Pope Leo XIV will proclaim St John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church on November 1 during the Jubilee of the World of Education. Source: OSV News.
Speaking after Mass yesterday for the Jubilee of Catechists, the Pope said St Newman “contributed decisively to the renewal of theology and to the understanding of the development of Christian doctrine”.
The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints had announced on July 31 that Pope Leo “confirmed the affirmative opinion” of the cardinals and bishops who are members of the dicastery “regarding the title of Doctor of the Universal Church which will soon be conferred on St John Henry Newman, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Founder of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in England.”
St Newman was born in London on February 21, 1801, was ordained an Anglican priest, became Catholic in 1845, was made a cardinal in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII and died in Edgbaston, near Birmingham, in 1890.
Even before St Newman was canonised by Pope Francis on October 13, 2019, there were calls for him to be named one of the three dozen doctors of the Church – men and women saints, from both the Christian East and West, who are honoured for particularly important contributions to theology and spirituality.
The 37 saints recognised as doctors of the Church include early Church Fathers such as Sts Jerome, John Chrysostom and Augustine, and theologians such as Sts Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure and John of the Cross, but also St Therese of Lisieux, who was honoured by St John Paul II in 1997, despite her lack of scholarly achievement.
The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints said 20 bishops’ conferences had petitioned for St Newman to be declared a Doctor of the Church, including the bishops of Australia, England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the United States and Canada.
“His thought has had a significant impact on 20th-century theology, especially on the Second Vatican Council,” the dicastery said. “Several Popes, from Leo XIII to Francis, have drawn from his authoritative teaching in their pontifical magisterium.”
FULL STORY
Pope will declare St John Henry Newman Doctor of the Church November 1 (OSV News)
