Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman

With the verifaction of "the inexplicable healing of an American man who was 'bent double' by a severe spinal disorder came as a result of praying to Newman for a miracle" confirmed, "the Pope can now beatify Newman at a date of his choosing" — Cardinal John Newman poised for beatification after ruling. The article says that the Pope "is known to be keen to make Newman a saint" and "asks about the progress of his cause on a regular basis." Here's why:

Benedict XVI has been an admirer of the writings of Cardinal Newman since the 1940s, especially his "theology of conscience".

He learned about this from a German scholar called Theodor Haecker, who translated Newman's works from English into German, and who was close to the White Rose, a German resistance movement in the Second World War.

It was revealed last month that German academics have discovered that Newman's writings on conscience were a key inspiration of the White Rose – in particular of Sophie Scholl, a student beheaded in 1943 at the age of 21 for distributing leaflets urging students at Munich University to rise up against "Nazi terror".

Two of his books, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine and Apologia Pro Vita Sua, were instrumental in my own conversion.

[link via New Oxford Review]