KENYA: Team to look into Cardinal Otunga’s life

The process to make Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga a saint will gain momentum today (on Friday) with the naming of a team to examine his life.

Catholic faithful will gather at the Holy Family Minor Basilica to witness the swearing in of five members of a tribunal that will collect all the information about the Cardinal’s life. The information will be gathered from written and oral testimonies.

The service will be led by Nairobi Archbishop John Cardinal Njue. The information will be used to determine if Cardinal Otunga practised the evangelical virtues in a heroic way or not.

Cardinal Njue has appointed Dr Waldery Hilgeman, from Rome, Italy, as the postulator of the process. “It is an honour for me to serve in this position,” Dr Hilgerman said at a press conference in Nairobi.

The information collected will then be presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. Cardinal Otunga died on September 6, 2003 at the age of 80 after serving the Church for more than 50 years as a Priest, Bishop and Archbishop.