The Vatican has received a dossier that places French priest Jacques Hamel, who was killed by Islamists in 2016, on the path to sainthood.
Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of the northern French diocese of Rouen where the brutal attack occurred, gave the documents that filled six boxes to the Vatican's Congregation of the Causes of Saints, the AFP has reported.
Adel Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Petitjean, both 19 at the time, stormed the 85-year-old clergyman's church before stabbing and slitting his throat.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the head of the department that oversees beatifications and sainthoods said that while the department is currently considering 1,500 applications.
However, he insisted that Fr Hamel's was a "priority" for Pope Francis.
Beatification is the first step to sainthood and two miracles are needed to become a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
However, requests for candidates deemed to have been a martyr for their faith do not need evidence of involvement in miracles.
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Article by Eno Adeogun
Eno Adeogun is a multimedia journalist for Premier.