” ” ” “"No cause of beatification and canonisation can be initiated without a proven repute of sanctity, even if the persons involved have stood out for their evangelical consistency or for special ecclesial and social merits". It is one of the specifications about the eligibility of persons put forward for sanctity made by the Pope in his message to card. José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of the Saints, on the occasion of the plenary session of the Congregation. As he mentioned the ‘"Committal proceedings for the diocesan investigation in the Causes of the Saints", which was the focus of the meeting of the papal ministry, Benedict XVI exhorted to "safeguard the seriousness of the proceedings that are conducted in the diocesan investigations about the virtues of the Servants of God or about the cases of alleged martyrdom or miracles", by checking "first of all, whether the nominees for the honours of the altars really enjoy a sound and widespread repute of sanctity and miracles or martyrdom". As to miracles, the Pope recalls that "the uninterrupted practice of the Church establishes the need of a physical miracle, since a moral miracle is not enough", and invites to "investigate the subject in the light of the tradition of the Church, today’s theology and the most trustworthy scientific breakthroughs". As to martyrdom, the Pope points out that "whilst the reason that leads to martyrdom is unchanged, the cultural spheres and the persecutors’ strategies have changed instead" as they show "in a less and less explicit manner" their aversion to the Christian faith by feigning for instance "political or social reasons": hence the need to "find irrefutable evidence" not just about the victim but also about the "odium fidei".” “
