Cardinal Saraiva Martins to beatify Mother Marianne Cope May 14

Published: 2005-05-04

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai will be beatified May 14 in St. Peter's Basilica, but Pope Benedict XVI will not celebrate the beatification Mass. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, told Vatican Radio May 4 that Pope Benedict had asked him to preside over the evening Mass. The cardinal said the ceremony also would include the beatification of Spanish Sister Florentina Nicol Goni, also known as Mother Ascension del Corazon de Jesus, founder of the Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary. The idea of a cardinal, rather than the pope, presiding over a beatification "is not something completely new, but a return to a centuries-long practice, which was in use until 1971," Cardinal Saraiva Martins told the radio.

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