Pope Francis has approved the beatification of a Dublin priest celebrated for his work with the sick and dying in the then-impoverished villages of Co Kildare in the early 20th Century.
The Holy See confirmed that the Pontiff has approved the attribution of a miracle to Jesuit priest and teacher John Sullivan (1861-1933), enabling him to be beatified.
The move, in a decree naming 38 others and signed by Pope Francis today, clears the way for each of them to be beatified, a step which involves being officially recognised as 'Blessed' and can lead to sainthood at a later date.
Fr Sullivan, who was brought up in a wealthy Dublin family, taught at Clongowes Wood College.
His supporters have been campaigning for him to be made a saint since the 1940s.
He was declared a 'Servant of God' in 1960 and made 'Venerable' by Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, in 2014.
Both the Roman Catholic and Protestant Archbishops of Dublin have welcomed the announcement.
Catholic Archbishop Diarmuid Martin recalled that Fr Sullivan was baptised into the Church of Ireland and became a Roman Catholic in the second half of his life.
"John Sullivan's faith was the product of two traditions and always remained so and was enriched by that fact," Dr Martin said.
Church of Ireland Archbishop Michael Jackson said Fr’s Sullivan's holiness has touched and inspired countless people both here and abroad.
He said the Church of Ireland faithful give thanks for the public recognition of his holiness, humility and service of humanity.
The move from being beatified to sainthood is not automatic.
Fr Sullivan will have to have another miracle attributed to him if he is to become the latest Saint John.
Beatification is possible purely on the basis of having died for the faith but promotion to sainthood requires a miracle.
An Albanian bishop who died after being tortured and 37 other Catholic victims of the country's former communist regime were also recognised as martyrs, the Vatican said.
The 38 Albanians, mostly clerics or aspiring clerics, were killed between 1945 and 1974 under the isolated and dictatorial communist regime of Enver Hoxha, who declared Albania the world's first atheist state in 1967.
The bishop who was beatified, Vincens Prenushi, was the Catholic primate of Albania and rejected Hoxha's demand for the formation of a breakaway Albanian church.
He died in prison in 1949 after being tortured.
Mr Prennushi was among seven bishops who were either executed or died in prison under Hoxha.
The Church says the regime was also responsible for the deaths of a total of 111 priests, 10 seminarists and eight nuns and the destruction of 1,820 Catholic, Muslim and Orthodox places of worship.
Pope Francis paid tribute to the Albanian faithful's resistance when he visited the country in September 2014. The pontiff was visibly moved by the personal accounts of persecution he heard from a nun and a priest now in their eighties.
That prompted him to depart from his prepared speech and ask: "How were they able to resist?"
