October 13, 1938: Father Edward Flanagan at the White House.Public Domain / Library of Congress

Father Edward J. Flanagan, who was born in Co Roscommon and went on to found Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska, has moved closer to sainthood.

Pope Leo XIV declared Flanagan as venerable on Monday, March 23, during a meeting with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

In doing so, Pope Leo XIV has officially recognized Flanagan's "heroic virtue" and advanced the Irish priest's cause for sainthood.

Boys Town said in a statement on Monday that for Flanagan's cause to move forward, the Church now seeks confirmation of two miracles attributed to his intercession, one required for beatification and another required for canonization.

The Cause for the Canonisation of Father Flanagan was opened in Omaha in 2012.

Flanagan was born on July 13, 1886, in Ballymoe, a town on the border of Co Roscommon and Co Galway. 

Boys Town notes that Flanagan was born prematurely and was not expected to survive his first night. However, "With the warmth and prayers of his grandfather, he did, and this set the stage for a life devoted to serving the forgotten."

Following his primary education in Drimatemple National School, Flanagan went to the College of the Immaculate Conception, Summerhill College in Co Sligo to complete his secondary education. 

After emigrating to the US in 1904, Flanagan was ordained in 1912.

Five years later, he established Boys Town in Nebraska, creating a safe haven for at‑risk boys. His unwavering belief that “there’s no such thing as a bad boy” guided his mission, even when critics challenged his approach. He welcomed children of every race, religion, and background, standing firm in his convictions at a time when few others would.

After World War II, President Harry Truman asked Father Flanagan to advise on the care of war orphans overseas. While carrying out that mission in Germany, Father Flanagan passed away in 1948.

Boys Town said on Monday: "Father Flanagan was a true visionary whose belief in the potential of every child still shapes Boys Town today. His newly recognized heroic virtue offers renewed inspiration and hope to all who look to his life as a model of compassion, justice, and steady faith."

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Also commenting on Monday's news, Kevin Doran, the Bishop of Achonry and of Elphin in Ireland, said that Flanagan's virtue shows "clearly" in many aspects of his life.

"One was the courage with which he pursued his vocation to the priesthood, in spite of difficulties with ill health.

"Another aspect of his holiness was his desire to help young people realize that they are loved by God. He expressed this in his own actions as a 'father,' and in his statement that he never knew a child who wanted to be bad. 'Kindness and love will open the heart of any problem boy.'

"On a visit to Ireland in 1946, he raised serious questions about the imprisonment of children and the conditions in which they were forced to live and work.

"In the 1920s and 1930s, Father Flanagan stood up against the sectarianism of many in the establishment, and the racist ideology of the Ku Klux Clan, and insisted on welcome young people of all races and religions in Boys Town, on the basis of their need.

"During the Second World War, when Japanese workers and their families in the United States were all interned as 'hostile aliens,' Father Flanagan arranged for many of them to be set free to come and live in Boys Town, where he provided them with a home and with employment. When the war was over, he devoted what remained of his life to visiting some of the countries which had been most impacted by violence (The Philippines, Japan and Germany) in order to support efforts to provide the best possible care for homeless children. It was during one such visit in Germany that he died of exhaustion.

"Father Flanagan’s life and virtue have much to say to us today, in a wealthy country where so many children are forced to live with homelessness, and in a world in which we still find it so easy to define people as 'hostile aliens.'"

In Ireland, Father Flanagan's legacy is preserved at the Father Flanagan Visitor Centre in Ballymoe, on the border of Co Roscommon and Co Galway.