St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credi: cinemavision/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Aug 1, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
TheVaticanannouncedThursdaythatSt.JohnHenryNewmanwillbedeclaredadoctoroftheChurch.The19th-centuryEnglishsaint—aformerAnglicanpriestwhoconvertedtoCatholicism—willjoin37othersaintswhohavebeengiventhesamehonor.
BorninLondonandbaptizedintotheChurchofEnglandin1801,NewmanwasapopularandrespectedAnglicanpriest,theologian,andwriteramonghispeerspriortohisconversiontoCatholicismin1845.HewasordainedaCatholicpriestin1847andlatermadeacardinalbyPopeLeoXIIIin1879.
AsaCatholic,NewmandeepenedandcontributedtotheChurch’steaching,thankstohisbroadknowledgeoftheologyandhiskeeninsightintomoderntimes,groundedintheGospel.Hisbodyofworkincludes40booksandmorethan20,000letters.
HediedinEdgbaston,England,in1890.HewasbeatifiedbyPopeBenedictXVIonSept.19,2010,andcanonizedbyPopeFrancisonOct.13,2019.
Whatisa‘doctoroftheChurch’?Thetitle“doctoroftheChurch”recognizesthosecanonizedmenandwomenwhopossessedprofoundknowledge,weresu
