By approving the publication of several decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on June 20, 2025, Pope Leo XIV paved the way for 175 future beatifications, including 124 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War. He also recognized as “venerable” a Brazilian permanent deacon and father of seven children, a lay woman with dwarfism, and two Italian religious.
The future "blesseds" and "venerables" include martyrs of the Nazis and the Spanish Civil War, a servant of the poor, priests, religious, laity, and a deacon.
20th-century martyrs
In addition to 50 French martyrs of Nazi barbarism, Leo XIV authorized the publication of decrees opening the door to the beatification of 125 Catholics from Andalusia, in southern Spain. One hundred twenty-four people from the Diocese of Jaén are recognized as martyrs because they were murdered in hatred of the faith during the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1938. A miracle has been attributed to Father Salvador Valera Parra (1816-1889), also from Andalusia.
These 124 martyrs include 106 priests, 17 lay people, and one nun.
“Some priests, including Father Antonio Montañes Chiquero, asked to be killed last so that they could hear the confessions of the others and help them die a holy death,” reports one of the decrees.
The text highlights the cruelty of the executioners and the anti-clerical ideology that explicitly targeted the clergy and their supporters.
A servant of the poor
As for Father Salvador Valera Parra, a native of Huescar, he devoted his vocation to serving the poor, particularly during a cholera epidemic and several earthquakes that struck his region in 1863. He also encouraged local popular devotions, such as that of Our Lady of the River, also known as “Our Lady of the Abandoned.”
The miracle that the Vatican attributes to his intercession took place in 2007 in a hospital in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It concerns a premature newborn whose prognosis was critical, but who recovered inexplicably after the attending physician invoked the intercession of the Spanish priest.
A deacon, two religious, and a lay woman with dwarfism
Among the four people who have been recognized as venerable due to the heroicity of their virtues, the figure of the Brazilian João Luiz Pozzobon (1904-1985) stands out in particular. A permanent deacon and father of seven children, he was a member of the Schönstatt Movement and was very committed to promoting the Rosary, while working for the poor, notably by founding a shelter. He died when he was hit by a bus on his way to Mass.
Another remarkable figure recognized as venerable is Anna Fulgida Bartolacelli (1928-1993), an Italian laywoman with dwarfism and brittle bones who was confined to a wheelchair her entire life. A very devout Mass-goer, she joined Catholic Action in her youth and earned a meager living by embroidering. In 1956, she met Blessed Luigi Novarese, founder of the Silent Workers of the Cross. She devoted herself body and soul to this work in the service of the sick until her death.
The Pope also approved a decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Sister Teresa Tambelli (1884–1964), an Italian nun of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, who worked with the poor in Sardinia.
Finally, a last decree recognizes as venerable the religious Raffaele Mennella (1877–1898), an Italian professed member of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 21.
