Jorge Mario Bergoglio, since becoming Pope Francis in March 2013, is focusing on martyrdom in the Roman Catholic Church.

Barro and McCleary interpret the lowering of saint-making criteria combined with a geographic broadening of candidates as an intentional effort on the part of the Catholic Church hierarchy to universalize its relevance. More specifically, the Catholic Church - the world's longest-lasting...

"The Catholic Church has been making saints for centuries, typically in a two-stage process featuring beatification and canonization. We analyze determinants of rates of beatification and canonization (for non-martyrs) over time and across six world regions. The research uses a recently...