New Jersey nun keeps up pressure for beatification of Pius XII

Published: 2003-12-02

ROME (CNS) -- When New Jersey Sister Margherita Marchione, one of the most energetic defenders of Pope Pius XII, rolls into Rome, Vatican officials expect her to come knocking at their doors. So Pope John Paul II probably wasn't surprised when the scholarly nun turned to him in a late November audience and asked: "Your Holiness, almost 50 years have passed. When will Pope Pius XII be beatified?" Sister Marchione explained that hundreds of people around the world had asked her to implore the pope's help in speeding up the beatification process. The pontiff smiled and acknowledged her interest, but made no commitments. She took it up a few minutes later with the pope's secretary, asking Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz: "How do you explain this 50-year delay?" The archbishop assured her that the pope had read all her letters and appeals. Her next stop was the Congregation for Saints' Causes, where Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins promised her that things were moving along at the proper -- and careful -- pace. The 82-year-old member of the Religious Teachers Filippini in Morristown, N.J., has a new book titled "Pope Pius XII," which describes the late pontiff as someone who prudently and quietly helped the Jews, opposed Hitler at every turn and practiced the virtues of a saint.

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