Diocese of Pasig Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara announced that the Vatican has approved the inquiry into the cause for sainthood of Laureana Franco, a lay catechist from the Diocese of Pasig.

In a Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines News post Wednesday, July 10, Bishop Vergara said, the Vatican has granted the “nihil obstat” (nothing obstructs) to the cause for beatification and canonization of Laureana Franco, known as “Ka Luring” in her community in Hagonoy, Taguig.

Franco, who died on Oct. 17, 2011 after battling cancer, had served as a volunteer catechist beginning in the late 1960s. Because of her exemplary service to the poor, then Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, gave her the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award on behalf of Pope St. John Paul II in 1990.

“The protocol was signed by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery of the Causes of Saints in response to Bishop Vergara’s request for a nihil obstat in March. Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown, and his secretary, Msgr. Giuseppe Trentadue gave the message to Vergara,” the CBCP said.

“May I ask for your unceasing prayers as we do the next steps required by the dicastery,” Vergara said in a Facebook post.

The nihil obstat allows the diocese to proceed with an inquiry into Franco’s heroic virtues, one of the first steps that could lead to her beatification and eventual sainthood

The Diocese of Pasig formally launched the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of “Ka Luring” in 2021 to coincide with her 10th death anniversary and the observance of the 500 Year of Christianity in the country.

Born to a poor family on July 4, 1936 in Hagunoy, Taguig, “Ka Luring” joined the Legion of Mary as a devotee of the Blessed Mother. 

In 2002, she received the Mother Teresa Award for her service to the poor and the needy.