BRITAIN: The body of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who died in 1890, is to be exhumed and placed in a sarcophagus at his memorial church, officials confirmed yesterday.
Campaigners for the beatification of the cardinal said his remains would be reinterred at the Oratory Church in Edgbaston, Birmingham, at a public ceremony in the autumn.
The announcement, made by the provost of the Birmingham Oratory, Fr Paul Chavasse, follows a request from the Vatican that the cardinal's body be moved as part of the process of beatification.
Cardinal Newman was buried in August 1890 in a small cemetery in Rednal, near Birmingham, and it is hoped that his new resting place will enable more people to pay their respects to his memory.
Fr Chavasse added: "It should be noted that, at the specific request of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the exhumation will be an entirely private event but that the reinterment in our church will be a public ceremony."
It is hoped that Pope Benedict XVI will issue a decree declaring Cardinal Newman as "Blessed" in December.
In 1854 the cardinal, a Catholic convert, came to Dublin as rector of the Catholic University, now University College Dublin. - ( PA)