Pope Francis has called an Ordinary Public Consistory to consider seven causes for canonization, including that of Blessed Charles de Foucauld.

At the Consistory, set for Monday, May 3, Cardinals resident in Rome or who are present in city will vote on whether to proceed with the canonizations of the Blesseds. The Vatican has noted that the Consistory will take place in full compliance with health and sanitation measures undertaken to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Blessed Charles was a French army officer and explorer, who later became a Cistercian monk and later left the Trappists to live as a hermit in North Africa. He was killed in 1916 by tribal raiders who were attempting to kidnap him. Pope Benedict XVI recognized de Foucauld as a martyr when he beatified him in 2005.