Pope OKs miracle to beatify UK Cardinal Newman

Pope Benedict XVI has placed Cardinal John Henry Newman on the path to possible sainthood by approving a miracle attributed to the 19th century Anglican convert's intercession.

Newman was one of the founders of the so-called Oxford Movement of the 1830s, which sought to revive certain Roman Catholic doctrines in the Church of England. He eventually converted to Catholicism in 1845 and was ordained a year later.

The miracle approved Friday by the pope concerns the medically inexplicable cure of Boston-area resident John Sullivan, who suffered from debilitating back pain for years but was cured after praying to Newman.

Newman can now be beatified. If ultimately canonized, he would be the first English-born saint since the Reformation.