Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
On April 21, Pope Francis went to be with his heavenly Father. We have all experienced the day of his death and funeral with great grief. Especially since he visited us, in Tallinn, six years ago. With his death, a special time began in the Church, which is called Sede Vacante, meaning we currently do not have a Pope and we are waiting for the election of a new Pope.
Therefore, the Holy See announced on April 22 that all planned beatification and canonization ceremonies will be suspended until a new Pope is elected. Only then will the new Pope confirm the canonizations or beatifications ceremonies.
Beatification is not a decision of the Bishop of Tallinn, but the beatification is for the entire Catholic Church, and therefore the decision of the Pope. It is not appropriate for a beatification ceremony to take place when the Pope is not elected or when he has not had time to confirm the apostolic letter.
We have been actively communicating with the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in the Holy See during the week and we were told that it is not impossible that the beatification ceremony of Archbishop Eduard Profittlich could be confirmed by the new Pope before May 17, but the probability of this ceremony taking place is quite small. I spoke with the members of the organizing committee, and we found that it is not possible – nor dignified – to stick to the date of May 17 when we do not know until the last minute whether the beatification can take place at all or not. Without this knowledge, we cannot organize in public all the things that we need to organize.
Therefore, I have decided to postpone the beatification of Archbishop Profittlich and to immediately start looking for a new date, which should be at the end of August or in September. This decision did not come easily, but was difficult, considered and painful.
I ask for your prayerful help, if possible, a short prayer every day until the beatification, so that we can quickly find, in cooperation with the Holy See after the election of the Pope, a new beatification date and organize a dignified church event in Tallinn soon!
I apologize to all the people who had already planned their time, travel, etc. other activities, but we pray that the beatification of Archbishop Profittlich, despite the difficulties we are going through now and which no one could have foreseen, will be a great blessing for Estonia and the Catholic Church in Estonia. And let us already entrust our prayers to the new Pope and his work for the glory of God and the good of souls intercession of the future blessed Archbishop Profittlich.
+Philippe Jourdan
Bishop of Tallinn
Tallinn, 01 May 2025