Vatican City, Aug 27, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- For centuries, the Catholic Church has declared many different holy men and women to be saints through the strict legal process known as canonization. Traditionally, this process has included identifying which of two legal categories of holiness a candidate for sainthood fits into: confessor or martyr.

But in 2017, Pope Francis introduced a third option, called “offering of life.”