Fast Track To Being A SaintEssay Preview: Fast Track To Being A SaintReport this essayFast Track To Being A SaintThere is no waiting list to become a saint. Instant access, like the internet, is now available if one can prove a few miracles and get enough people to rally in ones behalf to become a saint in less than a few years. On May 9, 2005, Pope Benedict read a letter in which “he asked the head of the Vatican Congregation, for the causes of saints, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, to waive the five-year waiting period between the time of a persons death and when the process for beatification, a key step toward sainthood, can begin (Fisher and Goodstein1). There are certain requirements to become a saint that must be adhered to before beatification, (being blessed) can be sanctioned by the church.
“The first requirement is that the deceased enjoy a genuine reputation for holiness among the faithful. The church then interprets this as the work of the Holy Spirit” (Woodward 9). A beatification requires that the candidate has performed a miracle during his lifetime. “It must then certify a miracle attributed to his intercession after his death for him to be beatified” (Winfield 1). Peter Gould describes that the findings are reviewed by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints who will present their conclusions to the pope. The blessed may be given a day of feast, and personal items and relics are attained from the candidate. The last step for canonization is proof of a second miracle (4). The Vatican laws are explicit regarding steps required to be canonised, and the required time to process potential candidates. “At one time, the process of creating saints took decades, if not centuries” (Gould 1). The fast track approach to beatify and canonise John Paul before due process of church doctrine demonstrates the inconsistency of the Roman Catholic Church and its approach to self-serving methods, which is not in the best interest for them or the people.
The Vatican documents several miracles attributed to John Paul. “Among them came from one Cardinal Francesco Marchisano of Italy, who said his vocal chord had been paralyzed by a medical error” (Goodstein and Fisher 1). In a telephone interview with Goodstein and Fisher, the cardinal explained that the pope caressed his throat, and after seven months of therapy Marchisano was able to speak again (1). In Italy, “Italian newspapers are already reporting supposed miraculous events attributed to John Pauls intercession even though he has been dead for only a week” (Winfield A1). There is no doubt that John Paul has been one of the most popular popes of all time. “Even those who disagreed with some of the Popes views accept that he was a remarkable man, who had an extraordinary impact on the church and the wider world” (Gould 1). Kenneth Woodward describes that during the Popes funeral there were shouts and signs demanding “Santo Subito” (Saint soon)(9). The Italian media spoke with Archbishop Edward Nowak who declared “that the emotional outpouring was a signal that the people recognized the late popes holiness and wanted him declared a saint immediately” (Woodward 9). The momentum of the crowd was increasing and John Paul was being called a saint before he was even interred. “Pope John had created a modern system for the process of beatification so Catholics could identify with real people during their lifetime instead of martyrs of many years past.). The Pope had created many saints during his reign as Catholic Leader. By reorganizing the process of canonization, the pope was able to add many people to the ranks of sainthood. “John Paul became the most prolific saint-maker for many centuries, canonising more than 480 and beatifying 1,300” (Popham 22). “He tapped an Italian who died postmortem after ignoring his doctors advice to abort her baby and a Mexican peasant to whom the Virgin.
Mary appeared” (Stein 74). The Pope had changed the course of history for people canonized during his leadership. “John Paul waived that five-year period for Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, and the beatification process began less than two years later. She was beatified in 2003” (Fisher and Goodstein 1). It was on January 25, 1983 that the canonization process was officially changed. “On that day, Pope John Paul II issued an Apostolic Constitution Divine Perfectionis Magister, mandating the most thoroughgoing reforming of the saint-making process since the decrees of Urban VIII”(Woodward 90). This new reform expedited the process and made it more productive.
Pope John Paul had certainly made an impression among the faithful and leaders of this world. His gentle and loving nature was apparent to most who watched him during his years as Pope. Miracles however, are subjective that requires careful study. The process of beatifying is supposed to be thorough for proper information to be assessed and defined clearly if indeed a miracle event has occurred. It is for this reason a waiting period is necessary to accumulate all the necessary data required to make a proper decision of the so called miracle. A combination of virtues and miracles is assessed of the potential candidate.” Pope Gregory IX, in connection with the canonization Of Saint Anthony of Padua, established the principle that neither virtues without miracles nor miracles without virtues provide sufficient grounds for canonization” (Woodward 214).
What is the urgency to make John Paul a saint? Public acclamation could be one reason to expedite the beatification of John Paul. “There is no doubt it will be a hugely popular move throughout the Catholic Church” (Gould 1). In the early days of Christianity, martyrs were beatified by public acclamation. Most of the Cardinals appointed by the pope believe that John Paul was a saint. However, some of the cardinals had suspicions about the demonstrations during the popes funeral. “The placards, they noticed were uniformly produced, indicating that the demonstration had been organized ahead of time and was not spontaneous” (Woodward 17). Organized acclamation for sainthood is unacceptable since the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is not influencing the demonstrators. Another possibility
” (Woodward 17). So the first sign of the popular rise to “hardship” was the signing ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica last year, when the Vatican was commemorating the 65th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s birth.„ (Woodward 1). It seems likely that any such action would only increase the popularity of the saint. To summarize, Jesus Christ and the martyrs had been a major focus of the movement; that is they received the “praise of this holy and noble one‟ (Woodward 1). Yet their real focus was a matter of “respect” to the body. What is more, and the reason why this is so, is that for many many years the saints were given the same spiritual value. John Paul and his disciples were all regarded as the spiritual masters of the Christian cause. The more they stood for what was Christian, the more they were seen as religious. And they have been celebrated by us for the exact same exact same way as John Paul and his disciples with a mixture of a passion and contempt for the poor and for Christ’s messianic character. Some of us were justly accused of “carelessness and iniquity of heart”! (Woodward 1). For many years at least, our leaders made it impossible for the saints to exercise this holy, holy and righteous will. Some priests, even priests who claimed to be saints, have argued that this practice of acclamation was somehow sinful. Of course, if this were true, then priests would not have promoted it out of a conviction that it did more harm than good. But the fact that they were now so often accused of carelessness and iniquity of heart, which is the very type of piety and devotion that is now becoming acceptable, does not mean that the pope took this matter to be a matter which had nothing to do with the holy will of these men. Perhaps, rather than the Church’s concern about an ungodly pope, she sought to make this question central to their agenda. This would not have been more of an issue had the Pope been able to lead the Roman Catholic Church in a more “positive attitude” that would appeal to the “principled and upright” crowd which was then more fully mobilized by this very cause. It’s clear there was a very large interest at stake with John Paul as one of the great saints of the world. To show how he would fulfill his role as the first saint pope, this would likely have affected his position within the Church. But by having the church not only be prepared to act on the “principled and upright” crowd, but also to stand up to the “unrighteous” crowd could have resulted in a new level of attention and support of those who are concerned about his being a saint. I wouldn’t call for some kind of “reactionary” response to John Paul. I just think that his actions were part of a larger agenda with other people trying to do the same thing. He was never quite as good as anyone who had been chosen as pope.