There are few things
about the human condition or its institutions that can be considered
admirable. Recognition of the status of
saint is one such towering exception that has marched through time to confront
every human failure of both the church itself and humanity in general. It is everyman’s admonition to do better.
That the Catholic
church has taken up this institution with serious enthusiasm with the reign of
Pope John Paul II is something to be grateful for and the proper answer to
those who have glorified a whole hjost of contemporary leaders including many
of the God awful.
The media honors
thousands solely because those names sell.
Yet the best always struggle to be heard and their naysayers get a cheap
lift from attempting to tear them down.
A good name is merely a target to besmirch.
Popes John Paul II, John
XXIII to be made saints: Vatican
By
Philip Pullella
VATICAN
CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul II, the globe-trotting pontiff who led the
Catholic Church for nearly 27 years, and Pope John XXIII, who called the
reforming Second Vatican Council, will be declared saints, the Vatican said on
Friday.
The
Vatican said Pope Francis had approved a second miracle attributed to John
Paul, a Pole who was elected in 1978 as the first non-Italian pope in 450 years
and died in 2005. His progression to sainthood is the fastest in modern times.
The
Vatican also said Pope John XXIII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963 and called the
1962-1965 Second Vatican Council - which enacted sweeping reforms to modernize
the Church - would be made a saint even though he has only been credited with
one miracle since his death.
The
canonization ceremonies, which are likely to bring hundreds of thousands to
people to Rome, are expected this year.
John
Paul had already been credited with asking God to cure a French nun of
Parkinson's disease, the same malady he had, before he was beatified in 2011.
Two
confirmed miracles are usually required under Vatican rules for the declaration
of a saint.
The
second miracle attributed to his intercession is the inexplicable curing of a
Costa Rican woman who prayed to him for help with her medical condition on the
day of his beatification.
In the case of Pope John XXIII, who was known as the "good pope", Francis waived the customary rules requiring a second miracle after beatification, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said. John XXIII was beatified in 2000.
Francis,
who has tried to instill a spirit of simplicity and reform in the Church since
his election in March, is known to have great admiration for the reforming Pope
John, who was born of peasant stock in northern Italy.
John
Paul went down in history as the "globe-trotting pope," visiting
every inhabited continent in more than 100 trips outside Italy.
LAST
DAYS WATCHED BY WORLD
His
struggle with ill health was watched by millions around the world on television
towards the end of his life.
He
was also credited with being instrumental in the fall of communism in Eastern
Europe in 1989 because of his steadfast defense of the Solidarity trade union
in his native Poland.
After
martial law was declared in Poland in 1981, he is believed to have told
then-Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev that if Russia invaded Poland, he would
return home.
John
Paul was nearly killed by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot him in St
Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. Two trials failed to prove Italian magistrates'
accusations that the Bulgarian secret services had carried out the plot with
Agca on behalf of the Soviet Union.
Millions
of people attended his funeral in April, 2005, and many cried "Santo
Subito" or "Make him a saint immediately".
His
successor, Benedict, waived a Church rule that normally requires a five-year
waiting period before the preliminaries to sainthood can even begin.
John
Paul is respected by Jews because of his 1986 visit to Rome's synagogue, the
first by a pope to a Jewish temple.
He
is already considered a saint by millions of his countrymen in Poland, having
supported their bid for freedom on the world stage for 11 years before the fall
of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
"I
am so happy and hardly can wait. John Paul II was one of a kind," said Ewa
Jezierska, 72, a Polish saleswoman in Warsaw.
Liberals
in the Church say John Paul was too harsh with theological dissenters who
wanted to help the poor, particularly in Latin America. Others say he should be
held ultimately responsible for sexual abuse scandals because they occurred or
came to light when he was in charge.
John
Paul also drew criticism for supporting the late Father Marcial Maciel, the
Mexican founder of the Legionaries of Christ religious order, defending him
despite charges of sexual abuse that later turned out to be true.
John
XXIII has for decades been venerated by Italians who recall his kind gestures.
While he was pope for less than five years, his short pontificate coincided
with the post-World War Two "economic miracle" that transformed Italy
from a devastated agricultural backwater to an international economic power.
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