Pope recognizes Cardinal Pironio’s heroic virtues

By Vatican News staff reporter

Pope Francis on Friday received in audience Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorized him to promulgate 5 decrees.

Future saint Maria Costanza Panas

A decree recognizing a miracle through her intercession puts the Venerable Maria Costanza Panas (1896-1963)  on the path to sainthood. Sister Panas was a Capuchin of the monastery of Fabriano in central Italy, her beatification process was launched in 1983 and she was recognized Servant of God.

Heroic virtues

The decrees promulgating heroic virtues regard:

Cardinal Edoardo Francesco Pironio, (1920-1998). Acclaimed as one of the founding pillars of the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day, Pironio was appointed by Saint Pope John Paul II as the President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity in 1984. In that position, together with the Pope, Pironio became a promoter of the first World Youth Day. He went on to serve at seven additional synods across the course of the next decade. As is traditional after ten years of serving as Cardinal-Deacon, he took the option of becoming Cardinal-Priest while retaining his titular church. He retired in 1996 becoming the President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. During his years of service, Pironio attended the Fourth General Conference of the Latin American Episcopal Conference in 1992 in the Dominican Republic and was appointed as the papal envoy to the 5th National Marian Congress in Ecuador in 1992.

3 other decrees regarding heroic virtues were promulgated regarding Immacolato Giuseppe di Gesù, a member of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (1922-1989); Benigna Vittima di Gesù of the Congregation of The Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy (1907-1981); and Giovanna Méndez Romero (known as Juanita), of the Congregation of The Little Workers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1937 -1990).