Alexia González-Barros

Alexia González-Barros González (7 March 1971 – 5 December 1985) was a Spanish Catholic child who died of cancer in 1985.

González-Barros studied in school in Madrid and in her childhood received a papal blessing from Pope John Paul II during her trip to Rome. But in late 1984 she began feeling pains in her arm and back that led to a diagnosis two months later as being a malignant tumor in the vertebral column transforming into spinal cancer. Her siblings and friends remembered her for her piousness and her dedication to practicing holiness in all aspects of life.

In 2008 a controversial film was released depicting her life and death; the director maintains that it was a fictional tale that did not depict González-Barros even though it was dedicated to her and drew on some aspects of her life. Her siblings and Opus Dei railed against the film for its perceived slander and inaccuracies that were "unjust".

Her beatification process launched in 1991 and she became titled as a Servant of God. Pope Francis later declared her to be Venerable in July 5, 2018 after confirming that the child had lived a life of heroic virtue to a favorable degree.

Life Alexia González-Barros González was born in Madrid on 7 March 1971 as the last of seven children born to the Opus Dei supernumeraries Francisco (d. 30.12.2001) and Moncha (d. 3.2.2006); two of those children died as infants. Francisco and Alfredo were two of her older brothers.

Beatification process The beatification process took its first step towards launch on 21 November 1991 after Benito Badrinas Amat was appointed as the cause's postulator (official in charge of the cause). The official request to launch the beatification process was made on 16 July 1992 to the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid Angel Suquía Goicoechea who then lodged the official request to officials in Rome. The next step was to transfer the forum for the cause from the Pamplona-Tudela archdiocese to the Madrid archdiocese on 11 January 1991. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 8 February 1993 issued the official edict nihil obstat (no objections to the cause) which launched the cause and titled González-Barros as a Servant of God. Bishop Luis Gutíerrez Martín inaugurated the diocesan process on 14 April 1993 while the cardinal archbishop closed the process later on 1 June 1994. The cause accumulated 4600 pages in eleven volumes of documentation which was sent to the C.C.S. officials in Rome; the C.C.S. validated the diocesan process on 11 November 1994 as having complied with the rules regarding the conduct of causes. Flavio Capucci was appointed as the second postulator on 27 June 1994 to oversee the Roman Phase of the process (the investigation held in Rome).

The postulation compiled and submitted the official Positio dossier to the C.C.S. on 8 May 2000 for additional assessment. Nine theologians met (in a meeting that Carmelo Pellegrini chaired) and approved the cause after having assessed the dossier on 10 December 2017 as did the C.C.S. cardinal and bishop members later on 3 July 2018. Pope Francis titled González-Barros as Venerable on 5 July 2018 after acknowledging that the child had demonstrated heroic virtue during her lifetime to an adequate degree.