Pope Francis wants to make a relative of Lady Di a saint

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis appointed a 19th century English Catholic priest who an ancestor of Lady Di and Princes William and Harry of Great Britain on the path to holiness.

The Vatican said on Saturday that the Pope had approved a decree in which he recognized the “Heroic Virtues” by George Spencer, priest of the Passionist religious order who lived between 1799 and 1864.

Spencer, who left the Anglican Church, took the name “Ignatius of Saint Paul” after becoming a Catholic priest.

Prince William and his brother Prince Harry are linked to Spencer through their mother Diana Spencer, the late Princess of Wales, who died in 1997.

Spencer was him Diana’s great-great-great-uncle, as well as the great-uncle of British warlord Winston Churchill, according to the website of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury.

In fact, she grew up on Spencer’s ancestral estate in Althorp, where Diana is buried.

After his ordination in Rome, he returned to England and he dedicated himself to accompanying the poor Irish immigrants of the West Midlands on the path of faith.

The Passionist religious order in Britain has worked for decades in its cause of holiness, researching its life and writings.

The Pope’s approval of the decree means that Spencer now bears the title of “venerable”.

Its cause of holiness is in its infancy. One would have to attribute one miracle to Spencer to be beatified and another to be named a saint.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that only God works miracles, but the saints they intercede on behalf of the people who pray to them, that is why the miracle is the “guarantee” that they are “holy” since they meet God in heaven. For an event to be considered a miracle, it must be a medically inexplicable healing of a person.

Reuters

More information