Please sign the petition below to the Pope and help get a Goan canonized (saint). Please forward to your family and friends.
The 300th anniversary of the death of Blessed Joseph Vaz (born Goa, India) is fast approaching on January 16, 2011. Our Joseph Naik Vaz Institute has worked to publicize his life and Cause since 1980, when we incorporated in California as a 501(c)(3) in the State of California. We ask for your support of our new Petition to the Pope, His Holiness Benedict XVI, asking that Blessed Joseph Vaz be canonized for the 300th anniversary of his death. In the year 2000, we organized a Petition to Pope John Paul II to have Blessed Joseph Vaz canonized as a Martyr without the final miracle during the Grand Jubilee of Christianity like hundreds of other Martyrs from Spain and China. Blessed Joseph Vaz merits the designation of Martyr for having lived and died under persecution.Cardinal Simon Pimenta of Mumbai personally took our Petition to the Pope. Archbishop Henry D'Souza flew to Rome and met with the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of the Saints to support this Petition. Canonizations are in part a result of an outpouring of support from ordinary people. The Pope can grant the exception to the miracle for the case of a Martyr if enough people show that we care. Your signature to this Petition will help to send the people's support to the Pope for Blessed Vaz' long delayed and just canonization. Together we can make this canonization happen. Please sign the online petition which will be sent to Pope Benedict XVI: "Make Blessed Joseph Vaz a Saint" hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition service, at: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/JosephV/ 300 years is a long wait for a Catholic Saint and Blessed Vaz could be on the verge of being canonized with your support. Please sign the petition and forward to your family and friends to sign. All welcome to sign (i.e. you do not have to be Catholic). http://www.PetitionOnline.com/JosephV/ Regards, Filomena Saraswati Giese and George Pinto Joseph Naik Vaz Institute www.josephnaikvaz.org
