REV. Fr. Aniceto “Mao” Buenafe of the Diocese of Bacolod said Friday that he is in favor of the move to work for the sainthood of late former President Corazon C. Aquino.

“It’s really a welcome initiative,” Buenafe said.

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The plan to have Aquino be declared a saint came shortly after she was buried last Wednesday after almost nine hours of emotionally-charged funeral procession.

Buenafe, director for the Social Action Center (SAC) of the Diocese, said: “Making a person a saint will take time and would undergo a lot of investigations as well as gathering of her (Cory) miracles but I am in favor because Cory indeed was living a holy life because of her undying determination to bring this country the freedom that once was denied by the dictatorship of (Pres.) Marcos.”

Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra was not reached for comment Friday although some officers and members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) have already said they also favored said bid.

“If sainthood is officially conferred on Cory, she would be the first modern-day Filipino, and a woman and president at that, to be given the sacred honor. It could be argued that Cory’s practice of her faith in all aspects of her life—as a Filipino patriot, national leader, wife, widow, mother—was widely known and documented,” said a report in a broadsheet.

Buenafe added: “The canonization of Cory, if it would push through, might take time but it would be worthwhile for the Filipinos to wait for it.”

Canonization is the act by which a particular Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint and is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints.

The process of canonization occurs at the conclusion of a long process requiring extensive proof that the person proposed for canonization lived and died in such an exemplary and holy way that he or she is worthy to be recognized as a saint.

The first Filipino to be named a saint was Lorenzo Ruiz, a protomartyr venerated in the Roman Catholic Church after he was martyred during the persecution of Japanese Christians under the Tokugawa Shogunate in the 17th century.

Ruiz was beatified by the late Pope John Paul II in Manila on February 18, 1981 and was canonized on October 18, 1987 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Ruiz was the first and the lone Filipino saint as of today, although Pedro Calungsod - a catechist and martyr from Cebu - was named a ‘Blessed’ one and many other Filipinos were named Servants of God.

Buenafe said “President Cory is not far from being named a saint as Pope Benedict XVI described the late democracy icon as ‘a woman of deep unwavering faith’.” (JOC)