Pope blesses plans to make writer of Father Brown stories G.K. Chesterton a saint



Author G. K. Chesterton, best known for his Father Brown stories, has been put on the path to sainthood – with the blessing of the Pope.



Just days before he was elected Pope in March, the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, wrote to a Chesterton society in Argentina approving the wording of a private prayer calling for his canonisation.

The Pontiff is said to be a fan of the author, one of whose most admired books was a life of St Francis of Assisi – whose name the Pope adopted.

Saint? Author G.K. Chesterton deserves to be canonised, according to his fans

Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton, the diocese in which Chesterton lived, has ordered an examination of the life of the Roman Catholic writer, a step that is expected to lead to a formal campaign for his canonisation.

Although admirers admit that Chesterton, a cigar-smoking journalist and writer, is not a typical candidate for sainthood, they say his personal character showed the author, who died in 1936, was a deeply spiritual individual.