page_title: Cosma Spessotto
section_title: Canonization process
hierarchical_section_title: Cosma Spessotto / Canonization process
caption_attribution_description: Español: Testamento Espiritual de Fray Cosme Spessotto
context_page_description: Cosma Spessotto, O.F.M. was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and member of the Order of Friars Minor. He was sent to serve in the foreign missions in El Salvador in 1950, where he aided the faithful through evangelization and the construction of churches.
  Spessotto – like the then-Archbishop of San Salvador Óscar Romero – spoke out against injustices on the part of the junta of El Salvador which caused him to receive a number of death threats. He was killed in 1980 in the church where he served as pastor, just prior to the celebration of Mass, shot at point blank range.
  His cause for canonization was approved in 1999 under Pope John Paul II when he became titled as a Servant of God. On 26 May 2020, it was announced by the Holy See that Pope Francis had approved his beatification, with the date of the ceremony to be determined once the Covid-19 pandemic had passed.
context_section_description: The process for the canonization of Spessottol was opened by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Zacatecoluca on 17 July 1999, with the declaration of "nihil obstat" ('nothing against') by the local bishop (the first official stage in the sainthood proceedings) and official approval to the commencement of the cause had been granted. The diocesan process opened on 14 June 2000 and closed on 14 June 2001 – marking the date of the late priest's death.
  The cause was officially accepted by the Holy See on 4 April 2003, in which the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the process for further investigation, whereupon Spessotto was titled a Servant of God. On 26 May 2020, it was announced by the Holy See that Pope Francis had approved his beatification, with the date of the ceremony to be determined once the Covid-19 pandemic had passed.
  The current postulator that is assigned to the cause is Giovangiuseppe Califano.
caption: Text of his last will.
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