo; to include the term &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; alongside that of &ldquo;martyrdom&rdquo; and &ldquo;virtues.&rdquo;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2017-07-11T12:22:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/Pope_Francis_addresses_paralympians_in_the_Paul_VI_Hall_at_the_Vatican_on_Oct_4_2014_Credit_Daniel_Ibanez_CNA.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/","name":"Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under \u2018offering of life\u2019","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-07-11T12:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-11T12:22:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Vatican City, Jul 11, 2017 \/ 06:22 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; &ndash; in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor. Though similar to martyrdom, this definition fits those Servants of God who have in some way given up their life prematurely for charity, though the circumstances may fall outside the strict definition of martyrdom, which requires the presence of a persecutor. The changes were issued in a Motu proprio July 11, which formally added the particular case to the paths by which a person under investigation for beatification may be discerned to be worthy, in addition to the traditional three paths: martyrdom, a life of heroic virtue and the very rare &ldquo;exceptional cases.&rdquo; The change in norms was made with the support of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which studied the matter during a plenary session Sept. 27, 2016. In the apostolic letter, Pope Francis wrote that &ldquo;They are worthy of special consideration and honor, those Christians who, following in the footsteps and teachings of the Lord Jesus, have voluntarily and freely offered their lives for others and have persevered until death in this regard.&rdquo; &ldquo;It is certain that the heroic offering of life, suggested and supported by charity, expresses a true, full and exemplary imitation of Christ, and therefore deserves the admiration that the community of the faithful usually reserves to those who have voluntarily accepted the martyrdom of blood or have exercised in a heroic degree the Christian virtues,&rdquo; the Pope continued. The document is titled &ldquo;maiorem hac dilectionem,&rdquo; or &ldquo;greater love than this,&rdquo; after the verse from the Gospel of John which says: &ldquo;No one has greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.&rdquo; There are six new articles, including the first making &ldquo;the offering of life&rdquo; a new particular case in the beatification and canonization process, as distinguished from the particular cases of martyrdom and heroic virtue. There are four criteria this case must meet in order to be &ldquo;valid and efficacious&rdquo; for the beatification of a Servant of God. The first, that it is a &ldquo;free and voluntary offer of life and heroic acceptance&rdquo; &ndash; for the sake of charity &ndash; of a certain and non-lengthy death, showing &ldquo;a connection between the offering of life and premature death.&rdquo; There also must have been the exercise, at least of an ordinary level, of the Christian virtues before the offering of life and up until the moment of death, as well as the existence of signs of and a reputation of holiness, at least after death. And finally, the usual requirement of a confirmed miracle springing from the intercession of the Servant of God for beatification, after his or her death, must be in place. The burden of responsibility for showing that an offering of life took place is on the diocese or eparchy submitting the positio &ndash; the collection of documents which give the evidence supporting the cause for sainthood &ndash; to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The remaining changes are largely an amendment of the pertinent norms from the 1983 documents \"Divinus perfectionis Magister,\" Official Acts of the Holy See Vol. LXXV, and &ldquo;New Laws for Causes of Saints,&rdquo; to include the term &ldquo;offering of life&rdquo; alongside that of &ldquo;martyrdom&rdquo; and &ldquo;virtues.&rdquo;","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/pope-francis-creates-new-path-to-beatification-under-offering-of-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under \u2018offering of life\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}