English cardinal moves closer to sainthood with U.S. deacon's healing

Published: 2008-04-24

LONDON (CNS) -- The sainthood cause of a 19th-century English cardinal has taken a step forward after the Vatican's medical commission ruled that there was no natural explanation for the healing of a U.S. deacon who prayed for the cardinal's intercession. The progress of the cause of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who shocked English society with his conversion to Catholicism, was announced April 24 by Peter Jennings, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England. "The case of Deacon Jack Sullivan from Marshfield near Boston, Mass., was discussed and voted on by" the medical commission of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, Jennings said in a statement. "The opinion of the doctors is positive," he said. The case now is passed on to a theological commission. The theologians are asked to certify that the alleged miracle took place after prayers for the sainthood candidate's intercession. A miracle attributed to Cardinal Newman's intercession is required before his beatification -- a step toward sainthood -- can occur.

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