Stefani’s beatification receives extensive international media coverage

The journey of Sister Irene Stefani 'Nyaatha' to sainthood received wide media coverage by the local and international press.

As nearly all local television stations carried live broadcast of the celebrations of blessed Sr Irene, the international press kept the global Catholic faithful abreast with detailed coverage of the event taking place some 154 kilometres north of Nairobi.

Although she died at 39 years old, Nyaatha will be the first person to be beatified in a ceremony in Africa, making the ceremony historical to faithful.

Reuters reported that an Italian nun, who tended the sick and wounded in World War One, was beatified yesterday, taking the final step before sainthood at the first ceremony of its kind in Kenya

YAHOO NEWS in a story titled "Kenyan Catholics celebrate beatification of Italian nun" reported that the streets of Nyeri were packed for the Roman Catholic beatification ceremony, adding that tens of thousands of Catholics gathered in the town to witness the celebrations that is a key step towards sainthood.

The BBC also reported in its website about a huge number of pilgrims that had flocked Nyeri town for the beatification ceremony which would take three days. And just to ensure real time updates of the historical event to be presided over by Archbishop of Nairobi Cardinal John Njue and Archbishop of Dar es Salaam Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, who read a read out a letter from the Pope, the organisation stationed its reporter in Nyeri. "British military officers will oversee the burial as a mark of respect for her work treating soldiers in Kenya and Tanzania during World War One," it reported.

The UK's Daily Mail Online, in its report, said, "Roman Catholics say she performed a miracle after her death when people fleeing Mozambique's 1977-1992 civil war prayed in her name in 1989." It reported that the faithful who were running from rebel battles sheltered in a church at Nipepe in Mozambique's northern Niassa region and made a prayer to Stefani. The prayer caused water in the church front to flow, keeping the thirsty alive.

The extensive coverage also brought to fore other unexpected activities going on in the region. A couple of weeks ago, the UK's The Telegraph plus other international press reported that hundreds of commercial sex workers had swarmed Nyeri in anticipation of the multitude pilgrims to attend the holy ceremony. This was after a local newspaper reported on the other not-so-holy things expected from the event.