The cause for sainthood for Maryknoll Father Vincent Capodanno, a U.S. Navy chaplain killed ministering to wounded Marines on a Vietnam War battlefield, has moved slightly forward, say those advocating canonization for the man they called the “grunt padre.”
On the 55th anniversary of his death in Vietnam, Maryknoll Father Vincent Capodanno was remembered at a Mass celebrated in his hometown in a chapel that bears his name.
Members of the Father Capodanno Guild recently were startled by a recommendation from Theological Consultants for a “suspension” of the chaplain’s cause for sainthood. The consultants said more information is needed to support the new “offering of life” path to sainthood established in 2017 by Pope Francis.
Beatifying 10 Polish nuns killed by Russian soldiers at the end of World War II, it is difficult not to think of the suffering being endured by the people of Ukraine today and the need for peace in the world, said Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for Saints’ Causes.
Last January, when Chris Charles Scott directed a documentary about five French priests who cared for the sick during the 1873 yellow fever epidemic in Shreveport, Louisiana, he never expected it would land in this year’s Cannes World Film Festival.
Pope Francis recognized a miracle attributed to Blessed Marie Rivier, a French nun who founded the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary, paving the way for her canonization.
Documents supporting the cause for sainthood for social activist and devout Catholic Dorothy Day are now signed, sealed, and about to be delivered to the Vatican.
For the way he lived, and the way he died, there are those who believe that Father Vincent Capodanno deserves to be beatified and ultimately canonized as a saint.
