Pope clears way for beatification of Cardinal Pironio

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis has recognized the miraculous healing of a toddler in Argentina as the miracle needed for the beatification of Argentine Cardinal Eduardo Pironio, a close collaborator of St. John Paul II and the person who organized and oversaw the first six international celebrations of World Youth Day.

Cardinal Pironio died of cancer in 1998 at the age of 77.

During a meeting Nov. 8 with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis signed the decree recognizing that the healing in 2006 of a 15-month-old baby, Juan Manuel Franco, in Mar del Plata, Argentina, was due to prayers for the intercession of Cardinal Pironio, the city's former bishop.

The baby had inhaled and aspirated a toxic substance that caused acute respiratory distress. His parents, family and friends prayed that the cardinal would intercede to heal him, and he recovered. Doctors said there was no scientific explanation for why he survived.

The recognition of a miracle clears the way for a date to be set for the cardinal's beatification.

Born in Nueve de Julio on Dec. 3, 1920, Eduardo Francisco Pironio was the 22nd child of Giuseppe and Enrica Buttazzoni Pironio, who emigrated to Argentina from Italy. After seminary studies in La Plata, Argentina, and Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1943.

St. Paul VI named him an auxiliary bishop of La Plata in 1964. In 1967 he was named apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Avellaneda and was elected secretary-general of the Latin American bishops' council, known as CELAM. In 1972 he was made bishop of Mar del Plata and was elected president of CELAM.

Pope Paul named him an archbishop in 1975 and called him to Rome as pro-prefect of the Vatican congregation for religious. He was made a cardinal in 1976 and participated in the conclaves that elected Pope John Paul I and St. John Paul II.

St. John Paul named him president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity in 1984, a position he held until his retirement 12 years later. When the pope instituted World Youth Day, he gave the task of organizing the event to the laity council.

Cardinal Pironio welcomed thousands of young people to the first gathering in Rome in 1985; he continued to orchestrate the mega-events later held in Buenos Aires; Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Czestochowa, Poland; Denver; and Manila, Philippines.

At the Nov. 8 meeting with Cardinal Semeraro, Pope Francis also signed decrees recognizing that three religious lived the Christian virtues in a heroic way: Italian Rogationist Father Giuseppe Marrazzo, who lived 1917-1992; Indian Sister Eliswa Vakayil, founder of the Teresian Carmelites, who lived 1831-1913; and Italian Sister Eleonora Foresti, founder of Franciscan Adorers Sisters, who was born in 1898 and died in 1953.