We're back on the saints today. Seems there is a concern that sometimes saintly prospects have been "fast-tracked" on the road to sainthood. A few critics even had the nerve to suggest that Pope John Paul II had run a "saint factory."Oh, oh.
Not to worry. Pope Benedict XVI is laying down the law and ordering his minions to "use stricter criteria when assessing candidates for sainthood and beautification."
No more John Paul II stuff, like "initiating" or encouraging the process of conferring sainthood behind the scenes. Evidently John Paul II liked saints and wanted more of them, and ended up creating more saints than all of the popes before him put together!
So now, according to Benedict XVI, "saints must contribute to making the Church's message 'more credible and attractive'" and miraculous cures must have a "'meticulous' medical investigation," and people who are looking at the life of a prospective saint should be objective and not overlook his/her faults or personal defects or other "contrary findings."
Actually, Benedict is no slouch himself when it comes to sainting people. In his first three years as pope, 577 people have been either canonized or beautified.
As I've said before, this seems to me to be a bunch of hoopla over nothing. Unless you believe in magic, there is no such thing as a "saint." The idea that an institution or a pope or any other shaman can declare someone to be "sainted" is the stuff of legends and mythology.
I wonder, though, if all those saints who were "fast-tracked" through the "saint factory" now need to be more thoroughly vetted? I sure wouldn't want to be caught dead praying to a saint who was unworthy of the name!
1 comment:
I do not wish to be mean, but has anyone looked intot he sexual practices of saints? It appears that some bad apples have used the church for bad purposes in the past. To its credit, the church has tried to investigate and correct the problem.
bob Poris
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