St. John Henry Newman

The same day Pope Leo XIV proclaimed St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the church, he also named the British saint patron of the Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome.

As St. John Henry Newman is proclaimed a doctor of the Church on Nov. 1, staff and students at his old university will be counting on a boost of confidence for Oxford’s once-excluded Catholics.

Pope Leo XIV announced he will proclaim St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church Nov. 1 during the Jubilee of the World of Education.

"He is the one Englishman of that era who upheld the ancient creed with a knowledge that only theologians possess, a Shakespearean force of style, and a fervour worthy of the saints."

St. John Henry Newman -- the 19th-century theologian, intellectual and preacher who journeyed from Anglicanism to Catholicism, powerfully shaping religious thought in both faith traditions -- will be named a doctor of the church by Pope Leo XIV.