Vatican slows sainthood process

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Digitonomy

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At long last an end to the liberal approach to canonization that marked John Paul’s pontificate.
Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins called for more rigour and sobriety in the Catholic Church’s saint making process.
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He stressed the need for a “true reputation for holiness” among sainthood candidates to be established before the process begins.
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The Portuguese prelate suggested not enough rigour had been applied in the past when bishops forwarded cases to the Vatican.
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Most of the saints we celebrate are from a period of time which predates any official canonization process. As traditionalists aught we not to advocate return to the tried and true process of the early church and dismantle a system which keeps priests and bishops out of the ranks of the active ministry by sequestering them in libraries and offices?

Matthew
 
drafdog said:
As traditionalists aught we not to advocate return to the tried and true process of the early church and dismantle a system which keeps priests and bishops out of the ranks of the active ministry by sequestering them in libraries and offices?Matthew
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Perhaps someone who labels himself a traditionalist can reply more specifically to your point. I think there is value in meticulous scrutiny during the canonization process, which was often lacking in the early centuries of the Church.
 
I am certain that we can find a sufficient number of dedicated Catholic pencil pushers and paper shufflers to cover the work load in those Vatican offices. I want the priests and bishops out of there and into parish ministry where they belong. This is just poor resource management by the oldest “old boy” network in the world.

Matthew
 
I am all for a very thorough process in researching a potential saint, I also think that in some cases a bit of streamlining can be allowed, especially in cases of people who lived very public and holy lives. In the case of Pope JPII and Bl. Mother Teresa, they were both subject to significant scrutiny from both Catholic and secular media. I think it can be helpful to people to see people from their own lifetimes recognized as saints of the Church.

As much as I love and admire St. Francis of Assisi, there are many ways in which I can better relate to Mother Teresa because she did the things she did in a world that is much closer to the one inwhich I live than is the one in which St. Francis lived.

That said, I think the traditional requirements, like the demonstraion of a dedicated following, solid evidence of a life of heroic virtue and validated miracles should always be enforced and required.
 
I’m not saying that I’m against a more rigorous approach to the canonization of saints. However, can’t we say that the Holy Spirit protects the integrity of the canonization of saints? If so then why be so hard on Pope John Paul II and the numbers of blesseds and saints which were identified during his pontificate?
 
Quaere_Verum said:
However, can’t we say that the Holy Spirit protects the integrity of the canonization of saints? If so then why be so hard on Pope John Paul II and the numbers of blesseds and saints which were identified during his pontificate?
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Following that line of thought, why change at all from John Paul’s approach? Perhaps it would be better to grease the tracks and allow for a tenfold increase in beatifications and canonizations, just so long as the Holy Spirit is safeguarding the integrity of the process.
 
Digitonomy said:
Following that line of thought, why change at all from John Paul’s approach? Perhaps it would be better to grease the tracks and allow for a tenfold increase in beatifications and canonizations, just so long as the Holy Spirit is safeguarding the integrity of the process.
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Interesting!

Maybe Pope Benedict XVI’s attempts to make the process more stringent is a result of the Holy Spirit protecting the integrity of the canonization process.
 
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