NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The Vatican press office today issued an official announcement of the canonization of Blessed Edith Stein, which will take place in St. Peter's Square on October 11.

      Born in 1891 to a Jewish family, Edith Stein converted to Catholicism after emerging as a leading young philosopher. She eventually became a Carmelite nun-- Sister Theresa Benedicta. She was taken prisoner by the Nazi government in a crackdown on Catholics of Jewish extraction-- after the Dutch bishops protested against Nazi race policies-- and died at Auschwitz in 1942.

      The Vatican announcement recognized the new saint as a daughter of Israel as well as a daughter of Carmel, and points to her as a model for the Church. Her witness, the statement proclaimed, proved that "in spite of the memory of destructive and morbid horrors which have struck so many innocent men and women, life is stronger than death."

      Edith Stein was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987. The Pope has always shown a keen appreciation for her philosophical work, which explored the relationship between faith and reason.