Cardinal Semeraro opens Newman Doctor of Church symposium; Pope Leo XIV to proclaim title Nov 1, 2025.
Newsroom (01/11/2025, Gaudium Press ) Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, opened a two-day international symposium on St. John Henry Newman Thursday, congratulating organizers for scheduling it on the eve of the saint’s proclamation as a Doctor of the Universal Church.
Pope Leo XIV will confer the title during a November 1, 2025, rite in St. Peter’s Basilica — the culmination of a process Semeraro oversaw from its 2021 inception.
In his introductory remarks, Semeraro highlighted the broad ecumenical backing: petitions originated with the bishops of England and Wales, swiftly joined by Scotland, Ireland, The Work spiritual family, and the Confederation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Support soon poured in from across the global Church.
Significantly, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York notified Pope Francis of their “fraternal support” for the initiative.
With papal approval, Semeraro’s dicastery launched the formal procedure, securing a positive eminens doctrina vote from Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who wrote: “There is no doubt about the excellence and relevance of this great Catholic thinker’s work…”
The dossier was complete and the plenary of cardinals and bishops set for July 1, 2025, when Pope Francis died. Pope Leo XIV confirmed the session; on July 31 he received Semeraro and ratified the affirmative vote. On September 28 the pope announced the November 1 rite, stating: “I will confer the title of Doctor of the Church on St. John Henry Newman, who contributed decisively to the renewal of theology and to understanding Christian doctrine in its development.”
Semeraro focused on one deliberate choice in Friday’s petitio: describing Newman’s 1845 reception into the Catholic Church as a “passage” rather than “conversion.”
Citing Newman’s postscript to the Letter to the Duke of Norfolk, Semeraro recalled the saint’s words: “From 1845 I have never hesitated… in the conviction that it was my precise duty to join… this Catholic Church which, in my own conscience, I felt to be divine.”
He invoked Joseph Ratzinger’s 1990 centenary address — Newman’s thought and life “interpenetrated,” making the Essay on the Development both theology and “the personal experience of a conversion never concluded.” Paul VI told Jean Guitton that Newman was “an autobiographical author.”
Ratzinger’s use of “conversion” did not imply repudiation. Semeraro recalled Newman’s Sicilian crisis: “I have not sinned against the light.” In the Apologia: “At the moment of my conversion I was not conscious of any intellectual or moral change… but it seemed to me I was coming home to port after a rough voyage.”
Quoting Paul VI again: “Newman renounced the Church of England not to separate from it but to fulfill it… he had brought Anglican faith to its plenitude.”
Semeraro closed by wishing participants fruitful work.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from https://www.osservatoreromano.va/
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