Santo Subito

[arisbe]

Not just another Mexican wrestling movie:

Archbishop Dziwisz, John Paul's trusted private secretary, specified that he wanted John Paul canonised - not just beatified - during the Cologne visit. Asked if Benedict might declare him a martyr - which would spare the Vatican from having to find and confirm a miracle attributed to John Paul - the archbishop responded, "In any case, people want him to be a saint."

Subito in this case meaning something like next month.

It seems to me that to be shot in a political assassination attempt and die a quarter of a century later is not exactly what the ancient Fathers of the Church called martyrdom. Never mind. In the case of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Pope back then said, Every article (of his writings) is a miracle. And you know, he may have been right.

Comments

It IS Really Disturbing...

[publius-aelius.livejournal.com]

...because, to anyone who's studied the history of the Church since the 19th century, it's perfectly obvious that it has more to do with politics of papal infallability than it has to do with a genuine discernment of some candidate's sanctity. The ability to canonise is, in the Roman tradition, the peculiar prerogative of the papacy--so much so that the OTHER ways of arriving at this conclusion (a local, popular cult; a initiative of a local diocese, etc.) are being completely discarded so that the Roman Church may become even more of a papal monarchy. The Roman Church is actually morphing into something it never was, even in my youth. And it's the fantastically ignorant, most "Protestantized" of all Catholics--the Americans--who are the most ignorant of it, and the most enthusiastic about it. It's the victory of media culture over orthodox Christianity. We can't even recognized how indecorous, how bad-mannered it is, here.

Re: It IS Really Disturbing...

[bix.livejournal.com]

In JPII's case, I think it's political and even more circular; if he becomes a saint, then any decision to stick to his treachings and general direction for the Church can be all the more justified; See! We know he was right! He was a Pope (infalliable) AND a saint!
(Next trick--black is white!)