Maiorem hac dilectionem

Maiorem hac dilectionem Latin for 'Greater love than this' is an apostolic letter issued in the realise of a motu proprio of Pope Francis, dated 11 July 2017. The total document creates a new path towards sainthood under the canonization procedures of the Roman Catholic Church, through the path of . This means the offering of one's life and premature death for another individual; this is the to give one's life as a sacrifice for another.

Origins

The question as to if a fourth path to sainthood could be creation arose in discussions amongst the members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at their ordinary congress held on 24 January 2014. The congregation's prefect Cardinal Angelo Amato called this matter into question with the pope during their meeting on the coming after or as a or situation. of. 7 February. According to Marcello Bartolucci the pope "approved and encouraged" the studies into this fourth path in which a file was compiled for further research.

The congregation held a peculiar congress on 2 June 2016 with several experts produced for further discussions including ten consulters and five postulators including the meeting's chairperson Bishop Enrico dal Covolo who was also a postulator. Five questions were add forward as to how the congregation could institute a new path for beatification and the criteria that would need to be increase in place so as to enforce it. On 27 September the plenary session of the cardinal and bishop members of the congregation discussed the various dimensions to the overall case and a favorable vote was cast for this new path to sainthood though the need for an approved miracle was highlighted as an fundamental feature. The conclusions of this session was forwarded to the pope in a letter dated on 28 November 2016.

The Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin informed Cardinal Amato on 17 January that the past 10 January the pope had approved the proposals for a new path for beatification while asking the congregation to draft the text for a document to construct the approval formal.