Vietnamese Cardinal Franí§ois-Xavier Van Thuán is one step away from beatification. The pope has signed a decree officially recognizing that he heroically lived out the Christian virtues. As soon as a miracle is able to be proven through his intercession, he may be beatified.
In 1975, two days after Paul VI appointed him coadjutor bishop of Saigon, the communist regime locked him away in prison. He was accused of conspiring with the Vatican and spent 13 years in prison, nine of them in total isolation.
Yet, he always carried a cross with a chain that he had clandestinely constructed during his days in prison.
CARD. FRANí?OIS-XAVIER VAN THUíN
'Know that I made this chain with pieces of prison wire that the jailers cut for me. They brought a few tweezers for trimming, and together we constructed the chain in four hours. FLASH The most important testimony we can give is love, forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgetting the past and thinking about the future to build our country together, to build a more beautiful world. As I said the other day, the future is much more exciting than all the past together.'
Pope Francis has also recognized the miracles that will allow the beatification of a capuchin monk from Detroit, Francesco Solanus Casey and Catherine of Mary from Argentina.
In addition, he has also recognized the 'heroic virtues' of the Italian mystic Edvige Carboni, who had many visions; and Spanish Maria Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri, who started Opus Dei in Mexico.
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