VATICAN CITY, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The Vatican Monday issued a new set of rules tightening criteria for declaring someone a saint in a move seen as a return to more traditional practices.

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Vatican to tighten canonization process (February 12, 2008) -- A Vatican document calls for bishops to use greater sobriety and rigor when considering potential saints, the cardinal in charge of the process .

The 100-page document released instructs Catholic bishops to be tougher when deciding which candidates for sainthood can begin the official procedures leading to canonization, Italy's ANSA news agency reports.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican's saints department, writes the new rules ask bishops to show "greater sobriety and rigor" when accepting requests to begin the first phase of the proceedings.

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