Why is the Vatican rushing to canonize the conciliar popes?

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s not like there’s a price tag for a canonization.

And in at least one case, when the person’s religious order decided it couldn’t justify spending any more money on a canonization that had almost reached the final stage, Pope JPII decided to just go ahead and canonize the person anyway.

 

[Shasta-Rose]

Thanks for those statistics, Bear. I think you’ve put it all into perspective.

 

[Dovekin]

So the Saints on the calendar are bought for basically?

It is a problem, though not usually a simony problem. One sign of sanctity is the ability to move people toward a closer relationship with God. It is those people who become remembered as saints, because the memory is lively and people want to keep the memory alive and share it with others.

And then you have people like Dorothy Day, who would never want a penny to be spent for her canonization. People have acknowledged her holiness, I think a religious order even adopted her cause, but those most devoted to her know she would want the money spent for the poor.

This is the problem I was pointing to with Pius IX. The enthusiasm for his cause has been diminished because the world has gone another way. Italian nationalism remembers him as an obstacle, people are more protective of parental rights, etc. it is harder to get people excited about him, to get the energy needed to push the cause. It is not just a matter of finishing the needed tasks (two miracles, examination of writings…) but of finding the faith in him to ask him to do a miracle.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

One additional thing to keep in mind is how saints were canonized. For about the first 1000 years of the Church, saints were usually named by the local bishops or patriarchs and were venerated only within that territory. The Pope could act to make a saint universal so he or she could be venerated everywhere, if he thought the saint was important enough. Nevertheless it was pretty easy to declare new saints, so there were lots of saints.

Then between about 900 and 1650, the Church gradually reserved more and more of the saint-making power to the Holy See (Pope) because of some abuses by the bishops in who got declared a local saint. There was then a pretty rigorous canonization process put in place from about 1700 to the early 1980s that made it much harder to canonize new saints. So for several hundred years, one sees fewer saints being canonized.

The process was revised in 1983 to make it easier to canonize saints. So the result is that in recent years Popes have been canonizing a lot more saints overall than they did in the previous centuries, at least back to the 1600s.

 

[Thomasbradley312]

The fact is that Vatican II was unlike any Council in Church history. It has ushered in a more saintly period in Church history than ever seen since the times of the Apostles. That is ultimately why the Popes of the Council are all saints. Vatican II saved and changed the Church.

What? Are you serious!???

 

[Tis_Bearself]

What? Are you serious!???

I’m not flagging you, but this comment is borderline rude.

Disagreement is okay but please do it with more reason and restraint.

 

[Psychae]

What a refreshing view of Vatican II! Thank you for speaking up and sharing your opinion

 

[Thomasbradley312]

I’m not flagging you, but this comment is borderline rude.

No I seriously didn’t know what this person meant if they were serious or being sarcastic.

With that said, I think it is rude for someone to imply the church is holier now than it was in another time period. If anyone should be flagged it is that statement made above me implying the church was not holy before Vatican 2. What about the hermeneutic continuity?

 

[commenter]

Catholic25:

The fact is that Vatican II was unlike any Council in Church history. It has ushered in a more saintly period in Church history than ever seen since the times of the Apostles. That is ultimately why the Popes of the Council are all saints. Vatican II saved and changed the Church.

What? Are you serious!???

On this particular response, you and I are in agreement.

 

[Thomasbradley312]

Is this Church teaching or just your opinion? A lot of statements being made on here that I’m not sure how they are being implied.