“I am going to canonize the doctor… I don’t know when, but I have already signed.” Pope Francis said this in a conversation with someone who claims to work in the entourage of Venezuelan Cardinal Baltazar Porras, supposedly in reference to the Dr. José Gregorio Hernández, whose beatification took place on April 30, 2021.
Will the “doctor of the poor” be a saint? The truth behind the alleged decree signed by the Pope on the canonization of Dr. José Gregorio
The audiovisual appears in a reasoned publication of the newspaper El Tiempo, of Colombia, in which different sources are consulted in an attempt to verify whether, in effect, the final step was achieved or not to canonize the most beloved scientist of Venezuela, popularly called the “Doctor of the poor.”
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Read: The Pope asks José Gregorio Hernández for peace and unity for Venezuela
The truth is that, as a source says in the note signed by journalist Ana María Rodríguez Brazón, the video fragment does not show the context in which it occurred and does not make it clear whether it is the final signature or a step in the process.
The reactions have not been long in coming and go beyond the viral video. However, even if what is claimed based on the publication is true, local media and sources would not give credence to it because they are subject to a professional ethics embargo.
Furthermore, as is tradition, the announcement is expected through official media, even if first-hand information is handled from the application centers for the case, since there are precedents in this regard.
In this context, less than 48 hours ago, the Archdiocese of Caracas reproduced a statement published by the Vice-Postulation of the Cause of Canonization of Blessed José Gregorio Hernández, on May 29, in which it “clarifies through which official channel they will make the announcement.”
The text signed by p. Geradino Barracchini, Vice Postulator and Vicar for Holiness, describes them as “unfounded rumors circulating on social networks and other media,” but also “denies all information stating that the canonization of the Blessed has already been announced.”
For its part, the newspaper El Tiempo maintains that Matteo Bruni, director of the press room of the Holy See, responded that “at the moment there is no information about the canonization of José Gregorio Hernández, clarifying that, although in the video that circulating on social networks you can see the Pope saying that he is going to canonize him, the official response is not yet known.”
The truth is that only the Holy See can make the canonization official, which follows a very particular protocol; and that, beyond rumor and facts, the dear blessed will continue to intercede before God for the health of an increasingly large number of devotees.
