Cardinal Newman's body may be moved

BIRMINGHAM, England, July 15 (UPI) -- The Vatican has asked British authorities for permission to move Cardinal John Newman's body from a modest grave to a marble tomb in the Birmingham Oratory.

The planned reburial is part of the process of making Newman a saint, The Telegraph reports. Newman was declared venerable in 1991, more than 100 years after his death in 1890, and could be beatified within a year in the final step to canonization.

Newman, an Anglican priest who became one of the leaders of the high-church Oxford Movement, was the best-known English convert to Catholicism, at least until former Prime Minister Tony Blair. The effort to canonize him comes at a time when the Anglican Communion is split over homosexuality and the Church of England over the consecration of women as bishops.

The Vatican has barred the announcement of any reburial until it has been carried out, The Telegraph said. It needs approval from the British Ministry of Justice and the Birmingham City Council.