A miracle attributed to an Irish Jesuit priest has been recognised by the Vatican. Fr John Sullivan SJ was declared Venerable by Pope Francis in November 2014 and the Pope has now officially recognised a miracle attributed to the priest, paving the way for his beatification. Fr John Sullivan’s prayers were believed to have prompted the cure of Michael Collins, nephew of Michael Collins, founder of the Irish Free State in 1928, who was paralysed as a young boy but suddenly walked after Fr Sullivan touched his leg and prayed over him. Fr Sullivan was born in Dublin in 1861 to a wealthy Protestant father and Catholic mother. At the turn of the century he converted to Catholicism and entered the Jesuit noviciate. He is associated with a number of miraculous cures throughout his lifetime. He died on February 19, 1933, at St Vincent’s Nursing Home, Dublin. Senior figures in the Irish Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland welcomed the news. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said: “[Fr Sullivan] was not a medical expert or a faith healer, but a man who through his own prayer and personal holiness was able to transmit to those he encountered something of the healing power and the good news of Jesus Christ.” Pope Francis also formally recognised the martyrdom of Catholics killed in communist Albania and during the Spanish Civil War. The Albanian martyrs include Archbishop Vincent Prennushi, a Franciscan prelate, and 37 other Catholics killed between 1945 and 1974.