On 18 December, Vatican media announced that the Church will have 12 new Blesseds: 11 Spanish martyrs and one layman from Argentina. The Spanish martyrs were killed out of hatred for the faith during the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1937, while the Argentinian Enrique Ernesto Shaw died in 1962. He was a former student of Colegio La Salle Buenos Aires (Argentina), a father, a businessman and widely recognised for his commitment to various ecclesiastical works.
Following the news of Enrique Shaw’s upcoming beatification, “the educational community of Colegio La Salle Buenos Aires accompanied this journey of faith and witness through an institutional celebration together with members of his family, highlighting his human, Christian and professional legacy”, according to the Argentina-Paraguay District on its website.
The path to Beatification
By authorising the promulgation of the decree concerning the new Lasallian Blessed, Pope Leo XIV is continuing the cause that his predecessor, Pope Francis, had endorsed by declaring him venerable in April 2021.
In January 2025, the miracle attributed to Shaw’s intercession passed the medical review and was approved by the Theological Commission, so that on 17 June 2025, the same Commission of Theologians unanimously approved the prayer of intercession addressed to the candidate and the fruits of that prayer in the miracle attributed to him, before the Commission of Bishops and Cardinals of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints gave its favourable opinion.
Businessman, Humanist and Christian
Although he was born in Paris on 26 February 1921, Enrique Shaw moved to Buenos Aires, his family’s homeland, cultivating the values of the Catholic faith from a very young age. “During his time at La Salle, he cultivated his spiritual and academic vocation”.
After serving in the Navy, where he took advantage of long periods at sea to catechise sailors, he was called to work in the family business, where he stood out for his humanist and Christian values, applying the principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church to the business world and establishing a fraternal relationship of collaboration with his workers.
He married Cecilia Bunge, with whom he had nine children. His commitment to the Church – as a father and businessman – led him to become involved in Catholic Action and the Christian Family Movement, as well as promoting several associations related to the world of work and publishing lectures, articles, and essays that reflect his Christian social commitment.
In this regard, has been pointed out at the website of the Argentina-Paraguay District, “convinced that work should be at the service of human dignity, [Shaw] promoted labour relations based on dialogue, justice and respect, even in contexts of strong social conflict”, while also “promoting family wages, fair labour relations and founding the Christian Association of Business Leaders, with the aim of bringing the Social Doctrine of the Church to the heart of the economy”.
He died of cancer on 27 August 1961, the same year he had been appointed president of Catholic Action Men. During his illness, when he required urgent transfusions, the workers at his company offered to donate blood. “Now I am happy, because working-class blood runs through my veins”, were Shaw’s words on his sickbed.
As a Lasallian family, we thank God for the testimony of the soon-to-be-beatified Enrique Shaw, a former student of Colegio La Salle in Buenos Aires. His example invites us to strengthen our commitment to social justice and human dignity.