Sainthood is decided by the members of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. I’ll let you do the research on its members.
The thing is, you may have causes for canonization not just for a reputation of embodying high personal virtue, but also for a reputation of “doing God’s work” in an unrighteous world. Let’s remember the plackards and choruses of “Santo Subito!” in St. Peter’s Square during his funeral ceremonies, JP2’s fans WANTED canonization because they felt JP2 was awesome as Pope, not because they felt he was especially holy as an individual, and to validate their own positions about his politics and policies.
Francis had a large segment of “the base” as well as the permanent institution rallying for JP2’s canonization and he could never get rid of them. The best he could do was “balance the ticket” by grabbing the long-stalled cause of beloved, but not fanatically-lobbied-for, John XXIII and ramming it up the Congregation so that they’d both get elevated at the same time, the guy who started the liberalizing reforms of VatII together with the guy who “cracked down on excesses”.
What makes a bird? Wings right? Women who want to become priests and gays who want perpetual spotlights and confetti should look for another religion.
So, in order for one to qualify for sainthood, he would have to espouse a position diametrically opposed to the historic and current position of the organization that is conferring sainthood upon him?
Do you also believe that the membership of the Westboro Baptist Church should be allowed to determine the makeup of the leadership of the Democratic Party?
One does wonder whether Benedict XVI or Francis ever will be sainted.
Which one gets the honor will say something very significant about the state of the Church at that time.
If both get it, it will be a sign the Church has gone completely schizo.
I agree with this, more or less: I agree about 90% with the Catholic teaching against abortion (I’d make medical exceptions, but that’s about it), I more weakly support their position about women priests, and while I don’t really agree with their view about homosexuality, it isn’t something I feel strongly about one way or the other.
On the other hand, I still don’t think JP II should be a saint, because he presided over the church sex abuse scandals, a problem that was truly monumental in scope and has damaged both the victims, and the moral authority of the church, for a long time to come. He could be entirely on the side of the angels when it comes to doctrinal teaching, and he would still bear a heavy responsibility for the abuse scandals.
I’m not Catholic, of course, so my opinion doesn’t really count for much.
Canonized. The term is canonized, not sainted.
Any other Nazi saints?
“Sainted” Constantine I drowned one of his wives in her bath.
“Sainted” is a British usage. I recall when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (reluctantly) brought Sherlock Holmes back from the dead, a fan wrote, “He should not have been knighted, he should have been sainted!”
I know what she means. I’ve read quite a bit of uncomplimentary stuff on her. Nothing specific springs to mind, and I can’t be arsed to do a Google search on it, but it’s out there if you look. Not everyone is convinced she was a saint.
To put it briefly, Mother Teresa had a – let’s call it “reverence” – for suffering that her detractors claim led to increased suffering for those under her care. Much money passed through her hands and into church coffers that could have built better facilities, procured real medical treatment, or alleviated pain, but “suffering is holy.”
Missed the edit.
She was also fully in line with the Church’s opposition to contraception.
Defenders point out that her hospices only provided palliative care for the dying, and that opiates for this purpose were illegal for her entire career.
As I understand it, the Church does not “make” someone a saint. A saint is anyone who is currently in Heaven, and the act of canonization is simply a formal recognition of that status. So to say that JP2 “doesn’t deserve to be a saint” is essentially a declaration that he’s not in Heaven, which isn’t a statement I believe I have enough insider information to make.
Yes, we had a rather more detailed discussion of this point about a year ago,
in this thread, posts #8 to about #15.
Here on Earth, though, the term means someone you think is so holy that your are sure they are in heaven. That’s why not every Catholic gets canonized, despite them all hoping to get into heaven.
So all the OP is saying is that they don’t think JPII is holy enough to be sure he’s in heaven now.
(I’m not sure if purgatory enters in any more. I thought it did, but Bricker has been disabusing me of much ignorance on Catholicism, despite what I learned in college through reading the Catechism and going to mass with my roommate.
So you typed a post just to say that you have nothing to say?
THIS.
These are teachings of the Catholic church. Why would we expect him to promote any other perspective? And why would the chuch honor someone who promoted the opposite of what they believe? Catechism teaches that someone who fundamentally opposes the church’s teachings isn’t fit to receive the most basic sacraments, much less hold positions of power and honor.
In other news, Ray Odierno announced he will join Code Pink, Ann Coulter and Diane Feinstein got married, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad celebrated his son’s Bar Mitzvah, and A-Rod has switched to homeopathy. What a world we live in.
Underline mine. You know, I keep seeing that everywhere, when the fact is JPII was a freaking (A)n(A)rkist compared with Paul VI.
He was extremely popular for moving to the left of PVI (although not as much as many think JPI would have) and because for the first time he made use of modern means of travel; for the first time in a very, very long time, the Fisherman was going in pilgrimage to his people instead of the people going to him. His failing health did more to lessen his popularity than the sexual abuses scandals, which did a lot but never corroded it completely (and btw, why are so many people in this thread talk about the pedophilia ones exclusively? They’re not the only ones).