AMERICA/BRAZIL - Missionary found dead in Haiti, an example to propose also for sanctification

Brasilia (Agenzia Fides) - The Brazilian episcopate will begin in 2015 the practice to ask the Vatican for the beatification of the missionary and pediatrician Zilda Arns, founder and coordinator of the Pastoral of the Child, who died in the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010.
The note sent to Fides by the Episcopal Conference of Brazil recalled that the beginning of the process will start in two years time, because the request for beatification and sanctification can be made only after the fifth anniversary of the person’s death.
The beatification of Zilda Arns was proposed by the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Paraíba, Mgr Aldo Di Cillo Pagotto, who presides the Council for the Pastoral Care for Children, a Commission of the Bishops' Conference dedicated to the care and support of children, which was founded by the same missionary doctor in 1983 and today operates in more than twenty Countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The testimony of life of the missionary had caused a chain of solidarity immediately after the earthquake in Haiti (see Fides 14/01/2012).
The "Pastoral da Criança", as it is called in Brazil, on July 28 celebrated the 30th National Congress, and also representatives from the Philippines, Angola, Guatemala, Panama, Dominican Republic, Peru, Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay were asked to participate. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 08/08/2013)