I'll agree that it is important that anyone publicly endorsed as a saint by the Catholic Church ought to have a true reputation for holiness and that alleged miracles need to be thoroughly investigated -- but I've got concerns about this development.

The Vatican is making it tougher to become a saint.

New procedures were announced Monday calling for more "rigor" and "sobriety" by bishops when deciding to begin the process of beatification and in determining the required miracles.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican's sainthood office, recently suggested that the Vatican was overwhelmed by causes following the pontificate of the late Pope John Paul II, who elevated more people to sainthood than all his predecessors combined.

Saraiva Martins said there are more than 2,200 beatification and sainthood causes pending.

The cardinal, speaking at a news conference Monday, stressed the need for a "true reputation for holiness" among candidates before a process begins.

He said "rigorous historical research is obviously intrinsic" to the investigation.

The troubling aspect of this case is that it almost seems to be a slap at Pope John Paul the Great, the predecessor of the current pontiff. He canonized and beatified more people than any prior pope -- partially out of a philosophy that the Church can and should recognize the sanctity of Christians in all parts of the world and all walks of life. I'm concerned that this change may challenge that view.

And I remain disturbed that the institutionalized process leaves out an older practice of the Church -- canonization via the acclamation of the people. Just as St. Thomas a Becket was recognized as a saint a mere three years after his martyrdom because the faithful of England had nearly universally proclaimed him as such, there needs to be a similar process today. Do the faithful (and the rest of humanity, for that matter) really need the curial bureaucracy to complete the paperwork to tell them what they already know in the cases of John Paul the Great and Mother Teresa?

Posted by: Greg at 11:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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