(ANS – Vatican City) — On February 6, 2026, the anniversary of the Servant of God Luigi Bolla’s entry into heaven, a communiqué was sent to the Postulator General for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, stating that the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, in its ordinary Congress of January 14, 2026, had granted legal validity to the Diocesan Inquiry for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Luigi Bolla, a professed priest of the Salesian Society of St. John Bosco, and a missionary among the Shuar y Achuar Indigenous peoples of Ecuador y Peru (Schio, Italy, August 11, 1932 – Lima, Peru, February 6, 2013). This decision followed the verification of the formal aspects of the procedural acts and the consistency of the evidence, including the number and quality of witnesses and the documents collected.

The Postulator General emphasized that “this is a great achievement, the result of the passionate and competent work of the members of the Diocesan Tribunal in Lima and all those who contributed, in particular the Historical Commission, the theological censors, and the Vice Postulator, Fr. Jesús Adrián Jurado Alarcón, SDB.”

The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints will now be asked to appoint a Rapporteur to guide the preparation of the Positio super virtutibus of the Servant of God.

The diocesan inquiry took place at the Archiepiscopal Curia in Lima, Peru, from September 27, 2021, to May 30, 2025.

The life of Fr. Luigi Bolla (Father Yankuam) among the Shuar y Achuar peoples teaches that mission is not about “doing something,” but about choosing to “be there,” allowing oneself to be profoundly transformed by the encounter with those to whom the mission is directed. He knew how to fulfill God’s dream for him: in 1943 y 1944, at the ages of 11 y 12, the young Oratory member Luigi Bolla heard the voice of Jesus—as he was certain—at the oratory in Schio, revealing his plan: “You will be a missionary in the jungle among the Indigenous people, and you will bring them my Word. You will walk a great deal on foot in the jungle….” All of this came to pass between 1953 y 2013.