Lorenzo Ruiz was born in 1600, tortured and killed by the Japanese in 1637 as a martyr for not renouncing his faith. His canonization was based on a miracle that took place in 1983, when Cecilia Alegria Policarpio, a two-year-old girl suffering from brain cancer, was cured after her family and supporters prayed to Ruiz for his intercession. She was diagnosed with the condition shortly after birth and was treated at Magsaysay Medical Center.<\/p>\n
Ruiz was beatified during Pope John Paul II<\/a>‘s visit to the Philippines in January 1995. It was the first beatification ceremony to be held outside the Vatican<\/a>. San Lorenzo Ruiz was canonized<\/a> by the same pope in the Vatican City on 18 October 1987, making him the first Filipino saint.<\/p>\n What is the cost of sainthood?<\/strong> Vatican officials made a startling discovery shortly after Pope Francis was elected in 2013: outside payments were routinely made to a small office in the Holy See to boost the prospects of a candidate for canonisation.<\/p>\n The overall cost to the Vatican involved in creating a new saint can be as high as \u20ac500,000 \u2014 and in one case hit \u20ac750,000 \u2014 because of the lengthy historical due-diligence involved in analysing a candidate\u2019s suitability, including whether he or she has performed any miracles.<\/p>\n But those external contributions from individuals or groups \u2014 worth up to \u20ac40,000 \u2014 helped speed up the process. The trouble is they were often kept off the books and unaccounted for by the so-called postulators who worked in the sainthood office.<\/p>\n Vatican officials were forced to take the dramatic step of freezing the postulators\u2019 accounts after they refused to hand over any documents.<\/p>\n The episode stands among the most damaging revelations from two books based on leaked documents \u2014 Avarice<\/em> by Emanuele VI and Merchants in the Temple<\/em> by Gianluigi Nuzzi, which have heaped further indignity on the Roman Catholic Church as it tries to rebuild its credibility.<\/p>\n The publications, rife with vulgar details of avarice and mismanagement, have raised questions over the pope\u2019s ability to deliver lasting change<\/a> to the city state\u2019s notoriously murky governance, especially on the economic front<\/a>.<\/p>\n