Church leaders in Rome for Camomot
The Archdiocese of Cebu aims to speed up the cause of the beatification and, later on, the canonization of the late Cebuano archbishop Teofilo Camomot.
Just as Camomot's 104th birth anniversary was celebrated last Saturday, initiators and proponents of the ongoing cause travelled to Vatican City in Rome, Italy to work on the continuing process.
In an interview with The FREEMAN, Father Mhar Vincent Balili, vice postulator for the cause of Camomot's beatification, said Church officials from the Cebu archdiocese is set to meet tomorrow the relatore, being the main agenda of the visit to the Vatican.
The relatore is appointed by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Vatican that is tasked to superintend the cause through the rest of the process, including the preparation of the “positio,” which summarizes the life and virtues of the candidate.
Meeting the relatore would be Fr. Balili, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, who already flew to Rome last Friday, and Mother Ma. Louella Grace Buscato, superior general of Daughters of Saint Teresa, the religious congregation founded by Camomot.
Mother Buscato and Fr. Balili flew last night to catch up with Archbishop Palma in Rome.
Fr. Balili, who was assigned to draft the positio, said the relatore will provide guidance and directions on how to go about with the making of the positio – which is the first step of the Roman stage.
He likened the positio to a dissertation that will prove the heroic virtues and fame of sanctity of Camomot.
He said the positio, once finished, will be reviewed by theologians who will vote either to affirm or not the cause.
Their recommendation will then be passed to the cardinal, archbishop and bishop members of the Congregation that will also have to vote, determining whether the cause will advance or not.
If the body affirms, the final approval of the pope will then be sought. If the pope recognizes the candidate's heroic virtues, he will then earn the title Venerable, said Fr. Balili.
To recall, the Cebu archdiocese closed officially the diocesan phase of the cause of the beatification of Camomot last March 2, 2017.
Causes for sainthood typically start at the diocesan level that gathers writings and stories of the candidate that tells about his life, virtues, as well as his account of holiness.
On November 2017, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome granted the decree of validity to the archdiocese, thus, approving the diocesan process.
After the diocesan phase was completed, the process moves to the next stage that is the Roman phase.
In the Roman Catholic Church, the process of declaring one a saint goes through a tedious and lengthy process that most of the times may take decades.