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Last week, the Diocese of Salford, England, formally announced that a cause for canonization had been opened for Pedro Ballester, a young man who died from cancer aged 21.
According to Jack Valero, director of the Opus Dei Communications Office in Great Britain, who knew Ballester from when he was a baby, he was a cheerful and friendly young man who was also known to question bishops about their plans for their diocese.
Speaking to Crux Now, Valero joked that a bishop told him that Ballester, who was a numerary in Opus Dei, was “more incisive than the pope” due to the questions he would ask the bishop when he visited him in hospital.
“When he was in hospital, many priests would visit him to get solace and counsel from him. One of the bishops who used to visit him said going to see Pedro was worse than going to see the pope,” Valero joked.
“He asked him, ‘How many seminarians do you have? How much formation do you give them? What pastoral plans do you have for your diocese?’ The bishop said he [Ballester] was more incisive than the pope,” Valero added.
Valero also said that Ballester’s cheerfulness in the face of a serious illness, and the simple manner in which he lived his faith, could be a model for the Church and specifically for young people.
“During the week before he died, lots of people came to see him. And he would ask them, ‘Are you happy?’ He’d try to encourage them and one of them asked him, ‘What about you, are you happy?’ And he said, ‘I’ve never been happier,’” Valero told Crux Now.
“This was one week before he died, after three years of suffering, but he was happy that he had been able to do the will of God. The guy who asked him was just flabbergasted,” Valero said.
“Pedro shows that loving God makes you happy, rather than being a sacrifice. Many people think loving God is a sacrifice, but Pedro shows that loving God is joy,” he added.
“We are pleased to announce the opening of the Cause for the Beatification and Canonisation of Pedro Ballester, a young Manchester man whose life of faith and witness continues to inspire many,” said the diocese on May 13.
Ballester died on 13 January, 2018 after cancer ended his studies to be a chemical engineer. Over 500 people attended his funeral at the Holy Name Church on Oxford Road which was celebrated by the future Cardinal Arthur Roche.
The full interview with Valero is below.
Crux Now: You knew Pedro personally. What was he like?
Jack Valero: I knew his dad before he got married. He got married, and I went to his house the day Pedro was born, so I actually saw him just as he was born. They lived in Manchester, and I lived in London, so I saw them from time to time. Pedro was a very cheerful guy, normal, interested in sports, interested in animals, very friendly, lots of friends, and the typical young boy.
His big change came when he became sick. He changed from somebody who was very friendly and nice to be around into somebody who was really concerned about other people. He didn’t want to talk about himself, he only wanted to talk about others, so you would go see him in hospital, and he would resist answering questions about his own state and his sufferings. He only wanted to know about you. He had so many visitors and his friends were all types.
His best friend at school was Laurie, an atheist, and they would walk to school every day. Laurie would get his mother to drop him at Pedro’s house, rather than dropping him at the school, so that they could walk together to the school when they were in the sixth form. Laurie would love to talk to Pedro, even though Laurie was not a believer, and Pedro was a keen Catholic. The second thing that really struck me was he was such a happy person. When I suffer, I’m really thinking about myself and being miserable, yet for him, he was not well but was happy all the time. His happiness was not affected, so why is that?
When he died I was asked to do the little memorial card for his funeral and I put a quote from scripture. I got a phone call from the priest of the center where he lived. He said I could use the scripture but I absolutely had to put a quote about happiness, because that was Pedro.
During the week before he died, lots of people came to see him. And he would ask them, “Are you happy?” He’d try to encourage them and one of them asked him, “What about you, are you happy?” And he said, “I’ve never been happier.” This was one week before he died, after three years of suffering, but he was happy that he had been able to do the will of God. The guy who asked him was just flabbergasted.
So is it fair to say his cancer diagnosis changed him but it made him less self-focused? Why was that?
He was always a friendly guy as he was growing up and people liked to be with him. He had lots of friends but he became much more spiritual when he was ill. He prayed a lot and he got the strength from God to be more outward looking because the normal thing when you’re suffering is to think about yourself. That’s the key: when the test came his way, he passed it because he was able to think of others. He’d been trying to think of others as he was growing up, but this was the real test when he became ill.
That was my overriding memory of visiting him in hospital: even when he was not feeling well, he refused to talk about himself. If he could, he would ask you about you but if he was a bit too down, because of the medication or whatever, then he would just keep quiet and say, “Tell me some things, so that I can listen to you.”
God is providing us with all these models of young people who could be saints, like Saint Carlo Acutis, but also Clare Crockett, and Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati, or Guido Schäffer. I think that God has chosen people – I’m sure that there are many sick people and many good people – so that He can show to us what it’s like to be a Catholic in different circumstances.
Devotion to Pedro has spread all around the world and many people are inspired by his simplicity and his friendliness, and they want to be like him. People ask him for favors and for intercession. In the website that we run, which was put together by a friend of his from university, there’s more than 200 emails and messages from people who report having received favors through his intercession in the last few years.
What is it about his life that you think would make him a possible saint?
When the Catholic Church considers people for beatification it looks at the virtues of such people and sees if they’ve lived them to a heroic degree. I think that what Pedro does is show that it’s not complicated to live the Christian virtues, it’s a day-to-day thing, little by little, and that when you do it, even though it’s not complicated, it’s impressive, because most people don’t. You can see that in these youngsters that God is putting in front of us as people who care about other people, and who become holy in very simple ways.
When Saint Therese of Lisieux, 100 years ago, was being considered, people thought she hadn’t done very much. That’s the point: she was a young girl in love with God. Pedro was in love with God. It’s another message that I’m getting from Pedro: you can get to God if you love God and you love people.
Do you think he’s specifically an example to the young?
Yes, a life with God is simple and it leads you to do things. For Pedro, he committed himself to being a numerary, a celibate member of Opus Dei, when he was young, just before his 17th birthday, although he couldn’t make the full commitment until after he was 18. He made his commitment when he was young, and died when he was young.
The love of God can be experienced at any age. There could be a certain way of thinking that you can either have fun or be religious. What Pedro shows is that you can have the greatest fun when you are religious, when you love God, when you love people.
That’s the most enjoyable way to live your life: thinking of others, doing the right thing, and making good decisions. For example, he was at a party once and people started to take drugs. So he phoned his mother and asked her to pick him up because he wasn’t comfortable. For Pedro, he was much happier not taking drugs.
Pedro shows that loving God makes you happy, rather than being a sacrifice. Many people think loving God is a sacrifice, but Pedro shows that loving God is joy.
Do you see any similarities between Pedro and Saint Carlo Acutis?
Carlo was a very good guy, he did a lot of work, got involved with the church, fed the homeless, and so on. He got ill at 15 years old and died one week later. Pedro got ill at 18 and had three years of treatment and suffering. So the stories are different.
What God is givin
