Church in Spain has 349 open causes for canonization involving more than 3,000 candidates

The Church in Spain has 349 causes for canonization, 42 of which are currently in the diocesan phase. In total, there are 3,344 candidates for sainthood, according to data released July 1 by the Spanish Bishops’ Conference.

Late last month, Lourdes Grosso, director of the conference’s Office for the Causes of Saints, and Father Fernando del Moral, its deputy director, presented a report on the Spanish causes that are underway for heroic virtue  to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

The report complements the one presented in 2024 regarding causes based on martyrdom during the religious persecution in 20th-century Spain, both before and during the 1936–1939 civil war. The martyrdom causes are almost always group causes: One diocese or religious order bundles all its members killed in the same persecution episode into a single joint case rather than filing separate causes for each martyr.

Together, these reports made it possible to compile material that had previously been scattered, following a three-year process of research and inter-diocesan collaboration in which documentation from the dicastery was cross-referenced with that of each Spanish diocese.

Thus, a comprehensive overview of the causes in Spain has been presented for the first time, excluding those involving Spanish nationals that are being promoted by dioceses outside the country.

Of the 349 causes, 53 are based on martyrdom (48 occurring during the religious persecution in 20th-century Spain); 292 are based on the practice of virtues, one on the offering of oneʼs life, and one is an equivalent canonization, which, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, occurs when the pope, in an exercise of his infallibility, “bypassing the judicial process and the ceremonies, orders that a certain servant of God be venerated in the universal Church.” Fifty-seven dioceses are involved out of a total of 70.

Of these, 42 are still in the diocesan phase. Among those already in Rome, the heroic virtues of 148 candidates have been declared. This group represents the Church in its entirety: bishops, priests, deacons, religious, seminarians, laypeople, parents, young people, and children.

Also notable is that 82 are founders: 71 from religious institutes and 11 from secular institutes. The number of blesseds stands at 2,449, the vast majority of whom are martyrs of the religious persecution of the 20th century.

In addition, there are 45 causes concerning heroic virtue involving two cardinals, one diocesan bishop, seven diocesan priests, four religious priests, two male religious, 21 female religious, and seven laypeople.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.