The Diocese of Trier will appoint a new commission of historians for the beatification process of Father Joseph Kentenich. It will have in particular the task “to collect all now accessible documents of the Vatican Archive that in some way relate to this beatification process, and to assess their significance.”
This can be seen in a declaration of the Diocese of Trier which was published today after a conversation between Bishop Stephan Ackermann and Dr. Georg Holkenbrink, Director of the Diocesan Tribunal of Trier, as well as with representatives of the International Schoenstatt Movement. The Schoenstatt Movement expressly welcomes this step and hopes that further transparency and clarity regarding the person, life, and work of its founder can be achieved in this way as soon as possible. Press release:
Diocese of Trier, Germany – July 7, 2020
Beatification Process Kentenich: to evaluate newly found material
Bishop Ackermann announces appointment of a new commission of historians
Trier/Vallendar-Schoenstatt – Bishop Stephan Ackermann has announced the appointment of a new commission of historians in the beatification process of Father Joseph Kentenich. The reason is the fact that after a broader opening of the Vatican Archive (now until the end of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII in 1958), documents are now viewable which were previously not accessible for diocesan examination in the beatification process of the founder of the Schoenstatt Movement. Ackermann, the diocesan bishop responsible for the beatification process, made this statement on July 7 in Trier.
The currently valid norms provide for such a commission of historians for each process of beatification. The new commission will build on the results of a previous one which had concluded its work in 2007. The task of the new commission of historians, whose members have not yet been determined, will especially be to collect all now accessible documents of the Vatican Archive that in some way relate to this beatification process, and to assess their significance. The written documents may be those originating from Father Kentenich himself or relating to him and his work.
It will also be the task of the commission to reconcile the newly found material with what has already been gathered and evaluated from other archives by the previous commission. At the end of their work, the commission – including the results of the previous commission – will write a report in which a statement is also made about the personality and spirituality of Fr. Joseph Kentenich as depicted in the collected documents.
The beatification process of Father Joseph Kentenich was opened by Bishop Bernhard Stein on February 10, 1975 in the Diocese of Trier and until today has not yet been concluded on a diocesan level.