2026年3月23日 / 美国东部时间下午4:15 / 美联社
罗马教皇利奥十四世周一宣布，《 Boys Town 》的创始人、内布拉斯加州一所面向高危青少年的机构的神父爱德华·约瑟夫·弗拉纳根（Rev. Edward Joseph Flanagan）具备”英勇美德”，这让他距离可能的封圣更近了一步。该机构声名远扬，并启发了一部获得奥斯卡奖的传记电影。
随着利奥的宣布，这位通常被称为”弗拉纳根神父”的牧师正式被宣告为”可敬者”。通往封圣的后续步骤将包括宣福礼和最终的封圣。
奥马哈大主教迈克尔·麦戈文表示，他对这一消息感到”欣喜若狂”。
大主教在一份声明中说：”我们继续祈祷他有一天能被宣福，并最终被宣告为圣徒。在此期间，愿我们通过服务穷人、被遗弃者和弱势群体，特别是高危青少年，来肯定每个人在上帝形象中所具有的尊严。”
弗拉纳根神父生平
1947年5月28日，内布拉斯加州 Boys Town 的创始人爱德华·J·弗拉纳根神父在东京明治体育场的日本童子军大会上发表讲话。查尔斯·戈里 / 美联社
弗拉纳根1886年出生于爱尔兰巴利莫尔，1904年移民美国，1912年被任命为神父，1913年开始在奥马哈教区工作。
根据致力于推动其封圣事业的弗拉纳根神父联盟网站上的传记，他为无家可归的男性提供庇护，他们的经历让他确信许多成年人的问题根源在于破碎的家庭和父母的忽视。
1917年，弗拉纳根开始指导少年司法系统中的男孩，并在奥马哈市中心建立了第一个男孩之家。1921年，他在奥马哈西郊购买了一块农场，开始建造后来被称为 Boys Town 的校园，至今仍位于同名村庄内。
据该组织网站称，到20世纪30年代，数百名男孩居住在该地点，其中包括一所学校和宿舍，男孩们在那里选举自己的市长、议会和委员。
弗拉纳根前往战后日本帮助发展儿童福利项目。1946年，他访问了故乡爱尔兰，批评爱尔兰将儿童送入工业学校和感化院的制度，谴责其具有剥削性。
1948年，弗拉纳根在访问德国时因心脏病去世，享年61岁。他在 Boys Town 的道纪念教堂的墓碑上刻着他最著名的名言之一：”没有坏男孩，只有坏环境、坏榜样、坏思想。”
他的事迹被改编为1938年的电影《 Boys Town 》，斯宾塞·屈塞饰演英勇的弗拉纳根神父，米基·鲁尼饰演他照顾的男孩之一。这部电影让屈塞获得最佳男主角奖，剧本（原创故事）也获得奥斯卡奖。
Boys Town 发展现状
2024年9月14日，内布拉斯加州 Boys Town 中弗拉纳根神父故居外的雕像。彼得·史密斯 / 美联社
Boys Town 组织已在全国开设了多个分支机构，并于1979年开始在其住宿项目中招收女孩。
Boys Town 组织在周一的Facebook帖子中对梵蒂冈的宣布表示赞赏。
该组织称：”弗拉纳根相信儿童有权得到重视，有权获得基本生活必需品，并受到保护。他挽救生命的工作如今在全国范围内继续着。”
弗拉纳根是今年在芝加哥出生的教皇利奥任期内，第二位与中西部有关联的美国神职人员距离封圣更近的人。今年2月，经过多年延误，梵蒂冈批准了在其故乡伊利诺伊州为富尔顿·谢恩大主教举行宣福礼。
梵蒂冈圣徒 Causes 部审查了一份关于弗拉纳根生平、著作和事迹的冗长档案。利奥周一签署了一份法令，证明弗拉纳根过着英勇美德的生活。这样的法令并不意味着他没有罪过或错误，而是意味着他通过以英勇的方式践行所有基督教美德而享有圣洁的声誉。
通往封圣的下一步是宣福礼。要使弗拉纳根被宣福，负责推进这一事业的申请人（postulator）必须找到一位通过祈祷获得弗拉纳根代祷而奇迹般康复的人。这一过程需要神学家和医学专家的审查。如果确信，该部门会将案件提交给教皇，教皇签署法令，宣布候选人可以被宣福。
要将候选人封为圣徒，还需要第二个奇迹。殉道者——因信仰而被杀害的人——无需奇迹即可被宣福。然而，殉道者要被封圣，则需要奇迹。
教皇也可以绕过奇迹要求来宣布某人成为圣徒，正如教皇方济各在其12年任期内偶尔所做的那样。方济各在2015年访问华盛顿特区期间将圣 Junipero Serra 封为圣徒，尽管梵蒂冈尚未确认第二个归因于他代祷的奇迹。
宣福与封圣流程
- 英雄美德宣告：当前阶段，教皇确认弗拉纳根过着”英勇美德”的生活，这是封圣的关键一步。
- 寻找奇迹：需找到一位通过弗拉纳根代祷而奇迹康复的人，才能进入宣福礼阶段。
- 宣福礼：若奇迹确认，教皇签署宣福法令。
- 第二个奇迹：封圣前需第二个奇迹（殉道者除外）。
- 教皇特赦：教皇可豁免奇迹要求（如方济各所为）。
弗拉纳根神父的封圣进程与同期富尔顿·谢恩大主教的宣福礼形成呼应，显示出美国天主教界在教皇利奥任内的加速封圣趋势。
Father Flanagan of Boys Town fame moves closer to possible sainthood
March 23, 2026 / 4:15 PM EDT / AP
Pope Leo XIV put the Rev.Edward Joseph Flanagana step closer topossible sainthoodMonday as he proclaimed the “heroic virtues” of the founder of Boys Town, a Nebraska home for at-risk youths that gained national renown and inspired an Oscar-winning biopic performance.
With Leo’s proclamation, the priest commonly known as “Father Flanagan” is now officially declared “venerable.” Later steps on a possible path of sainthood would include beatification and ultimately canonization.
Omaha Archbishop Michael McGovern said he is “overjoyed” with the news.
“We continue to pray that he will one day be beatified and ultimately declared a saint,” the archbishop said in a statement. “In the meantime, may we work to affirm the dignity of every person created in God’s image by serving the poor, the abandoned and the vulnerable, especially at-risk youth.”
Father Edward J. Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, Nebraska, speaks into a microphone at Meiji Stadium in Tokyo, on May 28, 1947 during a Japanese Boy Scout Jamboree. Charles Gorry / AP
Flanagan was born in Ballymoe, Ireland, in 1886 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1904. He was ordained a priest in 1912 and began work in the Diocese of Omaha in 1913.
He provided shelter for homeless men, whose stories convinced him that many adult troubles are rooted in broken homes and parental neglect, according to his biography on the website of the Father Flanagan League, a society dedicated to promoting his cause for sainthood.
Flanagan began mentoring boys in the juvenile justice system and established his first home for boys in 1917 in downtown Omaha. In 1921, he bought a farm on the western outskirts of Omaha and began building what became the campus known as Boys Town, still located there in a village of the same name.
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By the 1930s, hundreds of boys lived at the site, which included a school and dormitories where boys elected their own mayor, council and commissioners, according to the organization’s website.
Flanagan traveled to postwar Japan to help develop a child welfare program. In 1946, he visited his native Ireland and criticized its system of putting children in industrial schools and reformatories, decrying them as exploitative.
Flanagan died of a heart attack in 1948 at age 61 while visiting Germany. His tomb at Dowd Memorial Chapel in Boys Town displays one of his most famous quotations: “There are no bad boys. There is only bad environment, bad example, bad thinking.”
His work was depicted in the 1938 movie “Boys Town,” starring Spencer Tracy as a heroic Flanagan and Mickey Rooney as one of the boys in his care. The movie yielded Oscar wins for Tracy (best actor) and for writing (original story).
A statue of the Rev. Edward Flanagan is seen outside the home where he lived in Boys Town, Neb., on Sept. 14, 2024. Peter Smith / AP
The Boys Town organization has opened various locations around the country and began admitting girls to its residential programs in 1979.
The Boys Town organization applauded the Vatican announcement in a Facebook post on Monday.
Flanagan “believed that children had the right to be valued, to have the basic necessities of life and to be protected,” it said. “His lifesaving work continues across the country today.”
Flanagan is the second U.S. cleric with Midwestern connections to be moved closer to sainthood this year under the pontificate of theChicago-born Pope Leo. In February, the Vatican approved the beatification ceremony ofArchbishop Fulton Sheenin his native Illinois after years of delays.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints reviewed a lengthy dossier on Flanagan’s life, writings and works. Leo, on Monday, signed the decree attesting that Flanagan lived a life of heroic virtue. Such a decree doesn’t mean he was free of sin or mistakes, but it means he had a reputation of holiness by living all the Christian virtues in a heroic manner.
The next step toward possible sainthood is beatification. For Flanagan to be beatified, the postulator — the person responsible for advancing the cause — has to find someone who was miraculously healed by praying for Flanagan’s intercession. The process involves vetting by theological and medical experts. If convinced, the dicastery sends the case to the pope, who signs a decree saying the candidate can be beatified.
A second miracle is needed to declare the candidate a saint. Martyrs — people killed for their faith — can be beatified without a miracle. A miracle is needed, however, for martyrs to be canonized.
A pope can also bypass the miracle requirements in declaring a saint, as Pope Francis did on occasion during his 12-year papacy. Francis canonized St. Junipero Serra during a 2015 Washington, D.C., visit, even though the Vatican hadn’t confirmed a second miracle attributed to his intercession.
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