Pope Francis approves the decree to advance the causes of holiness of 5 people

Vatican City, March 31, 2025/13:17

Pope Francis advanced the tracks of five people to holiness after approving the decrees promulgated by the Vatican dicastery for the causes of the saints on March 28.

Blessed Pierre to the rot of the Papua New Guinea, Béni Ignace Shoukrallah Maloyan of Turkey, and the Blessed María Carmen of Venezuela will be proclaimed from the saints of the church.

The Pope also approved the beatification of the Italian diocesan priest Carmelo de Palma and declared the Brazilian priest José Antônio of Maria Ibiapina a “venerable” of the church.

Ceremonies of canonization of rot and Maloya must be discussed in a future customary consistory, according to an announcement by the press office of Holy See.

To rot, a profane catechist born on March 5, 1912 and martyred for his faith during the Second World War, will be the first canonized Saint of Papua New Guinea.

Batified by Saint-Jean-Paul II during his apostolic trip to the Oceanic nation on January 17, 1995, to rot is recognized by the Church as a defender of Christian marriage and a faithful catechist who continued his ministry until his death in prison.

The fame of the holiness of Rot has spread throughout the Papua New Guinea and in other countries of the Pacific Ocean – including the Solomon Islands and Australia – after its beatification of 1995.

Maloyan was born on April 19, 1869 and died a martyr in Türkiye in 1915 after refusing to convert to Islam. He was beatified by St. John Paul II on October 7, 2001, alongside six other servants of God.

Ordered in Lebanon in 1883, Maloyans was known as an intelligent and exemplary priest with a deep understanding of the scriptures. He was then elected Archbishop of Mardine during the synod of the Armenian bishops held in Rome in 1911.

Following the great persecution of the Armenians in the country with the outbreak of the First World War, Maloya alongside other Christian priests and faithful was executed by Turkish officers in June 1915 after refusing to convert to Islam.

Bounded María Carmen (née Carmen Elena Rendíles Martínez) will become the first canonized Saint of Venezuela after the Holy Father approved the miracle – the healing of a woman diagnosed with idiopathic triventricular hydrocephaly – attributed to her intercession.

Born in the country’s capital, Caracas, on August 11, 1903, she became a religious sister of the Congregation of the servants of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in 1927 and later became one of the founders of the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus in Venezuela in 1946.

Serving the Catholic faithful in schools and parishes alongside its sisters who founded the new Latin American congregation, Blessed María Carmen was known for her love for Jesus in the Eucharist.