Under the late John Paul II, the Vatican "ministry" that approves candidates for canonization was made to work so hard that one of his own cardinals dubbed it the "saint factory."
In characteristically robust fashion, the Polish pontiff took hold of a seemingly anachronistic procedure and used it in a thoroughly modern way, as a means of communication.
His canonizations were "role models" for Roman Catholics around the world and signaled to the faithful the sort of people of whom the pope approved.
Virtually no nation or community was forgotten as he proclaimed almost 500 saints -- more than in the previous five centuries.
On a single day in October 2000, John Paul canonized 120 from China, a Sudanese slave, a US heiress and the first female Basque saint.
But on Thursday, in what appeared to be the first major policy innovation of his year-old papacy, Benedict XVI quietly slid a spanner into the factory's works.
In a document made public on Thursday, several days after it was handed to the Vatican's saint makers, the pope stressed caution and the need for strict definitions in deciding who should be proclaimed a saint.
The new hard line could have implications for John Paul II himself whom Benedict set on the path to sainthood just 26 days after he died last year.
Conservative Roman Catholics frequently expressed dismay over the late pontiff's apparent disregard for rules laid down for canonization and beatification, the last step before sainthood.
In particular, John Paul seemed unconcerned about the requirement that a cult of devotion had to be shown to have grown up around the candidate. Benedict, by contrast, emphasized that "the cause [process] of beatification and canonization cannot be initiated in the absence of a verified reputation for sanctity, even if one is dealing with people who have distinguished themselves by their evangelical lucidity or by special ecclesiastical and social merits."
A miracle is normally required before someone is beatified and the pope stressed "the need for a physical miracle, a moral miracle not being sufficient." The exception is martyrdom and, here too, the pope tightened up.
Dying for the faith was not the same as martyrdom, he said, adding that a martyr was a victim of anti-Christian persecution and it was "just as necessary that the persecutor's hatred of the faith should emerge."
Perhaps John Paul's most controversial move was his breakneck beatification and canonization of the founder of the Opus Dei fellowship. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, who was proclaimed a saint in 2002, had been frequently accused of vanity and showing undue tolerance towards the regime of Spain's late dictator, Francisco Franco. The beatification of Mother Teresa in 2003 also sparked debate because it waived the rule that five years should elapse after death.
John Paul's journeys were often accompanied by canonizations or beatifications of people from the countries he visited. The evidence adduced for these elevations often raised eyebrows in the Vatican.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
‘HARD-HEADED’: Some people did not evacuate to protect their property or because they were skeptical of the warnings, a disaster agency official said Typhoon Man-yi yesterday slammed into the Philippines’ most populous island, with the national weather service warning of flooding, landslides and huge waves as the storm sweeps across the archipelago nation. Man-yi was still packing maximum sustained winds of 185kph after making its first landfall late on Saturday on lightly populated Catanduanes island. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes ahead of Man-yi as the weather forecaster warned of a “life-threatening” effect from the powerful storm, which follows an unusual streak of violent weather. Man-yi uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed flimsy houses to pieces after hitting Catanduanes in the typhoon-prone
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
HOPEFUL FOR PEACE: Zelenskiy said that the war would ‘end sooner’ with Trump and that Ukraine must do all it can to ensure the fighting ends next year Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom early yesterday suspended gas deliveries via Ukraine, Vienna-based utility OMV said, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe. Russia’s oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it would not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia now only
RSS