The current trend of canonizing Popes like some sort of retirement perk is nauseating. Prior to the canonization of Pope Pius X in 1954, the last Pope to be canonized was Pius V in 1712. This current rush to canonize popes soon after their deaths cheapens the process and is completely mistaken.
Oh Please
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Agree 100%, Don.
If God wants us to have another saint in Benedict, He’ll let us know— in time. Over time, He would provide us miracles through Benedict’s intercession. And over time the Church would see an enduring devotion to Benedict by the faithful. For those two things to happen, the Church needs to step back and let God work His will— in time.
Rushing the process strikes me as arrogant— it’s a bit like telling God to hurry up. Or worse, it’s like telling Him ‘we don’t need Your input’. And that’s never a good idea.
Of course the Church has only been run by saints the last 50 years. It’s in such great shape, is any other conclusion even possible?
Any canonization process wrt Benedict, if one begins, will be complicated by the fact that the late Pope supposedly left strict instructions with his executor and longtime secretary Archbishop Ganswein that most if not all of his correspondence, book manuscripts, and other documents be destroyed upon his death.
Pope John Paul II evidently left similar instructions regarding his own papers— instructions his own secretary decided to ignore.
The erasure of Benedict’s documents— which stretch from his time spent in the Vatican II Council to the present— would doubtless be seen as a loss for many, and perhaps a relief for some. But if there is any serious thought that a case for Benedict’s eventual canonization might be made, then the destruction of those documents would be especially wrong.
that most if not all of his correspondence, book manuscripts, and other documents be destroyed upon his death.
It is a crime against history. When people hold an office I do not think they should have the liberty to destroy their papers that a purely private individual does. Pope Benedict played an important role in the life of the Church for six decades and the idea of his documents going up in smoke is painful to me.
I agree, Don. If Benedict did in fact leave such instructions, I’m baffled to understand why. Wouldn’t it be a better idea to have ordered his documents sealed for a period of time? If the concern was not to involve persons still living, then locking down his archive until, say, 50 years have passed would be effective without having to resort to destroying an historic record.
And of course such destruction will only fuel speculation about the nature of those records and/or if their destruction was indeed Benedict’s wish, or the wish of others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UZYAUqHZWE
I don’t see how Benedict could be canonized during the lifetime of Francis. There’s too much of what lawyers call “work process” for Benedict’s life to be properly reviewed. I mean, if God wants it, He can let us know, preferably with zero subtlety. But Benedict wasn’t a popular holy person the way Teresa of Calcutta or John Paul II were. (By popular I’m referring to the phenomenon of world-recognized sanctity.) And those cases are the only type where I see a value in quick canonizations.
As for Doctors of the Church, less than 1% of all saints attain that recognition. St. Francis de Sales is a Doctor, St. Ignatius of Loyola isn’t. I love Benedict’s thought in his writings and I suspect in his influence on John Paul’s writings. But I need to be convinced that someone leaves the author of the Spiritual Exercises and the Autobiography of St. Ignatius in the rear view mirror, and I don’t think that argument can be made in less than a century.
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They have to support, and even push, Pope Benedict’s canonization because they want to garner support for the idea that all popes should canonized. Francis’ supporters need it because they want to canonize Francis, and that’s the only way it’ll happen.
Also, it is another method used to embarrass the current Church by making a mockery of yet another sacred practice.