Beatification (from Latin beatus, blessed) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name (intercession of saints). Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process. A person who is beatified is given the title "Blessed."

In earlier ages this honor was entirely local and passed from one diocese to another with the authorization of their bishops. This is clear from the fact that early Christian cemeteries contain paintings only of local martyrs. Some beatifications by bishops in the Middle Ages were almost scandalous by modern standards. For instance, Charlemagne was beatified by a court bishop soon after his death. He was never canonized, and his veneration has been mostly suppressed, though permission is given to celebrate Mass in his honor in the cities of Aachen and Osnabrück, but without using the title of "Blessed."^{[citation needed]}

Since the Catholic Church reform of 1983, one miracle must be proven to have taken place through the intercession of the person to be beatified, though the medical investigations of the Church are privately conducted and therefore subject to speculation about their methods.

Álvaro del Portillo, or Álvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano, (March 11, 1914 - March 23, 1994), was a Spanish engineer and Roman Catholic bishop. He served as the prelate of Opus Dei between 1975 and 1994.

He was born in Madrid. He studied civil engineering and after obtaining his doctorate at the University of Madrid taught at its School of Engineering. He briefly worked with the Bureau of Highways and Bridges in the provinces crossed by the rivers Júcar, Duero and Ebro.

In 1935, he joined Opus Dei and was subsequently ordained to the priesthood on June 25, 1944. He continued his studies to obtain two additional doctorates: Philosophy and Letters; and Canon Law. He then dedicated himself exclusively to the ministry and government of Opus Dei as its Secretary General. During the pontificate of Pope Pius XII (1939–1958), he worked in several Dicasteries of the Holy See.

In 1963, he was named by Pope John XXIII as a consultant on the Pontifical Commission for the revision of the Code of Canon Law. Pope Paul VI named him consultant on several post-Conciliar commissions. In 1975, he was chosen general president of the Opus Dei and successor of Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, and in 1982, the Holy See appointed him as the first Prelate of Opus Dei. In 1991, he was consecrated a bishop by Pope John Paul II.

The Korean Martyrs were the victims of religious persecution against the Catholic Church^{[citation needed]} during the 19th century in Korea. At least 8,000 adherents to the faith were known^{[citation needed]} to have been killed^{[citation needed]} during this persecution, 103 of whom were canonized en masse in May 1984.

Catholicism had entered Korea in the seventeenth century by means of books written by Jesuit missionaries in China and brought back by visitors to Beijing. Although no Koreans were converted to Catholicism by these books until the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the ideas of the Catholic priests espoused in them were debated and denounced as heterodox as early as 1724. The strong and dynamic Catholic communities were led almost entirely by educated lay people of the aristocratic classes (as they were the only ones who could read the books that were written in Hanja) until the arrival of the first French missionaries in 1836.

The Catholic community suffered major persecutions in the years 1839, 1846 and 1866, chiefly for the religion's refusal to carry out the traditional worship of ancestors, which it perceived to be a form of false idolatry, but which the State prescribed as a cornerstone of culture.

Chiara Lubich (22 January 1920 – 14 March 2008) was an Italian Catholic activist and leader and foundress of the Focolare Movement.

Chiara Lubich was born as Silvia Lubich in Trento. Her father lost his job because of the socialist ideas that he held during Italy's period of Fascism. Consequently, the Lubichs lived for years in extreme poverty. To pay for her university studies in philosophy, Lubich tutored other students in Venice and during the 1940s began teaching at an elementary school in Trent.

During World War II, while bombs were destroying Trent, Lubich had a powerful religious experience, 'stronger than the bombs that were falling on Trent' which Lubich immediately communicated to her closest friends. After convincing her friends they declared that, should they be killed, they wished to have only one inscription carved on their tomb: "And we have believed in love".

Her experience led her on 7 December 1943 to change her name to Chiara, in honour of Clare of Assisi. This date is considered the beginning of the Focolare movement.

Paul VI (Latin: Paulus PP. VI; Italian: Paolo VI), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978), reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it. He fostered improved ecumenical relations with Orthodox and Protestants, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements.

Montini served in the Vatican's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954. While in the Secretariat of State, Montini and Domenico Tardini were considered as the closest and most influential co-workers of Pope Pius XII, who named him in 1954 Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese, yet denying him the Cardinal designation that traditionally accompanies being Archbishop of Milan, a function which made him automatically Secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference. John XXIII elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1958, and after the death of John XXIII, Montini was considered one of his most likely successors.