Pope recognizes Vietnam and Congo martyrs, Italian saint and more

After a meeting with Pope Francis on November 25, 2024, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, signed a decree attributing a second miracle to an Italian Blessed sister, Maria Troncatti, paving the way for her canonization.

He also recognized the martyrdom of a Vietnamese priest, Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep, and a Congolese layman, Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kositi, meaning they can now be beatified.

The Pope also recognized the "equipollent" beatification of the Spanish abbess, Juana de la Cruz, and the heroic virtues of a Croatian bishop, Josip Lang. 

In the November 25 decree from the Vatican body that studies and recognizes holy men and women, Pope Francis attributed a second miracle to the intercession of Italian religious, Maria Troncatti. This Salesian sister from the Brescia region was a nurse on the Austrian front during the First World War, before being sent to Ecuador in 1922 to work among the Shuar people (sometimes called Jivaros), who live in the Amazon rainforest.

Opening a dispensary, she put herself at the service of the local population, who were afflicted by numerous illnesses. She also defended women and children who were sometimes victims of violent ancestral traditions. She also contributed to the first evangelization of this population, among whom she was particularly appreciated. She died in a plane crash in 1969.

The miracle attributed to her intercession involved an Ecuadorian woman in 2002. In a coma after a serious illness, she was sent home at the request of her parents so that she could die there. A Salesian priest then asked her relatives to pray to Sister Troncatti: A few days later, the woman came out of her coma and the symptoms that had afflicted her gradually disappeared.

The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints also recognized the martyrdom of Vietnamese Father Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep (1897-1946). Born in An Giang in the south of the country, he joined the seminary run by the Paris Foreign Missions Society in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and was ordained a priest.

Initially in charge of pastoral care for Vietnamese migrants in Cambodia, he was then appointed as parish priest of Tac Say in southern Vietnam, where he remained until his death in 1946. Despite the armistice signed a year earlier with Japan, which was occupying what was then French Indochina, he fell victim to the Japanese armed bands that continued to ravage his country.

Refusing French protection so as not to “abandon his flock,” the priest was finally captured by one of these bands, whose members were linked to Caodaism, a local syncretic sect highly hostile to Christians. He was locked in a barn with other Catholics and villagers; he supported and encouraged them, as their death seemed imminent.

In the end, the population was spared, but Father Francis Xavier, who had gone out to talk with his executioners, was found dead. His body apparently bore the marks of many abuses.

The Dicastery’s decree also recognized the martyrdom of Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kositi (1981-2007), a layman from the North Kivu region (Democratic Republic of Congo). This young devout Catholic from a wealthy family had joined the Catholic lay Sant'Egidio community, becoming one of the leaders of several local associations supporting the population of this region marked by serious tensions.

Involved in politics and opposed to ethnic conflicts and corruption, he was kidnapped in 2007, and his body, bearing signs of torture, was found two days later. Although the perpetrators of the murder are still unknown, it was later revealed that he had refused an offer of bribery, motivated by his Christian faith.

Pope Francis highlighted him as an example for young Congolese when he visited Kinshasa in February 2023.

In this decree the Pope also authorized the ‘equipollent’ beatification of the Venerable Sister Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez (1481 - 1534). An equipollent beatification or canonization means that the pope declares the person as blessed or as a saint without the long process that normally characterizes the recognition. Since the blessed or saint already enjoys uninterrupted devotion and a reputation for miracles, the pope immediately recognizes the pre-existing devotion to the person.

This procedure often concerns people who lived several centuries ago and whose reputation for sanctity has been maintained over the ages. Juana de la Cruz, which Pope Francis had declared a venerable in 2015, is recognized as blessed immediately, without the need for a beatification Mass.

A Spanish abbess of the Third Order Franciscans Regular, she was born into a prosperous farming family in the Toledo region of Spain. She felt a calling to consecrated life from an early age, however her father wanted her to marry and eventually she was betrothed to a local nobleman. However, the young girl, aspiring to religious life, disguised herself as a man and fled the family home to join the convent of Santa Maria de la Cruz in Madrid and eventually obtained her father's consent.

Taking her religious vows in 1497, the young woman took the name Juana de la Cruz. Her 38 years at the convent were marked by mystical episodes, including a six-month period of silence in 1506. Renowned for her preaching, she was visited not only by Charles V, but also by the victor of the Battle of Lepanto, John of Austria.

After becoming a mother abbess, she obtained from Pope Julius II the right to run a parish with the assistance of a vicar, which made her unpopular among the Spanish clergy, who repeatedly tried to have her deposed. Paralyzed at the end of her life, she died already being recognized by some as holy, and has since often been referred to as “Santa Juana” despite not being formally canonized. 

The decree also recognized the heroic virtues of Bishop Josip Lang (1857-1924), who was Auxiliary Bishop of Zagreb in Croatia from 1915 until his death. Highly committed to both pastoral and social work, he died with already a reputation for holiness and loved by the population of the Croatian capital, which was then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.