Romana

THE VICARIATE OF ROME AND

THE PRELATURE OF THE HOLY CROSS

AND OPUS DEI^[1]

The Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Alvaro del Portillo, Bishop-Prelate of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei

Edict

On March 23, 1994, a few hours after returning from a trip to the Holy Land, the Servant of God Alvaro del Portillo, Prelate of Opus Dei, piously gave up his soul to our Lord at the seat of the Prelatic Curia in Rome.

Bishop del Portillo, a man of God and a diligent shepherd of the Church, dedicated himself with a true ecclesial spirit to the spread of the universal call of the baptized to holiness, in accord with the charism of the founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer.

As his reputation for sanctity has been growing steadily with the passage of the years, testified to by numerous declarations of cardinals, bishops, priests and lay people, and as the initiation of the cause of canonization of the Servant of God has been formally requested, at the same time that we inform the ecclesial community of this, we invite all the faithful to communicate to us directly or to send to the Diocesan Tribunal of the Vicariate of Rome (Plaza S. Giovanni in Laterano,6; 00184 Rome, Italy), any information, favorable or unfavorable, related to the reputation for holiness of this Servant of God.

Since by the norms of the legal dispositions all the writings attributed to him should be collected, by the present EDICT we indicate that anyone who is in possession of such writings should carefully send to the said Tribunal any document authored by the Servant of God that has not already been entrusted to the Postulation of the Cause.

We remind you that the word “writings” is not to be understood only of printed works, which have already been gathered, but also manuscripts, diaries, letters and every private writing of the Servant of God. Those who want to keep the original can present a duly authenticated copy.

We establish finally that the present EDICT is to remain visible for two months at the doors of the Vicariate of Rome and of the Curia of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, and that it is to be published in the Bulletin of the Prelature Romana and in the Revista Diocesana of Rome.

Given in Rome, at the Seat of the Vicariate, on July 4, 2003.

Camillo Cardinal Ruini

Vicar General

Giuseppe Gobbi

Notary

^[1] Cf. Normae servandae in inquistionibus ab Epicopis faciendis in Causis Sanctorum, 1983, n. 11, b.