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The Church has recognised the heroic virtues of Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of European unity, thus according him the title 'Venerable.'

Robert Schuman (1886-1963) was a French Catholic committed to politics – understood as a mission and a service, and as an act of obedience to God's will – who lived in prayer and was nourished by the daily Eucharist. He was arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo from 14 September 1940 to 12 April 1941. He managed to escape and lived in hiding until the end of World War II, taking refuge in a number of convents and monasteries.

At the end of the war, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly of France. As a Member of Parliament, he took on a number of important roles in the French government as Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Justice, becoming a moral point of reference for the country.

At an audience for the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis authorised the dicastery to promulgate the Decree advancing his cause, along with the causes of four other Venerables and eleven future Blesseds, including ten martyred Polish nuns, who were killed in odium Fidei (in hatred of the Faith) in Poland in 1945 during the invasion by Soviet troops.

Among the other Venerables are: Italian priest Severino Fabriani, founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Providence for Deaf-mutes (1792-1857); Russian nun Angela Rosa Godecka, founder of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1861-1937), with the charism of caring for factory workers; Italian nun Orsola Donati, of the Congregation of the Minimal Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows (1849-1935); and Spanish nun Maria Stella di Gesù, of the Congregation of the Religious of Mary Immaculate (1899-1982). You can read more on the Vatican News website here.