The venerated image of Mater Dolorosa de Capas has received a canonical coronation over the weekend. Archbishop Charles Brown, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, crowned the image during Mass at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Tarlac City on June 5. In his homily, the nuncio asked the faithful to turn to Mary to pray for “our difficulties, the sorrows, the sadness of our human lives”. “Let us allow her to present them to Jesus, the Heavenly Father,” Brown said. “Let us remember that in our Catholic faith, sorrow will be turned into joy. That joy will have the last word.”…

VATICAN— Pope Francis declared a blind 14th-century Italian lay Dominican a saint Saturday using a process known as “equipollent” canonization. The Holy See press office said April 24 that the pope had authorized the extension of the liturgical cult of Blessed Margaret of Castello to the universal Church during a Saturday morning meeting with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints. She will now be inscribed among the saints via the procedure also called “equivalent” canonization, where the requirement for a miracle attributed to the candidate’s intercession is waived. Margaret of Castello was born blind and…

Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Jose Advincula of Capiz as the new archbishop of Manila. The appointment was made public in Rome at 12 noon (7:00 p.m. in Manila) on Thursday, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord. Advincula will succeed Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in the Vatican. The archdiocese has been without an archbishop since Tagle left for Rome in February 2020. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines congratulated Advincula on his appointment as the 33rd archbishop of Manila. “We wish the archbishop-elect God’s abundant blessing in his…