Beatification cause imminent for auxiliary bishop of Madrid

Madrid, Spain, Aug 22, 2013 / 11:25 am

The Archdiocese of Madrid has announced that this fall, the beatification cause of Auxiliary Bishop Eugenio Romero Pose will officially be opened.

Bishop Pose was appointed as Madrid's auxiliary bishop in early March of 1997, and was a close collaborator with the current archbishop, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela.

The archdiocese announced on August 21 that the solemn opening of his cause for beatification will be led by Cardinal Rouco Varela in the Spanish capital, where Bishop Romero Pose died six years ago.

The Cathedral of Alumenda and the San Damaso Theology Faculty, which are two projects the late bishop devoted much energy to helping establish, are two possible sites for the ceremony.

The opening of the cause comes after the required five-year waiting period and would make Bishop Romero Pose the only Spanish bishop of recent times to be under consideration for sainthood.

Several years ago, the cause for canonization of the first bishop of Getafe, Spain, Francisco Jose Perez y Fernadez-Golfin, was opened and is continuing to move forward in Rome.

Bishop Eugenio Romero Pose died at the age of 58 after a long illness. During his years as auxiliary bishop of Madrid, he was extremely close to Cardinal Rouco Varela, and has been the theological inspiration behind many of the statements made by the Church in Madrid in recent years.