Kapaun sainthood could soon be one step closer

For Kansas priest Emil Kapaun, the path toward sainthood could take an important step forward in a few weeks.

A panel of archbishops and cardinals from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints will meet March 10 to vote on whether Kapaun is worthy of the title of “Venerable.”

Kapaun, from Pilsen, was serving as an army chaplain in the Korean War when he and thousands of other American servicemen were captured by Chinese and North Korean soldiers in November 1950. Kapaun died in a prisoner of war camp near the border with China in May 1951.

The panel from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will decide if the documents they’ve reviewed concerning Kapaun’s life sufficiently prove that Kapaun lived a life of heroic virtue and sanctity. If they vote in favor, the case will then be presented to Pope Francis, who will then decide whether Kapaun should be bestowed with the title of “Venerable.”

Venerable is the second step in the process towards sainthood in the Catholic Church. Kapaun was named a “Servant of God,” the first step towards canonization, by the church in 1993. If the Venerable title is bestowed, the church would begin the process of investigating alleged miracles attributed to Kapaun.

A proven miracle could elevate Kapaun to the third step towards canonization: Blessed. The final step in being declared a saint requires the investigation and confirmation of a second miracle.

According to the Rev. John Hotze, the Episcopal Delegate for the beatification campaign, the Catholic Diocese of Wichita has provided the Vatican with documentation of an alleged miraculous healing attributed to Kapaun’s intercession.

Kapaun’s life is well-known to Catholics in Kansas. Raised on a farm in Pilsen, Kapaun was ordained in Wichita in 1940 and served as a parish priest in his hometown before joining the United States Army’s Chaplain Corp during World War II. After serving in India and Burma, Kapaun returned to the United States for a couple of years and then rejoined the Army before the start of the Korean War.

Kapaun’s regiment was overrun by Chinese and North Korean soldiers during the Battle of Unsan on Nov. 1 and 2, 1950. Kapaun’s actions during that battle resulted him being posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama is 2013.

The Diocese of Wichita has long championed the cause of sainthood for Kapaun. In 2001, the diocese, then led by Bishop Thomas Olmstead, began a preliminary investigation to decide whether to proceed with promoting Kapaun’s cause for sainthood.

In 2008, the diocese began a full-scale investigation into Kapaun’s life. This concluded with the diocese providing 16,000 pages of documents to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Current Bishop Carl Kemme traveled to Rome in November 2015 and presented Cardinal Angelo Amato, who was then serving as Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, with a 1,066-page “positio” — a book containing 14 years of research on Kapaun’s life by the Wichita diocese.

Since that time, two committees from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints have reviewed the material.

According to Hotze, a historical committee accepted the findings in the positio in June 2016. In 2018, a theological committee also accepted the positio. The acceptance of the positio by these two committees now brings Kapaun’s cause to its current position: A vote by the leading cardinals and archbishops that make up the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

In a February Facebook post, Hotze preached patience for those who closely follow Emil Kapaun’s cause.

“It may seem that Father Kapaun’s Cause for Canonization is taking an extremely long time,” Hotze wrote.

“Although, when you think of the magnitude of what naming a person a Saint really means, it really has not been that long of a time. When one is named a Saint, the Church is stating that the Church has no doubts that this person is with God in heaven. That is quite the statement and one that should not be taken lightly. In an official capacity, we have been working on Father Kapaun’s cause for just twelve years. Historically speaking, it is not unusual for causes for sainthood to take tens and even hundreds of years.”