What is the communion of saints? The Pope explainsOn the morning of December 14, 2023, the press echoed the news, long awaited by devotees around the world, that the Holy Father Francis had authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to publish the Decree of Heroic Virtues naming Ernesto Cofiño Ubeco "Venerable Servant of God".
In practice, this fact means that the Church, after listening to the voice of the people of God through documents, testimonies, letters, favors and graces, has determined that Ernesto has lived all the Christian virtues to a heroic degree. Thus ends the second phase of the canonization process that began in 2002, when the dicastery granted the decree of validity of the diocesan process of the Guatemalan physician Ernesto Cofiño (1889-1991), who had died with a reputation for sanctity.
During these more than twenty years of the Roman phase, the Church, through the Postulator of the Cause and the relator of the Dicastery, have seriously studied the heroic life of Dr. Cofiño and the abundant favors and graces attributed to his intercession that have been coming to the postulation from the four corners of the world and, finally, the theological, historical, bishops and cardinal consultors have confirmed the decree of Venerable.
With this juridical and theological step, the third phase of the process begins: the attentive listening to the voice of God, the proof of a miracle granted by God through the intercession of this Venerable. With a first miracle, that is, with a supernatural fact confirmed through the saint's intercession and its scientifically inexplicable origin proven, the beatification would begin and with it the beginning of the public cult restricted to a part of the people of God.
The demonstration of a subsequent miracle, with the corresponding scientific, theological and juridical apparatus, would open the way to canonization and with it the beginning of universal public worship.
In this way the statements of the Roman postulator, Santiago Callejo, can be better understood. He encouraged the Christian faithful to ask God for material and spiritual graces through Dr. Cofiño and to put in writing the favors obtained, since it is only just to record these facts.
As Dr. Cofiño's biographer (José Carlos Martín de la Hoz, "Divine and human complicities. An emblance by Dr. Cofiño"I would like to emphasize that Ernesto is literally a "saint next door" and "a saint of our time", for he fought tirelessly for the defense of all human lives, of the unborn, and, as a pediatrician, of all those born.
In the shadows remains the unforgettable figure of Clemencia Somoyoa, the wife, who shared with Ernesto that luminous and joyful home and in whose conjugal love they both reached the grace of heaven. Although a process of beatification has not yet been opened for her, there are already many voices calling for it.
Member of the Academy of Ecclesiastical History of Madrid.
