What Happens During a Beatification?

Beatification serves as the penultimate stage in the process of canonization, where the pope declares that a person is in heaven. This papal act follows a long legal investigation into the individual's life, writings, and reputation.

To reach beatification, a person must first be declared venerable after the pope recognizes their heroic virtue. Once beatified, the individual receives the title beatus, meaning blessed or happy. This status is granted to those who lived a life of heroic virtue, offered their lives selflessly to save others, or were killed in hatred of the faith as martyrs.

The final step in the process is canonization, during which the pope solemnly and irrevocably proclaims that the person is truly in heaven.