WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – As the world celebrates the first American pope, a Wichita family continues to wait patiently as a spiritually leading relative who died more than 70 years ago approaches sainthood. The Kapaun family is waiting for the canonization process for Fr. Emil Kapaun to reach the finish line. Simply put, canonization is the church’s process for declaring someone a saint.
Toward their hope of seeing Fr. Kapaun honored so highly in their faith, the Kapaun family said the newly elected pope, Leo XIV, is another positive sign. In February, Fr. Kapaun was declared venerable by the late Pope Francis. This moves the Pilsen, Kansas native who served as a U.S. Army chaplain during World War II and the Korean War within one step of canonization.
Kapaun died in a Korean POW camp on May 23, 1951. His remains were located in March 2021 in Hawaii and returned to Kansas in September of that same year. They are entombed in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Wichita…