Father Dennis Gill, the cathedral's rector, says Archbishop Charles Chaput made the shrine designation official more than a week ago.
He says the archdiocese plans another step.
"For a church to be designated a national shrine, a petition has to be submitted to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and they would review our points in favor of being a national shrine," Gill said.
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He says those would include accessibility, worship opportunities such as Mass, confession, pilgrimages and various devotions to the saint.
Philadelphia already has two other national shrines: one to St. John Neumann in North Philadelphia and the other to St. Rita of Cascia in South Philadelphia.