(ANS – Rome – April 19, 2020) – Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime has announced that Pope Francis has authorized the opening of the cause of beatification of Bishop Giuseppe Cognata, SDB, bishop of Bova (Calabria) and founder of the Salesian Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

Rome, April 18, 2020

Official announcement by the Rector  Major

Cause of Beatification and Canonization of Bishop Giuseppe Cognata (1885-1972), SDB, Bishop of Bova, founder of the Salesian Oblates of the Sacred Heart

The Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime, rejoices in announcing, in the exultation of Easter and on the feast of the Divine Mercy, that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints itself announced in a letter dated April 15, 2020, to the Salesian postulator general (Prot. VAR. 8579/20), Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, and signed by Bishop Marcello Bartolucci, secretary of the aforesaid Congregation, that: “I am happy to inform you that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in its Letter No. Prot. 911/1935-AS265-74579 on February 17 of this current year, has communicated to this dicastery that the Holy Father “upon careful and thoughtful examination, has given his august consent to the requests of religious and laity who have petitioned for the opening of the cause of beatification of Bishop Giuseppe Cognata, SDB, bishop of Bova.”

It remains our duty to thank the Holy Father most sincerely for his conviction and commitment to a choice, as thoughtful as it is transparent in the specific nature of the form followed, which reintegrates the values of truth and justice in their fullness.

These thanks must be extended first of all to the Group of Catholic Jurists for the essential and decisive role they played, and to all those who at different times and in different ways have made possible this extraordinary event so long awaited by the whole Salesian Family, in particular by the Salesian Oblates of the Sacred Heart, and by the whole ecclesial community.