VATICAN CITY: The Catholic Church has put Antoni Gaudi, the designer of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica, on the path to sainthood, the Vatican said Monday. Pope Francis recognized the Catalan architect’s “heroic virtues” and authorized a decree declaring him “venerable”, the Vatican said in a statement. This acknowledgement comes before beatification, and the next step after that is sainthood. Beatification is reserved for three categories of people: martyrs, those who have lived a life of heroic values and others with a clear saintly reputation.

Candidates must also be credited with a miracle after their death, at which point they can move towards becoming saints. The Church began in 2003 to vet Gaudi, a visionary and pious architect who died in 1926. Two decades later, in 2023, Cardinal Juan Jose Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona, commissioned a group of religious and lay people to press his cause. Gaudi designed the unfinished monumental Basilica of the Sagrada Familia, which was consecrated in 2010 by pope Benedict XVI, paving the way for its use as a place of worship.

At the time, Benedict praised “the genius of Antoni Gaudi ... (who), inspired by the ardor of his Christian faith, succeeded in transforming this church into a praise to God made of stone”. The signing of the decree was the first official appointment on Francis’s agenda since the 88-year-old was discharged on March 23 following five weeks in hospital battling life-threatening pneumonia.

Construction of the Sagrada Familia began in 1882, but the project, known for its soaring Gothic spires, remains unfinished even after Gaudi devoted the last 12 years of his life exclusively to the project. It was meant to be completed by 2026, the centenary of the death of Gaudi. The target date was postponed indefinitely after the COVID-19 pandemic reduced tourist revenues used to fund construction. — Agencies