Faith

Pope Leo XIV declares six new Venerables, a step closer to sainthood

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday recognized the heroic virtues of six Servants of God and declared them Venerable, a decisive step on the road to beatification. The decrees were promulgated after the Holy Father's audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

Recognition of heroic virtue means the Church judges that a candidate lived the Christian virtues to a heroic degree. Beatification still requires a miracle attributed to each candidate's intercession, and no miracle was cited in Saturday's decrees.

Among the new Venerables is Friedrich Kaiser Depel, a German-born missionary bishop who served in Peru. Born in 1903 and died in 1993, he founded the Missionary Sisters of Jesus, Word and Victim. Also declared Venerable was Oreste Marengo, a Salesian bishop born in Italy in 1906 who devoted his ministry to India.

The group also includes Margarita “Luminosa” Bavosi, born in Buenos Aires in 1941, a consecrated laywoman of the Focolare Movement who led communities in Paraná and Spain and died in Albano Laziale, Italy, in 1985.

Sources: CathoNews (Oct 24, 2026); Holy See Press Office (Oct 24, 2026).

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