Theological Consultors in Causes of Saints

After the Dicastery recognizes the juridical validity of the local inquiry and a Positio has been prepared under a relator, theological consultors study the material concerning heroic virtue, martyrdom, or offering of life. They assess the proofs critically, identify difficulties, and vote on the question presented. Their task is ecclesial judgment based on evidence, not devotional advocacy.

The consultors' meeting precedes examination by the cardinals and bishops who are members of the Dicastery. A favorable theological vote is an important stage but is not a decree of heroic virtue, martyrdom, or beatification. The prefect presents the matter to the pope, to whom the final authorization of the decree belongs.^[2]

In a cause of virtues, the consultors examine whether the theological, cardinal, and annexed virtues were practiced to a heroic degree with continuity and maturity. In a cause of martyrdom they examine death, the persecutor's hatred of the faith, and the martyr's voluntary acceptance, without turning every violent death of a Christian into canonical martyrdom.

For an offering of life, they apply the distinct criteria established by Maiorem hac dilectionem: free and voluntary self-offering in charity, heroic acceptance of certain premature death, a causal nexus, ordinary Christian virtue before and until death, and a reputation for holiness and signs. The categories are alternative juridical paths and must not be blended to make up deficiencies in proof.

After physicians have found a healing scientifically inexplicable, theological consultors consider invocation and attribution. They ask whether prayer was directed to the candidate before the healing, whether the intercession was sufficiently univocal, and whether the facts admit a coherent recognition of divine action through that intercession.

The theologians do not redo the medical diagnosis and physicians do not decide the theological nexus. The division of competence allows one proposed miracle to be tested as a historical event, a medical event, and an act received in faith before it reaches the Dicastery's members and the pope.^[3]