"Pope Benedict XVI Recognizes Miracle: Cardinal Newman to be Beatified"

AmP has been tracking Newman beatification rumors since at least October of 2007, but as of this weekend, it appears certain:

Pope Benedict XVI today recognised the healing of Deacon Jack Sullivan in 2001 as a miracle resulting from the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God John Henry Newman.

The miraculous healing from serious debility of the spine occurred in Boston in the United States of America following prayers for Cardinal Newman’s intercession.

Newman, a major theologian and convert to Catholicism, died in 1890. The Pope’s decision means that his Beatification is now certain. (Catholic Online)

The Cardinal Newman Society is very happy. I wonder if they'll change their name to "Saint Cardinal Newman Society", when the time arrives?

Also, cheers to the English press across the herring pond.

"Cardinal John Newman poised for beatification after ruling"

Deo Gratias!

A panel of theological consultors agreed unanimously that the inexplicable healing of an American man who was "bent double" by a severe spinal disorder came as a result of praying to Newman for a miracle, according to sources. Their decision was the final hurdle before Pope Benedict XVI can declare him "Blessed".

The Pope, who is known to be keen to make Newman a saint and who asks about the progress of his cause on a regular basis, was informed of the panel's decision straight away. (UK Telegraph)

As always, take UK reporting on Vatican news with a grain of salt. They've jumped the gun several times before - on this very story, in fact. And while it does appear that a siginificant step has been taken, wait for the confirmation to come in the Vatican news bulleting.

Cardinal Newman isn't in his tomb, and that's okay

This editoral published in the UK Times ("Please - enough of this ghoulish sideshow") is quite a handful.

First, let's separate the facts from the anti-Catholic comments (which requires a editing scalpel):

On Saturday [Church officials] confirmed that since the [Cardinal Neman] never had a lead-lined coffin, he is all gone. “Brass, wooden and cloth artefacts” were recovered, but “there were no remains of the body... in the view of medical professionals in attendance, burial in a wooden coffin in a very damp site makes this kind of total decomposition unsurprising.”

Regular AmP readers will remember that I've been covering the efforts (and resistance) to exhuming Cardinal Newman's body, an ordinary part of the Catholic Church's canonization process.

As for Libby Purves' vitriolic commentary, I could go line-by-line on it, writes hundreds of words that most people won't bother to spend the time reading, or I could jump right to the heart of the matter:

For all her pretense of erudition, Ms. Purves completely misses the point when she says:

"The Church's weird horror of fleshly things (unmarried or contracepted sex, gay love) is nastily counterpointed by its affection for cadavers."

Actually, it is the radical Christian respect of the fleshly that causes us to both hold ourselves to a high standard of sexual purity (see: the writings of St. Paul, the unbroken teaching of the Church) and to simultaneously respect the dignity of the human body even in death (see: relics, belief in bodily resurrection, adoration of the human nature hypostatically united to the divine nature in the person of Jesus Christ).

Her second major mistep, the subtitle to her article:

"The creepy attempt to exhume the remains of Cardinal Newman will drive people away from the Church"

That's certainly odd coming from someone who claims she was a "genuinely devout Catholic schoolchild" who "hated this stuff, and ... hates it more now." I'm sorry that she is repulsed by the Church's veneration of a holy person's body. I'm sorry she doesn't realize that same respect undergirds why Catholics attempt to remain pure in this life as well.

But don't say you're terrified the Church might lose members over it. Try to understand it first.

Update: BBC World News if you're intrigued by the actual story.

Vatican responds to claims that Cardinal Newman was a homosexual

Basically-accurately reported by the UK Mail:

The Vatican has hit back at claims that the man likely to become Britain’ s next saint was a closet homosexual.

The Holy See is furious at allegations made by gay activists in the UK that Cardinal John Henry Newman was a celibate gay man.

The claims were made after the Government granted a licence for the cardinal to be exhumed from a grave he shares with fellow priest Father Ambrose St John in a small cemetery in Rednal, Worcestershire.

... [Pope Benedict] personally commissioned the Rev Dr Ian Ker, a theologian at Oxford University and the world’s leading Newman scholar, to refute the allegations in an article for the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

Father Ker, the author of the definitive biography of Newman, said there was no evidence to suggest that the cardinal was gay other than the deep grief at the death of his closest friend and the request to be buried in the same grave as him.

More from CNA.

On integrating refugee conservative anglicans stateside

As a blogger, one of the most rewarding experiences one can have is watching several disparate stories suddenly fall into place nicely. Now of course, the danger is to let oneself impose an order that isn't actually there, but in this case I think there's some encouraging signs that the pieces are actually lining up....

First up, Damian Thompson (who is rapidly becoming my trusted source for UK Anglican/Catholic information, think of him as the British Rocco), has published that "The Catholic Church will expand its provision of "Anglican Use" parishes in the United States in order to allow whole communities of traditionalist Anglicans into the Roman fold".

The source for this development is Abp. John Myers of Newark, a canonist of the first order, speaking at this summer's Anglican Use Conference in San Antonio. The radioactive quote:

“We are working on expanding the mandate of the Pastoral Provision to include those clergy and faithful of 'continuing Anglican communities’,” Archbishop Richard J Myers said in San Antonio, Texas at a conference for “Anglican Use” parishes of the Roman Catholic Church.

Anglo-Catholic bishops attending the Lambeth Conference confirmed to ReligiousIntelligence.com that discussions were underway with the Vatican over their reception into the Roman Catholic Church, and were hopeful a way could be found for them to go over to Rome with their dioceses. [Religious Intelligence UK]

[More from his address to the conference:]

Through the Anglican Use liturgy, individuals from the Episcopal Church who reconcile with Rome have the option to worship in a manner that is familiar to them, which many practiced from childhood, and which has nourished their faith in Jesus Christ.

... (In some cases the sense of the sacred conveyed in the Anglican Use liturgy has been a vehicle of return for Catholics who had fallen away from the practice of their faith because of liturgical abuses during the implementation of the Novus Ordo.)

... Catholic faithful who worship according to the Anglican Use must never see themselves as different from other Catholics or somehow privileged among other Christian Communions. We are Catholics together, obedient to the Holy Father, to those bishops in communion with him and ever faithful to Magisterial teaching.

... The struggle is real. The choice is not always easy. However, the Holy See’s allowance of the Anglican Use liturgy for now might help to make the burden a little easier for some to bear. The mark toward which we press as Catholics and as Christians is Jesus Christ. He is our goal and we can only find Him through the Church he founded on Peter.

[Read his entire keynote address here.]

For more information on the Anglican Use rite (I've blogged about related topics previously):

• The Anglican Use Society - and do note: one of the speeches given at this year's conference was by a former episcopal bishop! Read more about that here. I believe I blogged about him when the news broke, but can't find it in the archives immediatly.
• Anglican Use on Wikipedia - also lists the Anglican Use parishes in the U.S (11 or 12)
• CIN provides the rubrics of the Anglican Use liturgy in a single page

Now here's the final, fun part: the part where I tie a couple separate strands together:

The exhumation of Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman has been requested by the Vatican to make veneration easier for his devotees. The prominent nineteenth-century convert from the Church of England is being considered for beatification, the last step before he is declared a saint.

Cardinal Newman’s body was buried in a small cemetery at Rednal in 1890. According to the Telegraph, the Vatican wants his remains to be moved to a marble sarcophagus in the Birmingham Oratory.

Father Paul Chavasse, Provost of the Birmingham Oratory, explained the reason for the request: "One of the centuries-old procedures surrounding the creating of new saints by the Catholic Church concerns their earthly remains. (CNA)

CWNews speculates that his beatification could take place "before the end of this year."

And how appropriate, that simultaneous upon the prospect of numerous Anglicans returning to the barque of peter, the Anglican-convert par excellence would be elevated to the dignity of a blessed!

And lest we forget the spiritual... "Is Cardinal Newman Praying for His Anglican Brethren?".

It's such a harmonious picture, the plan seems a bit more than human.

Newman to be beatified as early as 2008?

Via New Advent Blog, a report from the UK Telegraph:

The Vatican is close to attributing a miracle to Cardinal Newman that would pave the way for Britain's most famous convert to Roman Catholicism to become this country's first saint for 40 years.

Insiders in Rome believe that the Vatican will announce a decision within months, meaning that the former Anglican whose conversion shocked Victorian England could be beatified as early as next year.

...

The Vatican's Congregation for Saints normally takes years to sift such cases, but medical experts are already scrutinising evidence that a 69-year-old American was inexplicably cured of a crippling spinal condition after praying to the cardinal.

[The breakthrough came after officials in the Archdiocese of Boston concluded that a deacon from Massachusetts, had been cured of his back condition after praying for the intercession of the cardinal.]

One Vatican source said: "The approval of the miracle is expected to be the last significant hurdle. The congregation's experts are well advanced in their work, and all the signs look positive. We could even have a decision by Christmas."

An interesting observation:

.... Vatican sources pointed out as that, a young student, the Pope studied Newman and has been a devotee ever since. The cause of the 19th century priest was given priority treatment when his case was sent to Rome a year ago, partly because of the Pope's personal interest.

Rallying call(?):

It [the beatification] could also come at a significant time for Anglican traditionalists who regard Newman as one of their spiritual influences, as many are themselves considering conversion to Rome if the Church of England backs women bishops.

I wonder what the Anglican blogs have to say about this speculation, or these guys.