Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI has approved beatification ceremonies for three nuns - one each from Venezuela, Italy and Germany - the Vatican announced Thursday. The Roman Catholic Church considers beatification as the first step towards sainthood.
Candelaria de San Jose (nee Susana Paz Castillo Ramirez), foundress of the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Third Regular Order of Venezuela is scheduled to be beatified on April 27 in the stadium of the Central University of Caracas, Venezuela, the Vatican said.
A beatification ceremony for Maria Maddalena of the Incarnation (nee Caterina Sordini), foundress of the Order of Sisters of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is planned for May 3 at Rome's Basilica of St John Lateran.
While Maria Rosa Flesch (nee Margherita), foundress of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Mary of the Angels is scheduled to be beatified on May 4 in the cathedral of Trier, Germany, the Vatican said.
In February the Vatican tightened procedures for creating Roman Catholic saints, including instructing bishops to carefully scrutinize the "holiness" or "martyrdom" of candidates.
The document also reiterated that a cause for sainthood cannot be presented sooner than five years after the death of a candidate.
The late Pope John Paul II made an exception to that rule in the case of Mother Teresa of Calcutta whose process towards sainthood began less than two years after she died in 1997.
Similarly, Benedict gave permission for the beatification procedure for his predecessor John Paul to begin just over a month after the Polish pontiff's death in 2005.
During John Paul's pontificate some 1,340 people were beatified - the first step towards sainthood - while nearly 500 were canonized, a tally greater than all his predecessors combined since the current procedures on sainthood were introduced in 1588.