With this communication, the Vatican reports that Pope Francis has allowed nine causes of beatification to go forward.
Two of them are martyrs Tullio Maruzzo and Luis Obdulio, a priest and a layman. They were murdered in Guatemala in 1981, defending small landowners from the abuses of large landowners.
The pope approved Donizetti Tavares of Lima for containing heroic virtues. He was a Brazilian priest who was beloved by people. He died in 1961 with a reputation for holiness.
He also approved the decree of Ukrainian capuchin Serafín Kaszuba, for his heroic testimony of faith in the Soviet Union.
Another is Magín Morera y Feixas who was a Spanish priest and superior general of the Sons of the Holy Family. He was born in 1908 and died at age 84 in Barcelona.
Among those recognized is also Italian Francesco Paolo Gravina, a layman who founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent in the nineteenth century.
Among the new Servants of God are three women:
Sister Maria Lorenza Requenses, who travelled between Spain and Italy between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
French Françoise du Saint Esprit, founder of the Institute of the Third Order of St. Francis of Montpellier in the nineteenth century.
Finally, Ukrainian Elżbieta Róża Czacka, who founded the Congregation of the Franciscan Servants of the Cross in 1918.
