BREAKING: During Chrism Mass, diocese announces opening of sainthood cause of slain French priest

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The cause for beatification of Father Jacques Hamel, who died as a martyr in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in July 2016, officially opens today. A symbolic date, as on Holy Thursday when the Church commemorates the institution of the Eucharist and honors all its priests. “Make him a saint!” The friendly injunction of Pope Francis to the Archbishop of Rouen, Monsignor Dominique Lebrun, was not left unanswered. “The Beatification of Father Jacques Hamel? If I did not think about it, I’d be deaf!” Archbishop Dominique Lebrun joked after a Pope’s Mass in the chapel of the Maison Sainte-Marthe, in homage to the priest who was assassinated last July. It is now done. The diocesan inquiry, the first step in the process of beatification of Father Jacques Hamel, was launched on Thursday, April 13 by the Archbishop of Rouen at the end of the Chrism Mass, according to a statement from the diocese. The Holy Father had granted Lebrun six months ago a special dispensation from the canonical period of five years to be respected before the opening of the cause.

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