Pedro Ballester’s Canonisation Cause Opens

Pedro died in Manchester in 2018 at the age of 21, after three years living with an aggressive cancer. He was an engineering student, and his cause for canonisation has just been opened. His birthday is 22nd May.

14/05/2026

The Diocese of Salford (Manchester, United Kingdom) has just taken the first step towards having Pedro Ballester declared a saint. It has formally opened his cause for beatification and canonisation, meaning that his life, writings and the testimonies of those who knew him will be thoroughly examined before a dossier is submitted to the Vatican.

Who was Pedro Ballester?

Born in Yorkshire to Spanish parents, he grew up between two cultures: sociable and expressive, yet with that understated quality so typical of the north of England. He loved discussing international politics and had a fine sense of humour. He won a place at Imperial College London to study chemical engineering in 2014; the same year he began experiencing back pain that turned out to be pelvic cancer, already at an advanced stage.

He travelled to Germany to try proton therapy, which initially proved effective. He returned to his studies in Manchester, but the tumour began to grow again without stopping. Pedro was a numerary member of Opus Dei — he had committed himself to celibacy and to seeking God in the ordinary circumstances of his life — and lived at Greygarth Hall, a university residence in Manchester. When all medical options had been exhausted, he asked to remain there: “I want to die at home.”

He was no picture-perfect patient. There were times when the pain overwhelmed him, times when he struggled, times when he grew angry. But he carried on, with all the ups and downs of any other person. A few weeks before he died, a young man who came to visit asked him whether he was happy. Pedro, after three years of illness, told him, “I have never been happier.”

A packed funeral and a grave that’s become a place of pilgrimage

More than 500 people filled the Church of the Holy Name on Oxford Road to bid him farewell. The future Cardinal Arthur Roche flew in from the Vatican to celebrate the ceremony. His grave in Southern Cemetery, Manchester (just a few metres from that of Sir Matt Busby, the legendary Manchester United manager) now receives visitors from across the world.

What next?

More than 60 people were interviewed before the cause was formally opened, including his father, a surgeon in Huddersfield.

Fr. Joseph Evans, chaplain of Greygarth and the priest who administered the last sacraments to Pedro, told the BBC: “I feel he can be a great model of joy in adversity particularly for young people.”

The diocese is now inviting people to send testimonies, memories or writings about Pedro to tribunal@dioceseofsalford.org.uk. This phase of the process will seek to establish whether Pedro lived the Christian virtues in a heroic manner, not as something exceptional or occasional, but as the consistent pattern of his entire life.