Saint John Henry Newman has officially been declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV, as part of the Jubilee of the World of Education celebrations over the weekend.
Celebrating Mass for the Solemnity of All Saints, Pope Leo proclaimed Saint Newman to be the 38th Doctor of the Church. He was also recognised as co-patron of education along with Saint Thomas Aquinas.
The Mass was attended by members of the Church of England, including Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York, currently the top-ranking prelate of the Church of England. Saint Newman had been an Anglican priest for 20 years prior to entering the Catholic Church.
"Newman’s impressive spiritual and cultural stature will surely serve as an inspiration to new generations whose hearts thirst for the infinite, and who, through research and knowledge, are willing to undertake that journey which, as the ancients said, takes us per aspera ad astra, through difficulties to the stars," Pope Leo said during his homily on Sunday.
"The lasting legacy of Saint John Henry Newman includes some very significant contributions to the theory and practice of education. He wrote, 'God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. In these words, we find beautifully expressed the mystery of the dignity of every human person, and also the variety of gifts distributed by God."
St Newman was born in London on February 21, 1801. He was ordained an Anglican priest but became Catholic in 1845. He was made a cardinal in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII and died in Edgbaston, near Birmingham, in 1890.
He was an important figure in the life of the Church in England in the 19th century, particularly following his conversion to the Catholic Church.
The Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference was one on of the 20 conferences around the world which petitioned the Vatican to recognise Saint Newman as a Doctor of the Church, along with England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the United States and Canada.
Both Pope Leo's predecessors formally proclaimed two Doctors of the Church each.
Numerous congregations and conferences have put forward proposals for saints to be declared Doctors of the Church. Pope Francis received a formal request to declare Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) a Doctor of the Church while the Polish Bishops Conference has formally petitioned to have Pope John Paul II given the title.